SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-015.01 Reminder - AMSAT Space Syposium Dates October 5-11, 2006 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 015.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. January 15, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-015.01 The 2006 AMSAT Space Symposium Planning Committee hosted by the Project OSCAR Amateur Radio Club is pleased to announce that the 2006 Space Symposium will be held at the Crowne Plaza San Francisco Mid-Peninsula hotel in Foster City, California. The dates of the Symposium and sur- rounding activities will begin on the 5th of October and run through the 11th of October, 2006. This year's Symposium will be include the AMSAT Board meeting, AMSAT General Membership Meeting, the ARISS International Delegates Meeting, a meeting of the IARU Satellite Advisors Committee and AMSAT International Delegates. It's going to be a busy weekend! The AMSAT web team has posted informational pages on the AMSAT web site. You can find the announcement with many links at: http://www.amsat-org/amsat-new/symposium Future announcements including the Call For Papers, Online Registration and Online Hotel Registration will be available approximately 1 April 2006. [ANS thanks Emily, W0EEC and the 2006 AMSAT Symposium Committee for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-015.02 ISS Amateur Radio Update AMSAT News Service Bulletin 015.02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. January 15, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-015.02 Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO, who is the ISS Ham Radio Project Engineer at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, provided several updates to the recent ham band activity from the ISS. Radio amateurs around the world have been enjoying how active Astronaut Bill McArthur has been during these recent weeks. The ISS has been in favorable pass times for the continental US right after the end of the crew work day. Bill has already been heard on a few of the passes around 1930-2200 UTC. He is often active on Saturday and Sunday at various times from 0800-2200 UTC. Bill has worked 49 states from orbit. The sole state remaining is Alaska which will be in more favorable orbits starting around Jan 20. Current orbits for them are during the normal crew sleep time. Bill has also worked operators on all continents including Antarctica using VHF. As of Jan. 9 Bill had 63 DXCC entities with the following breakdown by continent: 5 Total worked in S. America 4 Total worked in Oceania 9 Total worked in N. America 29 Total worked in Europe 11 Total worked in Asia 1 Total worked in Antarctica 4 Total worked in Africa Henk, PA3GUO, has a web page with photographs and an audio recording of both ends of his contact with ISS. See: http://www.qsl.net/pa3guo. Mak, SV1BSX reports hearing Bill work the following prefixes: DL, EA, F, HA, I, IS0, G, OE, OK, ON, PA, SM, SP, SV, TA, UA, YU, HZ, and 9K. Mak says that these Greek stations have had the opportunity to have a contact with Bill: SV1BSX, SV1LK, SV8CS. During the weekend of Jan 14-15 UTC Bill McArthur plans to operate on the UHF band exclusively. It is his desire to work all continents on the UHF band from the International Space Station. The frequency he will be using will be 437.55 simplex. Due to the high Doppler effect on this band, one will need to operate split frequencies for most of the pass. A very simplified chart showing memory assignment for transmit and receive with 5 KHz spacing is below as an example. Mem. TX - RX Ch A - 437.540 - 437.560 Acquisition of signal (AOS) Ch B - 437.545 - 437.555 Ch C - 437.550 - 437.550 Time of closest approach (TCA) Ch D - 437.555 - 437.545 Ch E -437.560 - 437.540 Loss of signal (LOS) Bill's contact log now exceeds 700 but that includes several repeat stations. Please give others a chance if you are in a highly populated footprint. As a reminder, these simple operating practices will increase every ones chances: 1. Wait for ISS Crew to call CQ or QRZ. 2. Send only your call sign phonetically and wait for crew to acknowledge your specific call sign. 3. Listen closely for the call of the station ISS is talking with. 4. If you do not hear your specific call sign, do not transmit again. until you hear the ISS crew member say CQ or QRZ. 5. Please be courteous. Hams in North America will also enjoy visual sighting opportunities of the International Space Station when it will be flying over the United States this month during evening hours when it is easy to see. Use your tracking program or you can find the visual sighting times for your QTH from the Heavens Above web page: http://www.heavens-above.com The following links should prove useful to anyone not familiar with ISS operations: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/reference/radio/ http://www.issfanclub.com/ http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php http://www.ariss.net/ http://www.amsat.org/amsat/archive/sarex/48hour/threads.html [ANS thanks Kenneth, N5VHO for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-015.03 ARISS Status for the Week of January 9, 2006 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 015.03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. January 15, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-015.03 1. Brazilian Contact Successful On Monday, January 2, students from the STS Escola de Aviacao Civil in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil experienced a successful contact with the ISS. Bill McArthur, KC5ACR, answered 17 questions posed to him by seventeen students, as an audience of 60 gathered around the radio. A Rio de Janeiro technical magazine, Antena Eletronica Popular, covered the event. The audio was retransmitted on HF (7080 Mhz) and Echolink. STS is a civil aviation school which offers airplane and helicopter instruction to students, ages 18-25, and gives refresher courses to pilots, ages 25-45.  2. ARISS School Contacts Peterson Elementary School in Red Springs, North Carolina had ARISS contact via the telebridge station, VK5ZAI in Australia on Monday, January 9, 2006. St. Albert the Great School in North Royalton, Ohio had an ARISS contact on Wednesday, January 11, 2006. Itaki Elementary School Father’s Club in Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan, is scheduled for an ARISS contact on Thursday, January 19, 2006. The Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Aerospace Engineering in Atlanta, Georgia (crew pick) is scheduled for an ARISS contact on Thursday, January 19 at 15:05 UTC. 3. NASA Education Covers Upcoming SuitSat Event SuitSat, a Russian spacesuit containing ham radio equipment with recorded voice messages and a CD of student artwork, is scheduled to be deployed during a Russian EVA between February 2-9, 2006. NASA Education has posted two versions of a SuitSat article entitled, “Hearing Voices from Space,” on its website. The first version covers grades K-8, and the second, grades 9-12 & postsecondary. The articles are available at the NASA Education page: http://education.nasa.gov/home/index.html and once there follow the links "For Students" or "For Educators". 4. Astronaut Training Status The Brazilian Space Agency is working with astronaut Marcos Pontes to obtain an amateur radio license and callsign for him, so that he may participate in an ARISS contact during his spring 2006 taxi flight. A training session at JSC has also been scheduled to familiarize Pontes with ARISS school operations. [ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-015.04 One Last Reminder - SKN on OSCAR 2006 Best Fist Nominations Due AMSAT News Service Bulletin 015.04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. January 15, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-015.04 Ray Soifer, W2RS passes along the following request regarding Straight Key Night on OSCAR 2006: "Many thanks to all who participated in Straight Key Night on OSCAR 2006." "Please remember to nominate someone you worked for 'Best Fist.' Your nominee need not have the best fist of those you heard, just of those you worked. Nominations should be sent to w2rs@arrl.net. A list of those nominated will be published in ANS in early February, and in a forthcoming issue of The AMSAT Journal." [ANS thanks Ray, W2RS for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-015.05 Ham Radio Pioneered Invention Available to the Public AMSAT News Service Bulletin 015.05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. January 15, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-015.05 Talking pants, a ham radio inspired invention by those of us who carry our HT in a pocket or on a belt, will become available to the general public. Jeans giant Levi's is hoping to woo fashionistas and music aficionados alike with its new iPod-compatible RedWire DLX jeans, due out this fall. With a joystick remote control built into the watch pocket, the new jeans will allow wearers to play, pause, track forward or back and adjust the volume on their iPods without having to take them out of their pockets. A separate pocket will house and conceal the bulge of the iPod, while a built-in retractable headphone unit is designed to prevent tangled wires. A red conductive ribbon will keep wearers connected while allowing them to remove the iPod from their pockets to view the screen, the company said. Users will need to remember to empty their pockets before doing the laundry. If you'd like to read more about it, see: http://www.spacedaily.com/2006/060111153858.q5blomhb.html [ANS thanks SpaceDaily.com for the above information] /EX