SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-064.01 AMSAT-NA BoD Nominations Due June 12, 2006 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 064.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. March 5, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-064.01 NOTICE AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations Due No Later than June 12, 2006 It is time to submit nominations for the upcoming open seats on the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors. A nomination requires either one Member Society or five current individual members to nominate an AMSAT member for the position. A Director serves for a period of two years. Three Directors' terms expire this year: Tom Clark, K3IO, Lou McFadin, W5DID and Paul Shuch, N6TX. Nominations MUST be in writing and mailed to: AMSAT 850 Sligo Ave #600 Silver Spring MD 20901 [ANS thanks Martha, AMSAT Manager for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-064.02 Request for AMSAT Journal Articles AMSAT News Service Bulletin 064.02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. March 5, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-064.02 Ed Long, WA4SWJ, AMSAT Journal Editor, passed along the following: "Hi Everyone... Just a note to let all you authors know that I am looking for articles for the March/April 2006 issue of The AMSAT Journal. I am trying to get the Journal released earlier in the two-month normal cycle but I've been delayed by late submissions in some cases. I surely appreciate all the work that goes into article development but I could use it a little sooner so I'll be able to get the Journal out sooner. So, fire up those keyboards and get some bytes onto that virtual piece of paper on your screens! As usual the best way to submit them to me (especially with high resolution graphics or pictures) is to "journal at amsat dot org" (you know what that means). I would love to have your submissions by March 10th or so. That's only a couple of weeks away. Thanks and please let me know if I can help or if you need information from me. The January/February 2006 issue has been at the printer for 2 to 3 weeks now so you should have it soon. I haven't seen my paper copy yet although I get to see final version in electronic format before anyone. One of the benefits of being the Journal Editor." [ANS thanks Ed Long, WA4SWJ, Editor, The AMSAT Journal for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-064.03 SuitSat Visual Sighting Reported AMSAT News Service Bulletin 064.03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. March 5, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-064.03 In response to an AMSAT request for reports of any visual observations of SuitSat, Steve Meuse of Londonderry, New Hampshire reported a visual sighting during a February 28th pass. Steve has written the details of the sighting on his astronomy blog. See: http://tinyurl.com/qlanx [ANS thanks Steve Meuse for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-064.04 SuitSat in the Classroom AMSAT News Service Bulletin 064.04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. March 5, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-064.04 Bruce Robertson, VE9QRP, taught three classes on SuitSat in the science program of his local Middle School in New Brunswick, Canada and filed this report: "I thought I'd provide a brief report, partly to seed ideas for future educational opportunities, partly as a note of thanks to the team that put SuitSat together and collected its data. This proved a very engaging topic, one to which the grade 6 and 7 students warmed quite quickly. The idea of 'reusing' out-of-date equipment in this manner, the 'secret words' and multilingual nature of the message, and finally the very haunting image of 'Mr. Smith' tumbling through space all served to capture young imaginations. My presentation comprised a modified version of Gould's ppt presentation and an audio disk with A.J.'s Greatest Hits. I began talking about ISS and communications from there to earth via ham radio. I played a part of the recording of Maryam 9K2MD talking to U5MIR. Her enthusiasm is quite evident, and it draws the girls into the topic a bit. It also is a good introduction to the idea of callsigns and phonetic alphabets. After introducing the idea of SS, we watched the video of the launch. We calculated how much weaker the signal turned out to be than expected, and we listened to the audio. I gave them each a worksheet which helped guide them. Recordings with telemetry had headings for 'Temperature', for instance. Then they gathered in lab groups and tried to fill in material. I allowed representatives from the groups to gather around the CD player to eek out another word or two. We ended the hour with a discussion about what went wrong. Does your car stereo stop working at 13 degrees C? If the batteries on a suit are rated at 28V, how does the voltage seem? Finally, by listening to the fading and comparing the video of the suit tumbling, many got the sense that the fading was due to the suit masking the antenna. All three classes wish to recommend to the designers of future SuitSats that they install a second antenna, some thought at right angles to the first, others thought out the feet of the suit!" Bruce wrapped up his report by saying "The important thing for us to recognize is that this was an opportunity that was grasped very well. We should be proud not only of the people who put the thing together with very little time, but of those who made a success of it through their technical skills and their considerable cooperation." [ANS thanks Bruce, VE9QRP for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-064.05 ARISS Status February 27, 2006 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 064.05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. March 5, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-064.05 1. Itaki Elementary School Contact Successful Students from Itaki Elementary School Fathers' Club in Hiroshima, Japan spoke with Bill McArthur, KC5ACR, on Monday, February 20. Thirteen children asked 19 questions of McArthur as an audience of 90 looked on. Media coverage included 2 newspapers and 5 television stations. Audio and video are available on the following web site: http://www.ariss.jp/higashihiroshima.html.en The audio from this contact was available on the EchoLink AMSAT and JK1ZRW conference room servers. EchoLink had 16 connections from 6 countries: Japan, UK, USA, Thailand, Russia, and Holland. 2. Upcoming School Contact Evangelisches Gymnasium Lippstadt in Lippstadt, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany has been approved for a contact with the ISS. It will take place on Wednesday, March 8 at 14:56 UTC. 3. Girl Guides Listen to Engineering Day Contact The audio from the Discover Engineering Family Day contact was fed through IRLP to which the Node 2050 Halifax connected. Six Girl Guides, their parents and leaders who were taking part in "Girl Guides on the Air" activities at this club station were treated to this ARISS event. 4. ARRL Article on Pine Ridge, Cosmos Centre Contacts ARRL ran an article on the Pine Ridge NES and Cosmos Centre Charleville contacts entitled, "No Lollies on Space Station, Commander Tells Youngsters in Space QSO." See: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/02/23/3/?nc=1 5. ARRL Articles on SuitSat ARRL posted two web stories covering SuitSat's end. To view, "SuitSat-1 Apparently SK; Nothing Heard for Several Days," see: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/02/22/100/?nc=1 "ARISS Makes It Official: 'Tremendously Successful' SuitSat-1 is SK" may be found at: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/02/24/1/?nc=1 6. SuitSat Continues to Receive Media Coverage The ARISS team supplied photos and data to Popular Science, Japanese CQ, and Design Electronic Magazines, as all of these publications plan to run articles on SuitSat-1. ABC News also interviewed ARISS Chairman Frank Bauer and will include a segment on SuitSat in their news broadcast in the near future. 7. Astronaut Training Status A second class in Amateur Radio license training was held on Friday, February 24. Astronauts Jim Dutton, Shane Kimbrough, and Tom Marshburn attended. Astronauts Chris Cassidy, Randy Bresnik and Bobby Satcher will be scheduled for their second session at a later date. 8. ARISS Contact Cards After receiving the new ARISS QSL cards (postcards used to confirm general contacts), ARRL Headquarters' staff has now fulfilled the backlog of 100 cards. They have currently collected 43 cards toward Bill's Worked All States award. [ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-064.06 Aurora Surprise AMSAT News Service Bulletin 064.06 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. March 5, 2006 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-064.06 Sunspots have been scarce lately, but that doesn't mean solar activity is nil. A solar wind gust hit Earth's magnetic field on February 19th, sparking auroras of exceptional beauty over far-North America. Visit SpaceWeather.com to view pictures of the storm taken from Earth and Earth-orbit. [ANS thanks SpaceWeather.com for the above information] /EX