SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-114.01 AMSAT's External Relations Team Update AMSAT News Service Bulletin 114.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. April 24, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-114.01 AMSAT's External Relations Team handles AMSAT interactions with outside groups such as government agencies, educational groups as well as other amateur radio and AMSAT groups around the World. This Team has been busy preparing for several upcoming events. Work is continuing in support of the petition for reconsideration AMSAT filed regarding orbital debris. Refining our positions as well as resolving some highly divergent model predictions are some of the issues being worked. No time line for action has been set by the FCC yet, however AMSAT must be ready to respond promptly when asked. Preparations are also underway for several upcoming conferences. The Small Payload Ridesharing Conference will be held in Denver this year. The focus of this conference is developing increased launch opportunities for small satellites and secondary payloads. Another upcoming event is the combined Cubesat workshop and Small Satellite Conference in August. This year AMSAT will have a table in the exhibitor area at the conference. Planning for materials, demos and volunteers is now underway. A final area that will be getting additional attention in upcoming months is developing an "educational program" for AMSAT. Several ideas have been proposed. Exactly how this will develop will depend greatly on the passions brought to the program by those who volunteer. Anyone interested in helping in this area is encouraged to contact Lee McLamb, KU4OS, at ku4os@amsat.org Lee McLamb, KU4OS AMSAT Executive VP [ANS thanks Lee, KU4OS for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-114.02 Tony England, W0ORE visits with AMSAT AMSAT News Service Bulletin 114.02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. April 22, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-114.02 Meet Astronaut Tony England, W0ORE during Hamvention 2005 Friday May 20, 11:00 AM - noon, AMSAT booth Friday May 20, 7:30 to 9:30 PM, AMSAT Banquet at the Amber Rose Restaurant Here is your chance to meet Dr. Tony England, the second astronaut to use ham radio in space! Come by the AMSAT booth Friday morning for a terrestrial encounter. In 1985, Tony first went into space onboard the space shuttle Challenger. During his eight-day mission, he was a NASA Mission Specialist, responsible for conducting many of the experiments in the onboard laboratory. The mission included a ham radio payload called SAREX, the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment. AMSAT President Rick Hambly, W2GPS will also be available at the AMSAT booth during Tony's Friday 11:00 am - noon visit. [ANS thanks Gould Smith, WA4SXM for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-114.03 FM OPS on Linear Transponder AMSAT News Service Bulletin 114.03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. April 24, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-114.03 FM operation on a linear transponder not good practice The possibility of FM operation through the linear transponders on board the soon-to-be-launched VUSAT was announced recently by AMSAT-India. The Advisory Panel to the IARU Satellite Advisor, Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV, considered this during its regular Echolink consultative meeting last weekend. The group pointed out that FM is an inefficient use of spectrum and power and recommended strongly that FM should not be used on linear transponders. In many countries with large amateur communities, FM on a linear transponder is a totally unacceptable mode of operation and discouraged at all times. The IARU Satellite Advisor and the Panel have suggested to AMSAT India not to publish FM as a user option for the linear transponder, and to discourage the use of FM through these transponders, especially in countries with large amateur populations. The IARU Satellite Advisor and his panel meet on Echolink on a regular basis to review requests for frequency coordination. The main objective is to advise satellite builders on spectrum use in order to achieve harmonious use of the limited spectrum and to avoid or minimize interference. “We have carefully chosen our meeting time to enable team members in the US, Europe and Australia to talk to each other at a reasonable time of the day”, ZS6AKV said. It is quite a challenge, when it is midday in the USA it is late evening in Europe and Africa and very early the next morning in Australia. Over the past few years the team has developed a number of guideline papers for satellite builders and operators. For more information visit www.iaru.org/satellite [ANS thanks Hans, ZS6AKV for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-114.04 ARISS Status - 18 April 2005 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 114.04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. April 18, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-114.04 ARISS Status April 18, 2005 1. New Hampshire School Contact Successful On Wednesday, April 13, Maple Avenue Elementary School, in Goffstown, New Hampshire, had a successful contact with Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW. Students asked twenty questions in front of an audience of two hundred students, teachers, parents, and six local dignitaries. Three newspapers and a television documentary producer were in attendance to cover the event. Echolink was also used for this contact. The audio transmission from a webcast was fed into the AMSAT and EDU_NET servers. Twenty-one connections were made, and stations from the U.K., U.S.A., Australia, Holland, Slovakia, and Switzerland listened in. 2. California School Contact Successful Fort Ross Elementary School is a small school with an enrollment of 50 students, located in Cazadero, California, a remote area ninety miles north of San Francisco. On Friday, April 15, the children experienced a successful contact with the ISS. The students were able to ask Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW, 15 questions before the space station went over the horizon. Approximately 85 people attended the event including a reporter from the local weekly north coast newspaper, the Independent Coast Observer. 3. Upcoming School Contacts Schulhaus Feld 1 in Richterswil, Switzerland is slated for a contact with Leroy Chiao on Tuesday, April 19, at 07:36 UTC. (Note the change in date and time.) Two ARISS contacts have been scheduled with ESA Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori, as follows: Istituto Tecnico Industriale Liceo scientifico Tecnologico “G. Marconi” in Civitavecchia, Italy and Ist.Tecn.Comm.Einaudi-Mattei & Ist.Statale Istr. Sup. Malignani In in Palmanova, Italy will share a contact with the ISS, as they are linked via Skype (internet telephony). The students from each institute will take turns asking questions. The event is scheduled for April 18 at 08:45 UTC. The European Space Research Institute (ESRIN), is slated for a contact via telebridge station NN1SS on April 20 at 12:39 UTC. 4. ARRL Article on Flory Contact On April 8, Flory Academy, a NASA Explorer School, spoke to the ISS via amateur radio. ARRL covered the contact in an article entitled, “School Community Cooperation, Student Activities Enhance Space QSO Experience.” See: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/04/13/2/?nc=1 5. ARRL Article on New Crew Aboard the ISS On April 15, the ARRL ran a web story on the new crew aboard the ISS. “Three radio amateurs on their way to International Space Station,” may be found at: http://www.arrl.org/ 6. ARISS School Receives Award Sonoran Sky Elementary School, KA7SKY, received a Satellite Communicators Club Award from AMSAT NA. The school had an ARISS contact with Expedition 8’s Mike Foale, KB5UAC, on April 5, 2004. Congratulations Sonoran Sky! [ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-114.05 May AO-51 Operating Schedule AMSAT News Service Bulletin 114.05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. April 24, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-114.05 1 May to 3 May FM Repeater, V/U Uplink: 145.920 mhz FM, 67 hz PL Tone Downlink 435.300 mhz FM 9k6 Digital, V/U, PBP BBS (Pacsat Broadcast Protocol BBS) Uplink: 145.860 mhz FM, 9k6 PBP Digital Downlink: 435.150 mhz FM, 9k6 PBP Digital 4 May (rescheduled from April) FM Repeater, L/U Uplink: 1268.700 mhz FM, 67 hz PL Tone Downlink 435.300 mhz FM 5 May to 10 May FM Repeater, V/U Uplink: 145.920 mhz FM, 67 hz PL Tone Downlink 435.300 mhz FM 9k6 Digital, V/U, PBP BBS (Pacsat Broadcast Protocol BBS) Uplink: 145.860 mhz FM, 9k6 PBP Digital Downlink: 435.150 mhz FM, 9k6 PBP Digital 11 May Voice relay, V SSB/U FM Uplink: 145.880 mhz USB Downlink 435.300 mhz FM 12 May to 17 May FM Repeater, V/U, High Power Mode Uplink: 145.920 mhz FM, 67 hz PL Tone Downlink 435.300 mhz FM 18 May PSK31/narrowband data modes, V SSB/U FM Uplink: 145.860 mhz USB Downlink 435.300 mhz FM 19 May to 24 May (in support of Dayton demos) FM Repeater, V/S Uplink: 145.920 mhz FM, No PL Tone Downlink 2401.200 mhz FM 25 May 38k4 Digital Downlink, V/U, PBP BBS (Pacsat Broadcast Protocol BBS) Uplink: 145.860 mhz FM, 9k6 PBP Digital Downlink: 435.150 mhz FM, 38k4 PBP Digital 26 May to 31 May FM Repeater, V/U Uplink: 145.920 mhz FM, 67 hz PL Tone Downlink 435.300 mhz FM 9k6 Digital, V/U, PBP BBS (Pacsat Broadcast Protocol BBS) Uplink: 145.860 mhz FM, 9k6 PBP Digital Downlink: 435.150 mhz FM, 9k6 PBP Digital In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive additional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office. [ANS Thanks AO-51 Operating Committee for this information] /EX