SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-289.01 AMSAT Meeting Internet Success AMSAT News Service Bulletin 289.01 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 16, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-289.01 Following the success of the first ever internet connectivity via Echolink for the AMSAT General Meeting held on October 7 in Pittsburgh, the Board of Directors plans to repeat this feature for members when the logistics next allow. During the meeting, those in the room at Pittsburgh participated with other members in 12 countries via Echolink. "This is really cool", in the words of AMSAT President Rick Hambly, W2GPS, "It was difficult working out the logistics, but it worked!" Rick further commented that, "We got the message. We conducted a successful meeting because we were open and in touch with the membership." AMSAT members wishing to participate in future internet sessions are invited to begin learning about Voice Over IP (VoIP) tech- nology and configuring their amateur station computers. Plans are in motion to publish updated "how-to" information on the AMSAT web and in the Journal. In the meantime here are two references to begin your research: Home page of the Echolink software http://www.echolink.org/ ARRL article on VoIP and Amateur Radio: http://www.arrl.org/qst/2003/02/VoIP.pdf [ANS thanks the AMSAT Board for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-289.02 PCSAT2 and WB4APR Featured in Magazine Article AMSAT News Service Bulletin 289.02 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 16, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-289.02 Shipmate, the magazine of the US Naval Academy Alumni Association, discusses the success of the PCSAT2 mission in an article titled, "Out of this World, USNA Satellite Flies Aboard ISS". Bob Bruninga, WB4APR is interviewed about his participation with his students in the PCSAT2 project. AMSAT has received permission to re-post this article on-line at: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/articles/PCSat2/PC-Sat2_Shipmate.pdf [ANS thanks Martha Thorn, Shipmate Magazine, and Jim Sanford WB4GCS for the above information.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-289.03 SSETI Update - New Handbook Available AMSAT News Service Bulletin 289.03 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 16, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-289.03 The SSETI Express Handbook has been updated. The latest version can be downloaded free of charge from the AMSAT-UK website at: http://www.uk.amsat.org/ In is also available in Japanese thanks to the work of Toyo Komatsu, JA0CQP The new Keplerian elements for a SSETI Express launch at 06:52:26 UTC on October 27th are also on the AMSAT-UK website. These were provided by Viktor Kudielka, OE1VKW. [ANS thanks Trevor, M5AKA for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-289.04 ARISS Status for the week of October 10, 2005 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 289.04 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 16, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-289.04 1. ARISS School Contacts Successful On Wednesday, October 5, Greg Olsen, KC2ONX, participated in his first ARISS contact as he spoke to students at Princeton High School in Princeton, New Jersey The audio was streamed over the internet, courtesy of MCI, and was fed through the Echolink AMSAT and EDU_NET servers. Students from Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn, New York enjoyed a contact with Greg Olsen, KC2ONX, via the telebridge station, VK5ZAI, in Australia. On Thursday, October 6, ten students asked 13 questions of the space traveler while the student body of 4500 children listened in. The audio was also fed through Echolink, and thirty stations (including 3 repeater nodes) from twelve countries tied in: USA, UK, Brazil, Chile, Germany, Thailand, Japan, Holland, Russia, Australia, India, and Romania. On October 7, Greg Olsen, KC2ONX, spoke with students at Ridgefield Park High School (Olsen's alma mater) in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey via the telebridge station ZS6BTD in South Africa. The audio was fed through Echolink, as twenty connections, of which 4 were repeater nodes, were made from stations in Germany, Thailand, UK, USA, Japan, Holland, Russia, and South Africa. 2. ARRL Article on Space Visitor ARISS provided pass times to Greg Olsen so that he could make contacts with the general public, as time allowed. ARRL ran an article, which included the pass times, entitled, "'Space Tourist' May Get on the Air from NA1SS for Casual Contact." See: 3. JOTA 2005 The 2005 Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) was held on Saturday and Sunday, October 15-16. The event encourages both Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts to become involved with amateur radio. Expedition 12 crew members were heard on the 145.800 MHz downlink as NA1SS, the amateur station aboard the ISS, participated in JOTA. 4. Space Times Article on ISS Ham Radio Space Times, a publication of the American Astronautical Society ran an article in its July/August 2005 issue which mentions the amateur radio system on board the ISS, and its use by crew members as a past time activity. [ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-289.05 AMSAT Project EAGLE Volunteer Opportunity AMSAT News Service Bulletin 289.05 >From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. October 16, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-289.05 Gould Smith, WA4SXM wrote, "I was privileged to attend the second EAGLE planning meeting. First - the EAGLE project is very much alive and progressing quite well. Granted, I had some concerns going into the meetings, but these were quickly put to rest. The project has excellent leadership, excellent technical expertise, a great deal of actual satellite experience and a wonderful 'get it done' attitude from all the teams." The open design and development concept for EAGLE should be quite informative to those of us outside the design team. We will have a great opportunity to learn more about what goes into making the dec- isions about the spacecraft, its orbit and its operational modes. In addition, we all now assume the responsibility to make this the best thought out, documented and tested amateur satellite ever. So, following in the age old AMSAT tradition of volunteering to fill a need, I have volunteered to help communicate what is going on with the EAGLE project. This a short introduction to many updates coming over the next months and years as the AMSAT-NA EAGLE satellite project matures into an orbiting satellite. I am planning on releasing a report at least once a month and more often when important information becomes available. This report will be available through the AMSAT BB and on the EAGLE website. There already is so much to write about that I am going to have to break it down into different areas on each report, because I won't have time to write about all the areas in each report. There are many separate, parallel efforts going on during this early stage. As these separate projects mature, the integration and coordination of these modules into the EAGLE satellite should prove to be a fascinating journey. One of the items discussed was the 2006 EAGLE budget. As you can see from the EAGLE project thermometer on the AMSAT EAGLE site, $33k won't go very far. It is time to start purchasing items for development and EAGLE needs your support both as a volunteer and as a donor. You can do both of these on the AMSAT web site. I am interested in some people to help me take the raw technical information provided by the project teams and put this into a more digestible format. Let me know if you are interested by e-mail to wa4sxm@amsat.org. [ANS thanks Gould, WA4SXM for the above information] /EX