SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0207 * SpaceNews 07-Feb-00 * BID: $SPC0207 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY FEBRUARY 7, 2000 * ANTARCTICA EXPEDITION ENDS * ============================== Ronald Ross, KE6JAB, arrived back home from Antarctica in the middle of last week, just one month late. He had a very successful time using the UO-22 and KO-25 digital satellites, uploading daily reports and one or two photos each night. Ron used the Arrow dual band yagi throughout the trip, and because of the smallness of his tent, he had to do all uploads "outside". This proved unpleasant in bad weather when the wind was blowing snow or the temperature was just too cold. See http://www.thistle.org/dml/photos/index.cgi?rr_120~1.jpg Having enough power in the batteries was always a concern. Ron relied on solar panels for recharging everything. Fortunately in the area of his expedition, he was blessed with much sunlight for long periods. One of the most useful devices was the PalmPilot and a satellite prediction program called PocketSat. Mike, KF4FDJ, demonstrated this to Ron at the AMSAT Symposium in San Diego. This saved Ron from powering up the laptop until just before the pass. It was referred to constantly. Ron encountered no software problems using Wisp or anything else on the laptop. However, the laptop needed rebooting often when the temperature dropped below -15F. This was usually in the middle of an upload! Another successful part of the trip was the testing of a small weather station. This was built by Holda, KF6VIC, a student of Professor Bob Twiggs at Stanford University. It used amongst other things a MIM module sending telemetry in APRS format. The station was placed high up on a nunatak, and transmitted every 20 minutes towards our area in the mountains, up to 24 miles away. Ron copied the data using a TH-D7 HT, then retransmitted it back to Holda on the Pacsats. See http://www.thistle.org/dml/photos/index.cgi?WthrSta.jpg Several Hams were key in helping to get Ron's messages and photos back to his friends and family. They were Ed, KE6IZN, Roy, W0SL, Jerry, K8SAT and Kristi, N8WS. Very big thanks go to all of them and to all the others who sent Ron and and his partners messages on the birds. They appreciated reading all the messages while they huddled in their small tent. More on the expedition can be read at http://www.thistle.org/dml/ [Info via Ronald, KE6JAB] * SKN BEST FIST WINNERS * ========================= Many thanks to all who participated in the 28th annual, Y2K edition of AMSAT-NA's Straight Key Night on OSCAR. The activity level seemed down a bit this year, as in much of Amateur Radio in general, but we all had fun. This year's Best Fist winners include AD1B, NM1K, W3STW, N4ZQ and K9CIS. Congratulations! See you next year, hopefully on P3D. 73, Ray W2RS w2rs@amsat.org * SUNSAT NEWS * =============== Henry, ZS1AAZ, has provided the following operating schedule for SUNSAT OSCAR-35. All dates and times listed are in UTC: Uplink: 436.291 MHz FM Downlink: 145.825 MHz FM 4/5 February 2000 Australia 23:38 to 23:52 RSA 07:58 to 08:12 Europe 08:18 to 08:32 USA 14:57 to 15:11 5/6 February 2000 Japan 23:17 to 23:31 RSA 07:19 to 07:33 South America 14:02 to 14:16 USA 14:18 to 14:32 11/12 Feb Australia 23:55 to 00:09 RSA 08:16 to 08:30 Europe 08:35 to 08:49 USA 15:12 to 15:26 12/13 Feb Japan 23:33 to 23:47 RSA 07:36 to 07:50 South America 12:36 to 12:50 USA 14:35 to 14:49 [Info via Hans van de Groenendaal] * GRAFTRAK SOFTWARE UPDATE * ============================ Ralph Wallio, W0RPK, reports that he has been using GrafTrak II and Silicon Ephemeris software from Silicon Solutions since 1985. Version 2.0 was released in 1987; version 3.0 in 1989. During this era, this set of MS-DOS tracking, predicting and editing programs written by Richard Allen, W5SXD, and Joseph Bijou, WB5CCJ, was a for-profit product and a subset of their more significant satellite tracking system sold to commercial and government users. Richard Allen has announced the availability of version 4.01 which is Y2K compatible. This latest version, along with manuals in PDF format, is available at http://www.rcallen.com/ and is FREE to all save for making a voluntary donation to AMSAT. The ARRL announced this free version as a STRAY in QST, February, 2000, p.97. * STS-99 NEWS * =============== Launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour on mission STS-99 is currently targeted for no earlier than February 11, 2000 at 18:28 UTC. Mission STS-99 is a Shuttle Radar Topography Mission that will map the topography of the Earth in very great detail. The orbit will be a 126 nautical mile circular orbit with an orbital inclination of 57 degrees. The mission duration is planned for 11 days, 4 hours, and 8 minutes. Status reports and other NASA publications are available on the World Wide Web at the following URL: http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/kscpao.htm Information about the countdown and mission can be accessed electronically via the Internet at: http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/countdown/ and at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/ [Info via NASA] * JAWSAT LAUNCH UPDATE * ======================== Thanks to Bob Twiggs at Stanford University, and Jon Ogden, KE9NA, for pointing out that MASAT was not flown on OPAL. It was a picosat being developed by hams in California that did not get completed, and Stensat took its place. There are three picosats from the Artemis team at Santa Clara called JAK, Thelma, and Louise. Then there is Stensat and the two picosats from Aerospace Corporation made for DARPA, for a total of six picosats. Assi Friedman, KK7KX/4X1KX, reports that the ASUSat1 satellite has been lost. Telemetry received with the great help of the South-African SUNSAT team indicates that the batteries on-board the satellite were not receiving any charge from the solar array. As a result, the satellite worked for about 15 hours on battery power alone, and then went silent. Controllers have no further indication that will help them pinpoint the exact cause of this failure. The only thing controllers can say is that the problem probably occurred between the solar array and the power board within the satellite. The ASUSat1 team was disappointed, but yet very happy. The satellite provided interesting telemetry when it was alive, and the team is analyzing that data at the present time. Controllers were thrilled that the system powered up and did what it was supposed to. It is not every day you have a box in space beeping at you. :-) In any case, the team is looking forward to future missions! If you know of any free launches, please let Assi know! Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, reports that the Keplerian bulletins issued by AMSAT-NA now have four new satellites relating to the recent JAWSAT launch. The new satellites are ASUSAT-1, JAWSAT, OPAL, and OCS. OCS has no amateur transmitter, but it might be bright enough to be seen visually in the night sky. Be advised that the catalog numbers for these objects may change over the next few weeks. Since all objects (about seven) are very close together now, there will be a period of sorting out what is what. This is normal and is not a big problem. We will just have to be vigilant for a while until the formation spreads out a little. * THANKS! * =========== Thanks to all who recently sent messages of appreciation for SpaceNews, especially: KC5YRE ZS5QR W0RPK * 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/ MAIL: John A. Magliacane, KD2BD Department of Engineering and Technology Brookdale Community College 765 Newman Springs Road Lincroft, New Jersey 07738 U.S.A. PACKET: KD2BD @ N2TDU.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