SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0410 * SpaceNews 10-Apr-00 * BID: $SPC0410 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY APRIL 10, 2000 * MIR NEWS * ============ Soyuz PM-30 was launched on 04-Apr-2000 with the Mir space station as its destination. The Soyuz craft carrying Cosmonauts Sergei Zaletin and Alexander Kaleri arrived on Mir on 06-Apr-2000. The Cosmonauts are expected to remain on-board Mir for 70 days, although the mission may be extended several more months beyond that. By Saturday 08-Apr-2000, Shlomo Goldstein, 4X4LF, in Israel was copying Mir downlinks on 143.625 MHz. On 11-Apr-2000, Bob, EA1TH reported copying the Mir downlink from Northern Spain. It appears, however, that many of the previously active Mir VHF relay stations that utilized the 143.625 MHz downlink are no longer in operation. As a result, activity on 143.625 MHz at least at the present time is not as high as it has been during past missions. By 14-Apr-2000, the 2-meter Amateur Radio station on Mir had been activated, and several FM voice contacts between Mir and Amateur Radio operators living in Australia and New Zealand had taken place on 145.985 MHz. Mir was using a callsign of U8MIR. Miles Mann, WF1F, reported that the Mir crew normally sleeps between 19:00 UTC and 04:00 UTC, and their normal working day is between approximately 04:00 UTC and 18:00 UTC. Amateur Radio activity is most likely to occur during meal times and after their normal working hours. Meal time is as follows: Wakeup 04:00 UTC Breakfast 04:30 UTC Lunch 09:00 UTC Dinner 15:00 UTC Bedtime 19:00 UTC * FM SATELLITE STATUS * ======================= Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, has provided the following summary of currently active Amateur satellites carrying FM downlink transmitters. The following spacecraft can be heard fairly easily using an FM transceiver and a mobile vertical whip antenna: SAT DOWNLNK UPLINK S MODE COMMENTS ==== ======= ======= = ==================== ================================ MIR 145.985 145.985 9+FM voice to/fm crew Activity over Australia reported UO14 435.070 145.975 5 FM Voice repeater Lots of fun AO27 436.795 145.850 3 FM Voice repeater Days only but fun SO35 145.825 436.290 8 FM Voice repeater On scheduled passes only UO22 435.120 145.900 3 9600 baud FSK packet On KO23 435.170 145.900 4 9600 baud FSK packet Occasionally off the air KO25 436.500 145.980 3 9600 baud FSK packet On TO31 436.925 145.925 5 9600 baud FSK packet On In addition, the UoSAT-OSCAR-11 satellite may be heard daily on 145.825 MHz transmitting telemetry and ASCII news bulletins at 1200 bps using an AFSK format. Between the hours of about 6 AM to noon and 6 PM to midnight local Sun time, there is usually one of these birds in view for a few minutes to keep you entertained while traveling. UHF requires +/- 5 or 10 KHz Doppler tuning. The "S" column is a subjective signal strength assessment. A 20" vertical whip in the center of your car roof will give you success as shown below. This acts as a 3/4 wave on UHF giving almost 8 dBi above 30 degrees over a good groundplane. SIG RECEIVE RANGE === ================== As a rough approximation consider this table 9 Horizon to Horizon that Bob has subjectively determined after 8 5 deg and above 3 months of daily monitoring. Home stations 7 10 deg and above with 50' of RG-8 should subtract about 3 from 6 15 deg and above the signals and 5/8 or dual band, or "gain" 5 20 deg and above antennas should also subtract about 2. 4 25 deg and above 3 30 deg and above The PACSATs do not currently digipeat UI 2 3 ele beam required packets, but you can still see status and 1 6 ele beam required telemetry and the USER lists on your Kenwood data transceivers or any receiver with 9600 baud TNC. For more information on mobile satellite operations, see http://web.usna.navy.mil/~bruninga/astars.html [Info via Bob, WB4APR] * 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