SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-121.01 Ron Broadbent MBE, G3AAJ - SK AMSAT News Service Bulletin 121.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. May 1, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-121.01 Dear Members of AMSAT, I am very sad to report that Ron Broadbent MBE G3AAJ passed away in hospital early in the morning on Sunday 24th April of a heart attack following a fall the previous week in which he broke his leg. Ron, known as 'Mr AMSAT-UK' to many around the world was the Hon. Sec. of AMSAT-UK between 1978 and 1994 and built the society into a vibrant and respected organisation serving radio amateurs not only in the UK but worldwide. His energy and robust character was a driving force in AMSAT-UK, as well as the RSGB and IARU, and perhaps particularly at the annual AMSAT-UK Space Colloquium which he helped found and then organised for many years. Ron believed passionately in the principles of amateur radio as a hobby and his commitment and effort given willingly over many years and supported by his wife, Beryl, were greatly appreciated by amateurs worldwide. Not one to suffer fools gladly, Ron's sometimes gruff exterior hid a deeply generous personality and one who was always ready to roll up his sleeves and get to work rather than just talk. He will be sadly missed and we send our condolences and sympathy to Beryl and the family. We have lost one of amateur radio's real characters and a gentlemen. Martin Sweeting G3YJO [ANS thanks the AMSAT-UK committee for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-121.02 HAMSAT Launch AMSAT News Service Bulletin 121.02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. May 1, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-121.02 Hi all Hamsat launch is now scheduled for 5 May 2005 appx time is 4.52 GMT Team Members will be at ISTRAC mission centre to experience the pre launch checks , countdown, Tlm and oribital commands etc. As it will help hams to experience and gain knowledge of such activities specially of their own Hamsat programme. ISTRAC is the Indian Sat Tracking Centre at Bangalore Doordharsan TV known as DD ( Govt run TV Ch ) have taken video clipping for an exclusive news story about the HAMSAT. This will be aired on 2 or 3 May. In the mean time a new ham station is setup at ISTRAC apart from the other Ham Stn VU2URC at ISAC. VU2WMY Mani ( ISAC ), VU2FBS Singh ( ISTRAC ) have been assigned the payload evaluation jobs from ISRO. Last evening and this morning the new Ham stn at ISRAC was contacted via the AO-51, stns active here were VU2WMY, VU2FBS, VU3TYG, VU2GUR and myself VU2POP. ISTRAC ham stn was setup by VU2WMY Mani and VU2FBS Singh within a couple of days with the FT-767, FT-726, FT -8800 new G-5500 rotator, 2 UHF, VHF cross yagis, NOVA tracker etc. They have sucessfully tracked and copied beacon / Tlm of other sats. We hope the other centres of ISRO too will activate ham stns soon. More than 30 hams are in various centres of ISRO. At the same time there is excitement around with VU Hams who are gearing up for the Hamsat activity and we hope to hear many new stns coming up on the Sat modes Looking forward to the Hamsat. [ANS thanks Pop, VU2POP for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-121.03 AMSAT-UK Colloquium 2005 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 121.03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. May 1, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-121.03 The dates of the AMSAT-UK Colloquium for 2005 are Friday 29 July to Sunday 31 July. The venue is as previous years at the University of Surrey, Guildford, UK This will be our 20th Colloquium, and as usual, we hope to hope an interesting and fun programme for all our visitors. Special for this year will be the ARISS-Internation meeting which will be held on the 2 days after the Colloquium, ie Mon and Tue 1 and 2 Aug. Although primarily for ARISS delegates, this meeting is open for anyone to attend as an observer. Its an excellent opportunity to get more aquainted with the movers and shakers behind the ARISS programme. More information on ARISS can be found here. As in previous years, you DO NOT have to be a member of AMSAT to attend, and you can either stay over night in the Universities student accomodation, or attend as a "Day Visitor" for one or more days. A booking form, and registration details can be found on the AMSAT- UK web site: http://www.uk.amsat.org/Colloquium/default.php [ANS thanks the AMSAT-UK Committe for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-121.04 ARISS Status, April 25, 2005 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 121.04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. May 1, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-121.04 Italy Schools Contact Successful On Monday, April 18, two Italian schools, Istituto Tecnico Industriale Liceo scientifico Tecnologico G. Marconi, IK0WGF, in Civitavecchia and Ist.Tecn.Comm.Einaudi-Mattei & Ist.Statale Istr. Sup. Malignani In, IW3QKU, in Palmanova shared a contact with Roberto Vittori, IZ6ERU. The two schools, linked via Skype, took turns asking questions, of which eight were answered. Princess Elettra Marconi, daughter of Guglielmo Marconi, attended the event, and extended her greetings to Vittori. The event was webcast by RAI, the national Radio and Television Institute of Italy. The audio was also transmitted by EchoLink and had 11 connections from the UK, Slovakia, Germany, Italy and the USA. An article (in Italian) written about this event and the ESRIN contact may be found on the website of the Ministry of Communication (Lazio province). See: http://www.mincomisplazio.it/A%20VITTORI.htm Successful Swiss School Contact On Tuesday, April 19, Switzerland experienced its first ARISS contact. Sixteen students from Schulhaus Feld 1 in Richterswil were able to ask twenty questions of Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW. This contact was the twenty-third for Leroy Chiao. He now holds the record for the most ARISS contacts performed during one mission while on board the ISS. Congratulations to Leroy! ESRIN Contact Successful The winning classes (approximately 120 children) of the European Space Agency competition for primary schools in the Lazio region gathered at the European Space Research Institute (ESRIN) in Frascati, Italy, on Wednesday, April 20. Twelve students spoke with Roberto Vittori, IZ6ERU, via the telebridge station NN1SS. The audio was fed into the Echolink servers, and fifteen connections were made from the U.S.A, Russia, Italy, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand. An article, written in Italian and entitled, "La i spazio parla con I bambini", can be found on the ESA website. See: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Eneide_Italian/SEMCOYW797E_0.html Video of the school contact can be found at: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Eneide_Italian/SEMJGUW797E_0.html Upcoming School Contact Albany Hills State School in Brisbane, Australia has been approved for an ARISS contact. It has been scheduled for Wednesday, May 4, at 0749 UTC via the telebridge station, NN1SS, located in Greenbelt, Maryland. The audio from this contact will be fed into the EchoLink AMSAT (node 101377) and the EDU_NET (node 77992) conference servers. ARRL Article on New Hampshire Contact Maple Avenue Elementary School in Goffstown, New Hampshire experienced an ARISS contact on April 13. The ARRL wrote an article about the event. See Second Time the Charm for New Hampshire School Space Contact, at: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/04/20/3/?nc=1 ARRL Articles on ISS Crew Change ARRL April 18th web story covers the new crew members joining the Expedition 10 crew on the ISS. To view the article, "New all-ham crew now safely aboard ISS" go to: http://www.arrl.org/ Another ARRL article, entitled, "ISS Expedition 10 Crew Passes the Baton to New Two-Ham Team," covers the ISS handover from Expedition 10 to the Expedition 11 crew. See: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/04/22/3/?nc=1 [ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-121.05 Space Day, Thursday, May 5 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 121.05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. May 1, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-121.05 AMSAT will be taking part in Space Day, Thursday, May 5 at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles Airport. Hours are 10 AM - 2 PM for student groups, 2 - 4 PM for the general public, and 4 - 9 PM for families. Parking will be free that day. We will have tables set up in the Space Hangar around the OSCAR satellite display-case so we can explain how hams build and operate satellites. We'll show CalPoly's Cubesat model and other small satellite hardware, and we will also talk about OSCAR 1 and PCSat located in the display-case. We are hoping to have members of the ARISS team explain ARISS and Naval Academy people explain PCSat. If you haven't yet seen the new Space Hangar at the Udvar-Hazy Center, May 5 is a perfect opportunity. The Museum is open to 9 PM that day so you can visit after work, and parking (normally $12) is free. It's also a chance to meet the Shuttle Return to Flight astronauts and other VIP's. Here is further information from the Air and Space Museum's website http://www.nasm.si.edu/events/eventDetail.cfm?eventID=298 [ANS thanks the Perry, W3PK for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-121.06 ARRL Field Day - AO-51 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 121.06 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. May 1, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-121.06 For the ARRL Field Day Event this year AO-51 will be configured in Mode V/S FM Repeater. The uplink will be 145.920 mHz with the 67 Hz tone enabled. The downlink will be 2401.200 mHz. There will be two long duration operating sessions leading up to Field Day when AO-51 will be configured in Mode V/S to give users the opportunity to test their Field Day stations. In May there is a 6-day session that has already been announced via the ANS bulletin and on the AMSAT AO-51 schedule page. In June, AO-51 will also be in Mode V/S the weekend and entire week before Field Day. Take advantage of these operating sessions to setup and test your Field Day station before the actual day arrives. Working the Mode S downlink on AO-51 does not require a large investment in equipment for your Field Day station. A satellite dish is not required to operate this mode. Gould, WA4SXM, copied the S downlink using just his G3RUH patch feed during the early days of testing the S band transmitter on Echo. Drew, KO4MA, has operated portable with a Transystems downconverter using the dipole feed and a corner reflector on numerous occasions. Mike, KE4AZN, has operated portable with either a 3.5 turn helix feed (feed only, no dish) or a homebrew K5OE patch antenna, held out the window of the car. Mike has also operated mobile on Mode V/S by attaching the helix feed and downconverter to the trunk of the car. Clare, VE3NPC, has reported excellent receive signals using a 3.5 turn helix and a K5GNA downconverter. Any of these Amsat members can be contacted at their "@amsat.org" email address and would be happy to help Field Day users get setup for Mode V/S. If your IF is on VHF (which most are), an HT or other mobile FM rig will work fine as your downlink receiver. The large 5 kHz steps of these radios actually make tuning the fast moving Doppler on S band much easier. Use the scheduled Mode V/S sessions to practice before heading out for Field Day. If you have not worked the S band downlink on AO-51 previously, a few passes monitoring the downlink and practicing the Doppler correction will be very helpful. The Doppler shift on an AO-51 pass is approximately +/- 50 kHz. There will be lots of activity on Field Day, therefore getting your Receive capability working well before transmitting to the satellite, will keep your station from causing unnecessary QRM. The uplink for AO-51 does not require a large Yagi antenna to be successful. Any good mobile omni direction whip antenna or other omni directional antenna will work fine, especially if all stations work together during the passes and not try to dominate the satellite. Therefore, it should not be difficult to setup an antenna that will work for the uplink to AO-51. If you have a Field Day station with Mode V/U capability, you already have the uplink covered. A webpage will be setup with a few pictures and text on various AO -51 Mode V/S station options. This will not include every option available, but will hopefully assist a new Mode V/S user with some ideas to get started setting up their station, and show that is it not difficult to get setup and working the S downlink on AO-51. Web URL: www.graceba.net/~mkmk518/echofieldday.html With the V/S configuration of AO-51 and the other satellites available, we will have a nice compliment of modes to operate during Field Day. 73 KE4AZN Echo Command Team Amsat VP Operations [ANS thanks the KE4AZN for the above information] /EX