SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-324.01 HAMSAT VO-52 Activates Dutch Transponder AMSAT News Service Bulletin 324.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. November 20, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-324.01 Mani, VU2WMY, Secretary & Station-In-Charge of the Upagrah Amateur Radio Club at the ISRO Satellite Centre in Bangalore, India reports the command to switch on the Dutch transponder aboard HAMSAT VO-52 was successfully issued from India's ISRO Tracking Ranging and Command Network. The Dutch transponder, designed and built by William, PE1RAH, began operation at 1034 hours on November 17 Indian Standard Time. William said, "Tuning on 145.860 MHz I could clearly hear the CW beacon with the message I programmed in it. The CW beacon and transponder survived 6 months in space without any problems. I hope you all have lot of fun with it and can use it for your experiments and QSOs." The first stations to operate via VO-52's Dutch transponder were Pop, VU2POP, Secretary Amsat India; Guru, VU2GUR; and Ramesh, VU2RMS; and Mani, VU2WMY. Reception reports have begun to be received from radio amateurs around the world as HAMSAT VO-52 comes in range. Mani continued, "The second pass over India was also monitored with initial measurements and test results indicating normal performance. We look forward to feedback from the hams all over the world. Please post your reports on the Amsat-India web site http://www.amsat.in/hamsatreports.htm." Frequencies used on HAMSAT's Dutch Transponder ------------------------------------------------ Type: Linear Inverting transponder Uplink frequency: 435.220 - 435.280 MHz, Downlink frequency: 145.870 - 145.930 Mhz Beacon: CW at 145.860 MHz William will send a special QSL card for those who have a QSO with him via the Dutch transponder. This card was designed by Tasos, SV8YM, and features exclusive photos and information about HAMSAT. [ANS thanks Mani, VU2WMY; Pop, VU2POP; AMSAT-India, and William, PE1RAH for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-324.02 AATiS Team Announces RUBIN-5/SAFIR-S Activation AMSAT News Service Bulletin 324.02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. November 20, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-324.02 There are 2 amateur radio equipped payloads that are remain attached to the launch adapter that carried the SSETI mission into space. These are the Mozhayetz-5 (RS-25) and RUBIN-5/SAFIR-S payloads. Unfortunately due to the failed release of RS-25, the power budget of a partially covered solar cell for RUBIN-5/SAFIR-S is low. The SAFIR S-band beacon is now enabled with a carrier frequency of 2401.900 MHz. The downlink-only beacon consists of a 10-15 second FM speech message followed by several transmissions of 9k6 FSK AX.25 packets. Currently the SAFIR-S beacon is activated with the following schedule: minutes 10-20, minutes 30-40 and minutes 50-60. SAFIR-S is de-powered during the remaining hourly intervals. Details regarding the status and a technical description are available on the AATiS-Sat Homepage: http://amend.gmxhome.de. This site is in German language for the moment, but it is planned to add a description in English. The satellite news on this site is bilingual. Please e-mail reception reports DG6BCE@aatis.de [ANS thanks Oliver, DG6BCE for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-324.03 DXpedition to FP Plans Satellite Activity AMSAT News Service Bulletin 324.03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. November 20, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-324.03 Ian, K8MM, announced the DXpedition to the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon (prefix-FP) will include amateur radio satellite operation via FO-29, VO-52, AO-07, AO-51 and SO-50. They will use CW and phone depend- ing on how well they can hear the analog birds. The FP DXpedition plans to be active from grid squares GN16 on St. Pierre and GN17 on Miquelon from Nov 20 - 30. QSL with a SASE direct for any FP/K8MM contacts via Ian's Call Book Address. [ANS thanks Ian K8MM for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-324.04 SSETI Express - Statement by Sir Martin Sweeting G3YJO AMSAT News Service Bulletin 324.04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. November 20, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-324.04 Professor Sir Martin Sweeting G3YJO, CEO of SSTL (Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd) and Chair of AMSAT-UK has issued the following statement regarding SSETI Express. I am very sorry to learn of the problems with the SSETI power system and I hope that it may yet recover at some time in the future so that we will have the satisfaction of seeing all the hard work operational in orbit. Nevertheless, a major element of the project has been successful - that is the training and inspiration of the students involved - and at least signals were heard from SSETI in orbit during the first day! It was very apparent from the European Space Agency (ESA) and SSETI students that I met that they all greatly appreciated and admired the specialist experience and maturity that the AMSAT-UK members involved brought to the project - this has done much to raise the credibility of AMSAT within the ESA community. Well done! We at Surrey have been through difficult times with our early spacecraft and so can empathise with the disappointment - however, I also urge patience and perseverance as we recovered two of our satellites after several months hard work when everyone else had given them up as lost! SSTL is also pleased to have been able to assist the SSETI project by arranging the launch on Cosmos that successfully placed the satellite in orbit. Best 73, Martin G3YJO [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-324.05 AMSAT Awards AMSAT News Service Bulletin 324.05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. November 20, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-324.05 Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awards, announces this week, congratulations go out to all of the following. Allen Kenny KK4EMK Satellite Communicators Club Award Robert Tucker WA6MBL Satellite Communicators Club Award Robert Lacey IV KF4GTA Satellite Communicators Club Award Phillip Paulhus K1ICO 51 on 51 Award #39 Mitani Masaru JE4SMQ 51 on 51 Award #40 Jonathan Poulton W0CK 51 on 51 Award #41 To see all the awards visit http://www.amsat.org. [ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-324.06 Italian School ISS Contact Photos On-Line AMSAT News Service Bulletin 324.06 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. November 20, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-324.06 Claudio, IK1SLD, invites radio amateurs to view the photos on-line of the November 9 school contact between Bill McArthur and the Istituto Comprensivo F. Negri of Casale Monferrato, Italy. Images are stored in the gallery section at: http://scuola.spaceonline.tv/mkportal/modules/coppermine/index.php [ANS thanks Claudio, IK1SLD for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-324.07 Arianespace Celebrates Heavy Lifter Launch Success AMSAT News Service Bulletin 324.07 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. November 20, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-324.07 An Ariane-5 ECA heavy lift launcher blasted off from Kourou, French Guiana on Wednesday, September 16 carrying a world record 8,000 kg of telecommunications satellites. The payload consisted of DirecTV's Spaceway 2 satellite weighing 6,000 kg at lift-off, and PT TelKom Indonesia's Telcom 2 satellite weighing nearly 2,000 kg at liftoff. The combined weight of the two satellites on this launch was more than 8,000 kg, or 17,500 pounds. Ariane-5 ECA rockets are designed to carry a payload of almost 10,000 kg (22,000 pounds). Arianespace has launched a total 11 satellites so far in 2005. [ANS thanks SpaceDaily.com for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-324.08 SuitSat Update AMSAT News Service Bulletin 324.08 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. November 20, 2005 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-324.08 Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, AMSAT V.P. for Human Spaceflight Programs, and ARISS International Chairman provided additional information about SuitSat which is expected to be released from the ISS in the December 7-8 timeframe. SuitSat will transmit a direct downlink only signal on 145.99 MHz. There is a tentative plan to reconfigure the Kenwood D700E radio aboard ISS from packet mode into cross-band repeater mode to repeat the Suitsat audio on 437.80 MHz. All hams are requested to refrain from uplinking packet (or voice) on 145.99 during Suitsat operations. This will allow you and your local neighbors to better hear the SuitSat downlink. SuitSat will only be operational for a few days so we all would like to get the most of its operations. So please do your best to abide by this plan. We will continue to provide late-breaking information on SuitSat plans on the following web sites. Please check them often. And get your stations ready to copy the audio, voice telemetry, and SSTV picture. http://www.amsat.org http://www.rac.ca/ariss [ANS thanks Frank, KA3HDO for the above information.] /EX