SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC1214 * SpaceNews 14-Dec-98 * BID: $SPC1214 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY DECEMBER 14, 1998 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use. * STRAIGHT KEY NIGHT ON OSCAR * =============================== Ray Soifer, W2RS, cordially invites amateur radio operators around the world to join in the 27th Annual Straight Key Night (SKN) sponsored by AMSAT-North America. Straight Key Night is entirely unofficial. There are no rules, no scoring and best of all, no need to send in a log. The only thing that satellite operators need to do to participate is call CQ-SKN in the CW passband segment of any OSCAR satellite from 0000 to 2359 UTC on January 1, 1999, or answer a CQ-SKN call from another station. OSCAR Zero (EME) contacts also count. Of course, all SKN operating must take place on CW using a straight hand key. In addition to making contacts via satellite, participating sat-ops are encouraged to nominate someone they worked for recognition as having the "best fist". Nomination should be addessed to Ray via e-mail to: w2rs@amsat.org or via packet radio to: W2RS@WA2SNA or W2RS@GB7HSN Nominations will also be accepted via W2RS's callbook address. Nominations for best fist will be reported by Ray sometime in early February 1999. [Info via Ray Soifer, W2RS] * RS-18 HAS GONE SILENT * ========================= According to received reports, RS-18/Sputnik-41 appears to have gone silent on or about 1998-Dec-11. RS-18/Sputnik-41 was deployed from the Mir space station by Russian cosmonauts during a spacewalk that occurred on 1998-Nov-10. The spacecraft was battery powered, and was designed to operate for a period of 30 days. It appears to have gone silent very close to schedule. Those who copied signals from RS-18/Sputnik-41 may send reception reports to: AMSAT-France RS-18 QSL Manager 14 bis rue des Gourlis 92 500 Rueil-Malmaison A self-addressed envelope measuring at least 10.5 cm by 15 cm and two IRCs should be included with your reception report. A list of QSLs received by the French QSL manager is available at the following URL (Note: The list changes daily as cards are received): http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ascerland/sp41QSL.htm * MIR ACTIVE ON SSTV * ====================== Al Emer, N2YAC reports receiving slow-scan television (SSTV) video from the amateur radio station on-board the Mir space station on 1998-Dec-12 at 16:01 UTC from New Jersey on a frequency of 145.982 MHz. Al reported receiving an image with good quality and very little noise. The image received was in Robot 36 second mode. Further information on slow-scan television, including the various methods that can be used to receive SSTV images using a personal computer, is available at the following URL: http://www.ultranet.com/~sstv * FO-29 NEWS * ============== The Fuji-OSCAR-29 command station of the JARL has released the following information regarding the status of the FO-29 satellite. The eclipse time FO-29 is experiencing will gradually increase and reach 20% at the end of December. The FO-29 On-Board Computer (OBC) accepted commands from ground control while the satellite was in an "eclipse season" in August. The command team expects to make the satellite available for Mode JD operation after December. Digitalker operation is also planned. [Info via Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK] * FEEDBACK/INPUT WELCOMED * =========================== Comments and input for SpaceNews should be directed to the editor (John, KD2BD) via any of the paths listed below: WWW : http://www.njin.net/~magliaco/ PACKET : KD2BD @ KS4HR.NJ.USA.NA INTERNET : kd2bd@amsat.org, magliaco@email.njin.net SATELLITE : AMSAT-OSCAR-16, KITSAT-OSCAR-25 <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>> <<=- Serving the planet (and beyond) since 1987 -=>> /EX