SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-348.01
AO-40 Birthday Bash Results

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 348.01 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  December 14, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-348.01

The results of the AO-40 Birthday Bash have been tabulated. There were a lot
of participants however, only a handful bothered to submit their logs for
scoring. The results are below. The winners and runner ups will each receive
a certificate from AMSAT to their callbook address. The score between the
winner and runner up was really close. Eleven logs were submitted via ASCII
email attachments and two were sent via postal mail.

Worldwide
LY3BH   354   Winner
JA1CG   341   Runner up
UR5MGW  220
W0EEC   187
W6ZQ    157
WD4FAB  68
RA4CBY  42
5B4AZ   41
SV1AWE  40
JA6BX   28
N5ZNL   23
VK5DG   21
VE2DWE  11

Stateside
W0EEC   187   Winner
W6ZQ    157   Runner up
WD4FAB  68
N5ZNL   23

Non-Stateside
LY3BH   354   Winner
JA1CG   341   Runner up
UR5MGW  220
RA4CBY  42
5B4AZ   41
SV1AWE  40
JA6BX   28
VK5DG   21
VE2DWE  11

AMSAT-NA Members
W0EEC   187   Winner
W6ZQ    157   Runner up
WD4FAB  68
JA6BX   28
N5ZNL   23
VE2DWE  11

[ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-348.02
Large ECHO sticker now available

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 348.02 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  December 14, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-348.02

Now available from AMSAT is the large (4"x6") ECHO sticker.  The design is
the same as the patch (see www.amsat.org).  It can be yours for a donation
of $6.00 in the US, $7.00 in Canada/Mexico, $8.00 elsewhere.

[ANS thanks Martha for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-348.03
ARISS School contact successful

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 348.02 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  December 14, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-348.02

Friday 12 December 2003 at 13:59  UTC, the  German school Berufliche Schule
des Kreises Nordfriesland in Niebuell, Germany, performed a radio contact
with the US astronaut Mike Foale, KB5UAC, on board the ISS.

The Berufliche Schule des Kreises Nordfriesland in Niebuell is a school
center located in the most north-western part of Germany. The 2600 pupils
are taught by 135 teachers. The school does focus on a big variety of
professional education. The main fields are economics, computer science,
health and nutrition, agriculture, social matters and pedagogics.

The amateur radio station of the school, DL0NIB, used its educational
callsign DN0BSN for the contact.

The coordinating teacher Guenter Jannsen, DF3LG, did a brilliant job. He
prepared the event, he managed the installation of the satellite station, he
motivated the 16 students to work out detailed pedagogic discussions about
space technology.

The technical team did a perfect job and set up the satellite station with
absolute professionalism. The 16 students, the coordinating teacher, Mr.
Guenter Jannsen, the technical team, the principal of the school, Mr.
Bernhard Puschmann, and an audience of about 150 students and their parents
gathered this early afternoon and waited for the contact.

The ISS called the school at the predicted time. During the 10 minutes long
contact the students asked questions on a variety of topics, ranging from
safety of the ISS and oxygen production to microgravity and noise on board
the ISS. Mike Foale answered 16 questions. The sound quality was good, with
minimal noise and fading. The loss of signal came after the farewell words
of the coordinating teacher, during the applause of the audience.

One radio station (NDR Norddeutscher Rundfunk) and two newspapers
(Nordfriesland Tageblatt, Wochenschau) covered the event.

A big success in every respect!

[ANS thanks Peter, IN3GHZ for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-348.04
AO-40 Attitude update

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 348.04 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  December 14, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-348.04

Based on actual data from the AO-40 telemetry beacon, on 12/13 Dec 2003 -
Orbit 1431, AO-40's attitude has drifted to approximately ALON/ALAT 2 / 21.
AO-40 will continue drift toward ALON/ALAT ~315/24 at ~ 16 deg/week

The AO-40 team would like your telemetry files!
Please "zip" compress your daily telemetry files and e-mail to:
ao40-archive@amsat.org

[ANS thanks AMSAT-DL for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-348.05
This Week's News in Brief

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 348.05 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD.  December 14, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-348.05

**    The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency made a final attempt Tuesday, 9
December 2003, to remotely repair electronic circuitry on the Nozomi probe
damaged by a solar flare last year, which caused the main engine to shut
down, officials said.  "But we failed to fix the short-circuit in the
electric system and, as the result, we gave up the plan to place Nozomi into
orbit around Mars," said Yasunori Matogawa, an agency researcher in charge
of the mission.  "From now on, we will continue trying to fix the circuit so
that we may be able to use the probe for other space observatorial
purposes," Matogawa said.  --SpaceDaily

**     The Smart-1 is now in its 139th orbit, in good operational status
and with all functions performing nominally. As previously, the spacecraft
was operated in electric propulsion mode almost continuously.  We have
however experienced three flame-outs during the previous week.  Despite the
fact that the solar activity at the moment is considerably reduced, from the
occurrence of the events, we suspect that the density of trapped protons at
low altitudes of the radiation belts is still quite high and is causing the
flame-outs. We have therefore decided not to thrust when the spacecraft's
altitude is below 10,000 km.  --SpaceDaily

**   Expressing "grave concerns" about likely interference from unlicensed
Broadband over Power Line (BPL) systems, the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) has told the FCC that BPL could "severely impair FEMA's
mission-essential HF radio operations in areas serviced by BPL technology."
FEMA filed comments December 4 in response to last April's FCC BPL Notice of
Inquiry, ET Docket 03-104. FEMA expressed primary concern over BPL's
potential impact on the FEMA National Radio System (FNARS), which operates
on HF and serves as the agency's primary command and control backup medium
as part of the Federal Response Plan.   --ARRL

/EX