SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-361.01 Start 2005 with SKN and AO-51 Kid's Day AMSAT News Service Bulletin 361.01 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. December 26, 2004 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-361.01 2005 will be getting off to an excellent start for satellite operators with both a returning favorite event and something new. OSCAR SKN 2005 will run for 24 hours, 0000-2400 UTC, on 1 January 2005. It's very simple: no rules, no scoring, and no need to send in a log. Just operate CW through any OSCAR satellite using a straight hand key, working as many other SKN participants as you can. Contacts via the moon (OSCAR Zero) count too. As in past years, all participants are requested to nominate one of the operators they worked for "Best Fist" recognition. Your nominee need not have the best fist of those you heard, just of those you worked. Please send all nominations to Ray Soifer at w2rs@amsat.org. Amsat Kids Day on AO-51 To coincide with the ARRLs Kids Day on January 2, 2004, Amsat-NA will sponsor Kids Day on AO-51. The event will run from approximately 1600 UTC 02 Jan to 0345 UTC 03 Jan. We ask that all amateur radio stations give this short time window to promote satellite operations with kids. If not actually showing a kid how to make contacts via AO-51, then providing a station to contact, or stepping aside to allow others to make contacts with the kids. AO-51 will be configured in the following mode during the event. Please note the change in the uplink frequency for the event. Uplink: 145.880 mhz FM voice, 67hz tone Downlink: 435.300 mhz FM voice [ANS thanks Ray, W2RS and Mike, KE4AZN for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-361.02 AMSAT at the Ft. Meyers, FL Hamfest AMSAT News Service Bulletin 361.02 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. December 26, 2004 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-361.02 AMSAT has been asked to attend the Ft. Myers, Florida hamfest on January 8, 2005. There with a booth and hopefully several satellite demonstrations. This is a medium sized hamfest, but with lots of satellite interest. If you are an AMSAT member and plan on attending, please consider volunteering some of your time to help out with the AMSAT activities. Volunteers are mainly needed to man the booth during demonstrations (easy job!). Please contact Drew, KO4MA, ko4ma@amsat.org, with something about the hamfest in the subject so it'll stand out. [ANS thanks Drew, KO4MA for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-361.03 Two Marine Mobile stations QSO on AO-51 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 361.03 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. December 26, 2004 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-361.03 Congratulations to Allen, N5AFV and John, N8QGC for the first reported Marine Mobile to Marine Mobile Contact via AO-51. Allen operating N5AFV/VP9 MM contacted John operating N8QGC/PA MM for their ship to ship contact via AO-51 during their cruises. [ANS thanks Mike, KE4AZN for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-361.04 AO-51 Operating Schedule Thru Jan 2005 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 361.04 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. December 26, 2004 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-361.04 January 2004 AO-51 (Amsat Echo) Schedule Updated 23 Dec 2004 All dates are UTC. The mode change occurs normally between 0100 and 0400 utc on the date shown. The mode will be active from the date shown until the next Mode Change date listed. Mode Configurations are listed below the schedule. If for some unplanned reason we need to work with Echo and deviate from the plan I will post a note to the this Echo page on AMSAT.ORG. Dec 23 FM Repeater, V/U, ON 9k6 Digital, V/U, PBP BBS, OPEN for Users Dec 29 Experimenters Wednesday FM Repeater, V/S, ON, Using 67hz Tone on the Input 9k6 Digital, V/U, PBP BBS OFF, TXA OFF We will use the tone as a test to clear the QRM. The 67hz PL Tone will be needed or you uplink signal to pass your signal through the Satellites IFC. The transmitter will not be PTT'd. Dec 30 FM Repeater, V/U, High Power Mode ON 9k6 Digital, V/U, PBP BBS OFF, TXA OFF Jan 2 Kid's Day on Amsat Echo Uplink: 145.880 mhz FM voice, 67hz tone Downlink: 435.300 mhz FM voice The event will run from approximately 1600 UTC 02 Jan to 0345 UTC 03 Jan. We ask that all amateur radio stations give this short time window to promote satellite operations with kids. If not actually showing a kid how to make contacts via AO-51, then providing a station to contact, or stepping aside to allow others to make contacts with the kids. During the event please limit contacts to stations that are operating with kids at the microphone. Jan 3 FM Repeater, V/U, High Power Mode ON --Uplink: 145.920 mhz FM, 67 hz PL Tone --Downlink 435.300 mhz FM, Output 2.3+ watts 9k6 Digital, V/U, PBP BBS OFF, TXA OFF Jan 5 Experimenters Wednesday FM Repeater, L/S, ON --Uplink: 1268.700 mhz FM, No PL Tone --Downlink 2401.200 mhz FM 9k6 Digital, V/U, PBP BBS OFF, TXA OFF Jan 6 FM Repeater, V/S, ON --Uplink: 145.920 mhz FM, No PL Tone --Downlink 2401.200 mhz FM 9k6 Digital, V/U, PBP BBS OFF, TXA OFF Jan 12 Experimenters Wednesday 38k4 Digital Downlink, V/U Mode --Uplink: 145.860 mhz FM, 9k6 PBP Digital --Downlink: 435.150 mhz FM, 38k4 PBP Digital, 1 watt FM repeater OFF Jan 13 FM Repeater, V/U, ON 9k6 Digital, V/U, PBP BBS, OPEN for Users Jan 19 Experimenters Wednesday 9k6 Digital, V/U, High Power, PBP BBS FM repeater OFF Jan 20 FM Repeater, V/U, ON 9k6 Digital, V/U, PBP BBS, OPEN for Users Jan 26 Experimenters Wednesday QRP Mode --Uplink: 145.880 mhz FM voice, 67hz tone --Downlink: 435.300 mhz FM voice Limitied to QRP stations only. See the QRP requirments noted below. Jan 27 FM Repeater, V/U, ON 9k6 Digital, V/U, PBP BBS, OPEN for Users AO-51 ECHO LOW POWER STATION (QRP) REQUIRMENTS: To attempt to keep this simple a low power station will be defined as a station which can deliver no more than 10 watts to a vertical or handheld antenna. Some examples of Low Power Stations: 1) Using an HT (barefoot, no amplifier) with 10 watts or less output into any type of vertical whip antenna (rubber duck, etc) or handheld beam antenna (arrow type). 2) Using a mobile station with 10 watts or less output into car mounted mobile whip antenna(s). 3) Using a base station at 10 watts output into a vertical omnidirectional antenna on the side of the house. Examples that are NOT Low Power Stations: 1) Any type of high gain beam antenna, KLM, M2, Cushcraft, etc. 2) Any station transmitting over 10 watts into any type of antenna. How well we operate the satellite within these guidelines will determine how much we can run this mode in the future. So lets try and do this right! [ANS thanks Mike, KE4AZN for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-361.05 ARISS Status - 20 Dec 2004 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 361.05 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. December 26, 2004 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-361.05 1. ESA Ireland Contact Successful On Friday, December 17, the winners of the ESA sponsored educational competition met at the University College Cork in Ireland. The students had the opportunity to ask 10 questions of Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW, while an audience of 300 students, teachers, and VIPs looked on. The contact was made via the telebridge station, VK5ZAI, in Australia, and the Internet Radio Linking Project (IRLP), and Echolink were successfully used for this event. Media coverage included the Irish national radio, TV, and some newspapers. The ARISS-Europe website has posted photos and audio of the event. Go to: http://ariss.uba.be/2004_12_17.htm The University College Cork’s website has a write up on the contact. See: http://www.ucc.ie/en/NewsandEvents/PressReleases/Headline,704,en.html 2. Upcoming School Contacts Students from the 92º Grupo de Escoteiro Caio Viana Martins, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil will also speak to Leroy Chiao. The contact has been scheduled for Monday, December 27, 2004 at 13:01 UTC. 3. Expedition 9 Crew Debriefing On Wednesday, December 15, Expedition 9 crew member Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, answered questions asked by Kenneth Ransom at JSC. Items covered included the Phase 1 and Phase 2 hardware, and school contacts. Mike had a very favorable impression of the ARISS program, was highly appreciative of all the ARISS volunteer support he received during his flight, and gave some suggestions for improvement. 4. ARRL Article on Ottawa School Contact The ARRL ran a web story covering the Manordale Public School contact in Ottawa, Ontario. The article entitled, “Prime Minister's Wife on Hand for ARISS School Group QSO,” can be found at: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/12/14/3/?nc=1 5. ARRL Working 3rd Party Issues for Future Contacts Rosalie White has been working with the ARRL General Counsel interpreting the Belgian telecommunications law to support future school contacts with the ARISS newly installed Belgian bridge station. With the recent World Radio Conference changes to the third party rules, it is not clear whether Belgium has a third party agreement with the U.S. to allow unlicensed students to talk on the radio. [ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-361.06 Central Florida FUNSat Workshop AMSAT News Service Bulletin 361.06 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. December 26, 2004 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-361.06 The Florida Space Grant Consortium (FSGC) through a NASA Workforce Training Program has developed a student satellite design competition. This competition requires students to design and build an engineering model of a satellite, in the CubeSat configuration, in a school year. Then the finalist will be supported for construction and launch costs. Earlier this December designs were received from three different Florida Universities. It is hoped that this competition can be expanded into other states and geographical areas in the coming years. A workshop to fulfill the aforementioned goals is being planned, to provide a platform for the presentation of the accomplishments of this competition, and to help spread current state-of-the-art technologies and techniques of the CubeSat community. This workshop will be held on the morning of January 21, 2005 at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), FL. The workshop will start at 9:00 AM, with light refreshments beforehand, and will last into the afternoon, depending on the number of presenters. Lunch will be provided to the attendees. There is also the possibility of a tour of KSC facilities immediately following the workshop for those that might be interested. Please RSVP by January 7th if your group would like to attend or give a brief presentation. Please direct any questions or requests to funsat@mail.ucf.edu. Also, if your university is interested in the possibility of extending this competition outside of Florida please let the FUNSat team know and they would be happy to discuss that possibility for next years competition. [ANS thanks Team FUNSat for the above information] /EX