SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-023.01 Microsat launch 15th anniversary AMSAT News Service Bulletin 016.01 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. January 23, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-023.01 22 January 2005 marks the 15th anniversary of the launch of five OSCAR microsats, UOSAT-4 (UO-15), PACSAT (AO-16), DOVE (DO-17), WEBERSAT (WO-18) and LUSAT (LO-19). UoSAT-OSCAR 15 (UoSAT-4, UoSAT-E) by a Ariane 4 launcher from Kourou, French Guiana. The satellite was launched on the first Ariane ASAP flight V35 with SPOT-2 and four other microsatellites: AO-16, DO-17, WO-18, and LO-19. Based on the success of UoSAT-OSCAR-11's Digital Communications Experiment, AMSAT-OSCAR-16 was designed to be a dedicated store-and-forward file server in space. A total of 10 megabytes of static RAM was available for message storage and a RAM disk. DOVE-OSCAR 17 was sponsored by AMSAT-Brazil and lead by Dr. Junior Torres DeCastro, PY2BJO. The primary mission of DOVE was to provide an easily receivable signal for educational institutions. Thus requiring simple equipment like a 2 meter handheld or scanner to receive DOVE's signal. Telemetry was in the familiar terrestrial 1200 baud AFSK AX.25 packet format requiring a common TNC to decode. WEBERSAT-OSCAR 18 carried a Mode JD digital transponder and had a 1200 baud AX.25 packet system. Additionally WO-18 carried two 70cm beacons. LUSAT-OSCAR 19 was coordinated by AMSAT Argentina, as a packet radio store-and-forward spacecraft much the same as AMSAT-OSCAR-16. The only difference between the two satellites was that AO-16 supports an S-Band beacon in addition to the mailbox, while LO-19 had an additional 70-cm CW beacon. More information about these ground breaking satellites can be found at: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/history.php [ANS thanks Perry, W3PK for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-023.02 AMSAT-UK Colloquium Dates for 2005 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 023.02 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. January 23, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-023.02 The AMSAT-UK Colloquium dates have been set for Friday through Sunday, 29-30 July 2005. Place, where else but the University of Surrey, Guildford, UK! Also in conjunction with the RSGB, AMSAT-UK will be hosting the ARISS International meeting which will be held at the University on Monday and Tuesday, 1-2 August 2005. Details of bothevents are still being worked out and will be available on the colloquium web page http://www.uk.amsat.org/Colloquium/default.php [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-023.03 Project OSCAR Symposium AMSAT News Service Bulletin 023.03 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. January 23, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-023.03 Project OSCAR, the world's oldest amateur radio club devoted exclusively to amateur satellites has issued a call for papers for it's 2005 West Coast Space Symposium to be held May 7th, 2005 at the College of San Mateo in San Mateo, California. The Symposium is devoted to a broad range of topics that range from current satellite construction projects, satellite operations and general technical discussions. For more information to submit papers, or for information to attend the Symposium, visit the Project OSCAR website at: http://www.projectoscar.net or send email to symposium@projectoscar.net [ANS thanks Emily, W0EEC for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-023.04 ARISS Status - 17 Jan 2005 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 023.04 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. January 23, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-023.04 1. California School Contact Successful As a child, Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW, attended John Baldwin Elementary School in Danville, California, and so he selected this school for his next ARISS contact. On Thursday, January 13, 2005, Leroy delighted the elementary school students by speaking with them from space. He was able to answer 13 of their questions. The contact was via the telebridge station, VK5ZAI, in Kingston SE, South Australia. 2. Upcoming School Contacts Students at Pinon Elementary School in White Rock, New Mexico will have their chance to speak to Leroy Chiao on Thursday, 27 January 2005 at 17:42 UTC. 3. ESA Article on Ireland Contact ESA ran an article covering the ESA sponsored competition in Ireland where the winning schools met at University College Cork for their ARISS contact. The article, “Greetings from space,” is posted on the ESA website. See: http://www.esa.int/esaHS/SEMAVC8873E_education_0.html 4. Astronaut Training Kenneth Ransom held a training session with astronauts Thomas Reiter, DF4TR, and Bill McArthur, KC5ACR. He familiarized them with the hardware on board the ISS, talked about lessons learned, and had them practice placing the radio in cross band repeater mode. He also covered other equipment that is expected to be on board the ISS when they arrive, including the SSTV and the Yaesu radio system. Both astronauts are very interested in making contacts, and they should be a great asset to the ARISS program. Kenneth has also scheduled a training session with astronaut Sunita Williams. The meeting is slated for Tuesday, 18 January 2005. 5. Astronaut Receives Amateur Radio License JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide passed his amateur radio exam on Saturday, January 8, and received his new callsign, KE5DNI. Hoshide is the eighth of fourteen members in the 2004 astronaut candidate class to receive his license. The other seven received their callsigns in November, 2004. Congratulations Akihiko! 6. ARISS Acquires New Hardware The ARISS U.S. team purchased an IBM A31P Thinkpad computer. This is the same model computer that will be dedicated to the ISS Ham radio system on board the ISS. The ARISS team plans to test the SSTV system with this newly acquired computer. 7. Presentation on Amateur Radio in Space The new Power Point presentation about ham radio in space was announced in the March issue of QST (ARRL's monthly journal with 160,000 subscribers) and described on ARRL’s teacher listserv. The show, “Amateur Radio in Space,” which covers ham radio satellites and highlights ARISS, is downloadable from the ARRL web site. See: http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/materials/videos.html 8. QST Covers ARISS ESA ESOC Contact A news item with a photo of members of the Amateur Radio club of the European Space Centre, in Darmstadt, Germany, was carried in the March QST because during their open house, they made an Amateur Radio contact with astronauts using ARISS gear on the ISS. The open house had 1200 visitors who were impressed that hams were able to talk to the astronauts as the ISS passed overhead. [ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI for the above information] /EX