AMSAT NEWS SERVICEANS-266
ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT NorthAmerica, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS reports on theactivities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share anactive interest in designing, building, launching and communicatingthrough analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites.
Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to:
[emailprotected]
******************* AMSAT 2007 Space Symposium *************************
The Wireless Association of South Hills Amateur Radio Club announces the2007 AMSAT Space Symposium will be held at the Pittsburgh AirportMarriott Hotel on Friday, October 26 through Sunday, October 28, 2007.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/2007/index.php
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In this edition:* AMSAT Board of Directors Election Results* New AMSAT VP of User Services* GO-32 enabled for experimental APRS access* AO-51 Sputnik 50th Anniversary Special Event* Satellite Shorts From All Over* ARISS Status - 17 September 2007
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-266.01AMSAT Board of Directors Election Results
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 266.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.September 23, 2007To All RADIO AMATEURSBID: $ANS-266.01
The following candidates were elected to the AMSAT Board of Directors:
Barry Baines , WD4ASWDrew Glasbrenner, KO4MARick Hambly, W2GPSGunther Meisse, W8GSM
Lee Mclamb, KU4OS is the alternate
A total of 871 votes were cast.
[ANS thanks Martha for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-266.02New AMSAT VP of User Services
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 266.02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.September 23, 2007To All RADIO AMATEURSBID: $ANS-266.02
It was with great enthusiasm that AMSAT President Rick Hambly, W2GPS,announced the appointment of Gould Smith, WA4SXM, to the position ofAMSAT Vice President of User Services. In this position Gould will serveon the Executive Team and will be responsible for the leadership of ateam that will include the management of the AMSAT Journal, the AMSATNew Service (ANS), AMSAT HF radio nets, Field Operations, Awards andContests, the Dayton Hamvention and other duties as may be assigned bythe President or the Board.
[ANS thanks Rick, W2GPS, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-266.03GO-32 enabled for experimental APRS access
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 266.03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.September 23, 2007To All RADIO AMATEURSBID: $ANS-266.03
The GO-32 Satellite TECHSAT-1B team has announced experimental 9600 baudAPRS access for mobile and tactical APRS on a not-to-interfere basiswith the existing PACSAT BBS.
The uplink is possible with 5 Watts on 2 meters, but the downlink is 9dB worse to an omni antenna on UHF and requires tuning 10 to 20 KHz forDoppler. Currently there are no permanent IGates to bring the downlinkinto the global APRS system, but it is hoped volunteers will surfacewith permanent satgates. So initally, do NOT expect to see yourself onFINDU.COM. Enjoy ham radio, Make a contact instead!
Experimental testing shows that an APRS HT with a 19.5" whip can get alucky shot into this satellite (but not when there is congestion on theuplink). With a handheld beam, it should be no problem for an HT, andthe beam is needed on reception anyway. Fifty Watt mobiles should haveno problem using a stock mobile whip. Due to the absence of APRSsignals to date, we do not have good statistics on reception in a mobileyet...
Operating on a 9600 baud FULL DUPLEX APRS satellite is MUCH differentthan ARISS, or any of the other 1200 baud APRS PCSATS. Because theturn-around is so fast, you cannot see your own digipeated packets onthe same radio (usually)... Please read and understand this entirebulletin before attempting to operate.
The easiest way to get on GO-32 with 9600 baud APRS is to use a KenwoodD7, D700 or D710 radio. These radios since 1998 have been satellite9600 baud ready, just waiting on a satellite!.
Read these notes on how to operate GO-32 with a D7 or D700:
Set APRS Baudrate to 9600 baud. Set A band to uplink on 145.93Set B band to receive 435.225 +/- 10 KHzSet Path to be via 4XTECHSet MYCALL to a unique SSIDSet TX method to AUTOSet TX RATE 1 min for HT. 2 min for D700Put something useful in your STATUS text maybe describing your setup:"50W mobile, 1/4 wave, 2m rate" or "5W HT, long whip, 1m rate"
Save in a PM for use anytime you are outside of the terrestrial APRSnetwork.
SATELLITE OPERATING NOTES:
The GO32 uplinks and downlinks are for the PACSAT store and forwardsystem and users. APRS use is on a secondary basis and should not beoperated unattended. If you see that the BBS PBLIST is full of otherusers, do not enable your APRS since the uplink will be busy. Currentlythe PBLIST is not in APRS format so you cannot see it unless you arerunning normal packet mode.
On the D700 you can press PMON on the front panel and see thesepackets... but they FLY by...
ACCESS TIMES: GO-32 is sun synchronous and so it comes over everywherethree times between about 8 AM to Noon and again between 8 PM tomidnight local sun time. During these two windows at least one passeach will be an overhead pass which might also work for an HT. Theother passes will be lower to the East or West and will work fine for a50W mobile.
WHAT YOU HEAR: 9600 baud sounds almost exactly like open squelch,though the tuned ear can soon distinguish the difference. Before thepass, set your squelch normally to quiet the speaker. When you hear thesatellite, the squelch will open and you may see up to 3 bars on your Smeter. Tune to the "best sounding" noise.
DOPPLER: Depending on how low to the horizon you can see, the sateliteapproaches 10 KHz high at 435.235 MHz... But it is maybe 3000 km away.As it gets higher, and 6 dB closer, it will be on 435.230 MHz, passingthrough 435.225 published center frequency at the middle point, and thendrop down through 435.220 and ending at 435.215.
But since it is 6 to 10 dB closer (and stronger) towards the center ofthe pass (800 km overhead), the mobile antenna is probably only going tohear the middle 435.230, .225, .220 portion easily. So I would start myreceiption at 435.230...
UPLINK CHANNELS: GO-32 allows two APRS uplinks. One is exclusive toD7/D700 tactical position reporting and the other exclusive tomessaging. This is in hardware, not policy...
1) All APRS messaging (or fixed station non-Mic-E positions) must usethe 145.85 uplink where GO32 only digipeats APRS packets with TOCALLsthat begin with the usual "APxxxx". (Even the D7 and D700 use "APKxxx"for messages.)
2) All APRS Mic-E position uplinks (D7, D700 and D710s) must be on145.93 MHz and they must have the position comment set to "Committed,Special or PRIORITY"... With those comment settings then the TOCALLfirst LATITUDE digit will be 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and only these will beaccepted by GO32 for digipeating from 145.93.
DATA CARRIER DETECT: The D700 and non(g) model D7's will NOT TX if theyare hearing the downlink at the same time due to CARRIER DETECT. TheD7(g) model has DCD IGNORE that *will* let it TX anyway. So useseparate rigs for TX and for RX if you want to see yourself.
Otherwise stick to the receommended TX rates and know that you aregetting in if you stick to the protocol. Sticking to the recommendedrates also keeps channel loading low, so that everyone gets in with lesscongestion.
PERMANENT SATGATES: Here is a great place to use your D7 HT when youare not using it otherwise. Simply connect it to a 19" whip over aground plane and to your APRS IGate system. The antenna does not evenneed to be high, since it cannot hear, nor will it be on frequency forlow packets near the horizon 3000 km away. Set it to 9600 baud RX andtune to 435.230 (which is 5 KHz high). This Doppler setting will matchthe stronger signals.
This 19.5" whip (3/4 wave on 435) does not need to see below 25 degrees,since its max gain (almost 7 dB) is between 30 to 70 degrees anwyay.This also protects your HT from lightning, since it can be low, belowall of your other antnenas. Yes, your station will only see about 30%of all possible packets and only on the best two passes per day, butcombined with dozens of other such unattended SATgates, all packetsshould be heard somewhere by someone and injected into the APRS Internetsystem.
Bob Bruinga, WB4APR, reports that he hopes to have an APRS-via-GO32 webpage up in a few weeks.
Additional information about GO-32 can be found on the AMSAT web siteat:
Good luck!
[ANS thanks Bob, WB4APR, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-266.04AO-51 Sputnik 50th Anniversary Special Event
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 266.04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.September 23, 2007To All RADIO AMATEURSBID: $ANS-266.04
AMSAT-NA will mark the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik with aspecial event on AO-51. AO-51 will rebroadcast original Sputniktelemetry and a congratulatory message to mark the event during passesover North America on the evening of Wednesday, October 3rd in NorthAmerica, which is early October 4th UTC. At this time, only the passesover North America will be able to carry the special event. Please watchANS and the amsat-bb mailing list for further information as the dateapproaches.
[ANS thanks Drew, KO4MA, for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-266.05Satellite Shorts From All Over
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 266.05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.September 23, 2007To All RADIO AMATEURSBID: $ANS-266.05
Satellite Shorts From All Over
+ Make your room reservations for the 2007 AMSAT Space Symposium in Pittsburgh as soon as possible. Any rooms that have not been reserved by October 8th will be released to the hotel. For the reservation code, go to the AMSAT website and click on the left hand side - AMSAT Symposium. If you have any problems making a reservation, please call Martha in the ASMAST office at (301-589-6062).
+ AMSAT congratulates Ramon Santoyo, XE1KK, who was just elected to the new position of the Secretary for the IARU---Region 2. For those who don't know, Ramon is an active satellite op, goes on many dxpeditions taking satellite gear, and is an all around friend of AMSAT.
+ This is a reminder that the 26th Annual ARRL/TAPR Digital Communi- cations Conference will be held September 28-30, 2007 in Hartford, CT. See http://www.tapr.org/dcc for additional information. The Sunday Seminar will feature AMSAT VP-Engineering and Director, Bob McGwier, N4HY presenting "A Stroll Through Software Radio, Informa- tion Theory, and Some Applications".
[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-266.06ARISS Status - 17 September 2007
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 266.06 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.September 23, 2007To All RADIO AMATEURSBID: $ANS-266.06
1. ARISS Contact with M. L. King Academy Successful
On Wednesday, September 12, students attending M. L. King Academy(formerly Alexander Macomb Academy) in Mount Clemens, Michiganexperienced an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS)contact. Clay Anderson, KD5PLA answered 25 questions put to him by tenstudents. A crowd of approximately 350 gathered to watch the contactwith several television stations and newspapers in attendance to reporton the event. The school board director was also present and is nowencouraging other schools to submit applications to ARISS. The audiofrom this contact was fed into the EchoLink AMSAT (101 377) and JK1ZRW(277 208) servers. It received 33 connections, including 6 repeaternodes, from 9 countries. Among those listening were China, TrinidadTobago, Uruguay and Thailand. To view the Macomb Daily article coveringthe event, see:http://www.macombdaily.com/stories/091307/loc_students001.shtml
2. Successful ARISS Contact with Westbrook Intermediate
Students from Westbrook Intermediate School in Clear Creek, Texas tookpart in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS)contact on Friday, September 14. The contact was made possible with theassistance of telebridge station WH6PN in Hawaii. Twenty-four studentsasked one question each of Clay Anderson, KD5PLA. The audio from thisevent was fed into the EchoLink AMSAT (101 377) and JK1ZRW (277 208)servers, receiving 28 connections from the U.S., Australia, Thailand andEngland, including 4 repeater nodes.
3. Upcoming School Contacts
An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact hasbeen planned for Art and Pat Goforth Elementary School in League City,Texas on Friday, September 28 at 16:04 UTC via the telebridge stationWH6PN in Hawaii. The school has a student body of which 25% of thechildren come from economically disadvantaged families and 12% receivespecial education. This event is a crew pick of Clay Anderson, KD5PLA.
The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. hasbeen scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station(ARISS) contact on Saturday, September 29 as part of its Family Day,“Commemorating 50 Years in Space.” It will take place at 16:28 UTC viathe telebridge station WH6PN in Hawaii The overall theme of the day willbe to celebrate at least one major event and object in the Museum’scollection for each decade of the space age. This event will focus onthe ISS and the Shuttle program, and will acknowledge its sponsor,Charles Simonyi, who also participated in ARISS contacts with studentswhile on the ISS. Visitors will be encouraged to participate in handson activities during their time at the museum. Approximately 15,000 -20,000 visitors are expected to attend throughout the day. The eventwill be promoted on the National Air and Space Museum’s website,(http://www.nasm.si.edu/events/eventDetail.cfm?eventID=664) advertisedby e-flyer to a variety of lists, and have newspaper ads in the Express(a daily tabloid of the Washington Post with a daily circulation of286,000) and The City Paper, an alternate newsweekly, with a weeklysubscription of 85,000.) The audio for this event will be fed into theEchoLink AMSAT (101 377) and JK1ZRW (277 208) Conference Room serversand into the IRLP Discovery Reflector 9010.
4. Scouts Participate in SuitSat-2 Project
On Saturday, September 15, approximately 58 boys, ages 6-18, from cubscout packs 983, 977, 778, 997, troop 993 and ham radio explorer post599 in Maricopa, Arizona met to assemble two non-flight safety boxes forSuitSat-2. The scouts also drew pictures to be included on the SuitSat-2DVD. Afterwards, the older boys were taught how to solder and lacecables. Photos from the explorer scouts may be found on this site:http://www.briansnapped.com/content/pics/SuitSat_2007/
5. ISS Radio Running Packet Operations
On Tuesday, September 11, the Kenwood radio was turned on and configuredto run Packet operations. The Amateur Radio community world wide hasbeen very pleased to have this capability restored.
6. Astronaut Training Status
On Wednesday, September 12, astronaut Koichi Wakata, KC5ZTA,participated in a simulated amateur radio school contact. Wakata isslated to fly on the shuttle STS-126 mission.
[ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI, for the above information]
/EX
In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in thePresident's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donorsto AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive additional benefits.Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office.
73, This week's ANS Editor,Lee McLamb, KU4OSku4os at amsat dot org
