This is the first call for papers for the 2014 AMSAT Annual Meeting
and Space Symposium to be held on the weekend of October 10-12, 2014,
at the DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton, Baltimore-Washington International
Airport (BWI), Baltimore, Maryland. Proposals for papers, symposium
presentations and poster presentations are invited on any topic of
interest to the amateur satellite community. We request a tentative
title of your presentation as soon as possible, but no later than
August 1. The final copy must be submitted by September 15 for
inclusion in the printed proceedings. Abstracts and papers should be
sent to Dan Schultz at n8fgv at amsat.org
[ANS thanks the 2014 Baltimore Symposium Committee for the above
information]
Tom, K3IO, was the speaker at the AMSAT/TAPR Banquet at the Dayton Hamvention. In his talk, he remembers the many Elmers that helped him with his hobby and career.
Barry, WD4ASW and AMSAT President, gives an update on AMSAT, including changes to the BoD roster, regulatory issues, membership and finances.
As AMSAT’s new VP of Engineering and Fox satellite team leader, Jerry gives an update on the Fox-1 satellite, its design, milestones, and launch opportunities. He also looks ahead to Fox-1B, Fox-1C, Fox-1D, and Fox-2.
Howard, G6LVB, gives a fascinating look into the launch and operation of the FUNcube-1 satellite, and a tentative calendar of the next three FUNcube satellites.
Drew, KO4MA, reviews six operational amateur satellites, then previews another dozen amateur satellites that will be launched soon, or should be turned over to amateur use when their primary mission is completed.
Frank, KA3HDO, gives an update on Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, including the radios and antennas on board, the impact of funding changes at NASA, and the new Ham TV system.
EMike, KC8YLD, explains how K-16 education is key to the launches of future amateur radio satellites, and discusses the joint work of AMSAT, ARRL, and NASA.
In this brief video, Spence, WA8SME, shows the next version of the WRAPS rotor with circularly polarized antennas and discusses an updated broadband preamp that now includes an antenna polarity switch.
Special Thanks to Steve Belter, N9IP for recording and editing the videos from the Dayton Hamvention, making them available for those who couldn’t attend in person!
The following is excerpted from the Apogee View column of AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW, as published in the latest AMSAT Journal:
Grace L-55 will launch on a similar Atlas V
The launch of Grace/L55 from Vandenberg AFB is slipping from December 2014 into Summer 2015 due to governmental priorities. Fox-1 is currently manifested on that launch as part of the ELaNa-12 group of satellites. Instead of launching our vehicle in December, another launch vehicle with payload is taking precedence, forcing a reschedule of ELaNa-12. Currently, we are now scheduled to fly on 1 AUG 2015 rather than December 2014.
This delay is mixed news for AMSAT. While we are disappointed that this will mean that Fox-1 will not fly in 2014, it also means that we have more time to complete and test the spacecraft prior to delivery to SRI. In the overall scheme of things, it allows AMSAT to have greater confidence in the delivery of a thoroughly tested spacecraft by taking more time to allow for unforeseen contingencies and to do the ground testing.
A follow-up to our previous news on the DELFI-N3XT transponder test was received via e-mail today:
Dear all,
Today we did a first transponder test. We could hear the beacon, but unfortunately did not hear anything back from our calls. Also we were missing the noise floor of the transponder band. Our hypothesis is that our adjustable LO (Si570) which is mixed with the IF band could not be programmed correctly and hence the pass-band goes outside our filtered band (which is a good thing, because we do not want to transmit on illegal frequencies). This LO is adjustable by I2C communication and should be programmed each time at power up (so each time the transponder mode is activated. We will do two attempts more tomorrow at the morning ground passes and even if that doesn’t help we will keep on trying with different settings. If the situation changes I will update you again.
