AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-206 ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites.
Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: [email protected] In this edition: * ARISS Contact Scheduled for 100th Anniversary of Scouting * Satellite DXpedition Opportunities * Presentations Scheduled at AMSAT-UK Colloquim 30 July-1 Aug * AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Election Reminder * AMSAT 2010 Space Symposium - Sign Up and Send Us Your Papers! * Sumbandilasat Returns For Testing * September Launch for India Ham Radio Satellite SRMSat * LightSail-1 Passes Critical Design Review * ARISS Status - 19 July 2010 SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-206.01 ARISS Contact Scheduled for 100th Anniversary of Scouting AMSAT News Service Bulletin 206.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 25, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-206.01 On the morning of July 26 Fort A. P. Hill, Virginia will be the fastest growing city in the country. 43,000 scouts and leaders will join 8,000 volunteers to celebrate 100 years of scouting in the US. The 46 members of the K2BSA staff will be on the job to provide support and information to arriving Hams through the 2m and 70cm on site repeaters. The K2BSA demonstration station will be located south east of the Mahone staff area. The demo station will provide tours and demo- nstrate Amateur Radio to visiting scouts and scouters. Scouts visiting the K2BSA station will have the opportunity to earn their Radio Merit Badge. The staff will teach the Radio Merit Badge at the Merit Badge Midway. Scouts can complete all the requirements required for the merit badge. The K2BSA licensing staff will teach a Technician license class daily during the jamboree. The scout will learn everything he needs during the 6 hour class to pass the Technician Class license exam. Every night in the licensing tent the K2BSA licensing staff will offer an ARRL VE sponsored test session for all license classes. Scouts are also offered the opportunity to upgrade their Amateur Radio License. Technician class licensees may upgrade to General by passing a 35-question multiple-choice examination. General licensees may upgrade to Extra Class by passing a 50-question multiple-choice examination. ARISS reports that a contact with the International Space Station is a go on Sat 2010-07-31 18:21:06 UTC for a 56 deg elevation pass over the 2010 National Boy Scout Jamboree, Fort A. P. Hill, Virginia. Amateur Radio operators in North American may wish to monitor the 145.800 MHz downlink frequency at this time. [ANS thanks K2BSA for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-206.02 Satellite DXpedition Opportunities AMSAT News Service Bulletin 206.02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 25, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-206.02 CHINA ----- News received from Michael Chen, BD5RV/4 reports that a group of operators will be active from China's Pingtan Island, IOTA AS-138, Grid OL95vn, from July 24 to 30. They will be active as B4R/5 in the RSGB IOTA contest and homecall/5 in regular operation. Activity will be on all HF bands and V/UHF bands, including EME and all active satellites. The group plans to use HO68, AO51, VO52, SO50, AO27. An analysis of HO-68's schedule and terrestrial footprint by Alan Kung, BA1DU predicts that North East Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, Oceania, and Alaska will be within range of the DXpedition. The group includes BA4TA, BA4TB, BA4RS, BD5RV, BA4RN, BH4REQ, and BH4RLO. NORTH AMERICA ------------- John, K8YSE says he is planning a 3 or 4 week grid expedition around Lake Superior during the week of August 2. The grids planned are: EN28-29-36-37-38-39-46-47-48-49-56-57-58-59-63-64-65-66-67-68-69-73- 74-75-76-77-78-79-83-84-86-87 and EO30 in both the US and Canada. John plans FM and SSB activity but probably little CW if any. This is a sightseeing trip around Lake Superior but he will do my best to operate on the birds as much as possible. The planned route is on John's website: http://www.papays.com/sat [ANS thanks Michael Chen, BD5RV/4; Alan Kung BA1DU; and John, K8YSE for the above information.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-206.03 Presentations Scheduled at AMSAT-UK Colloquim AMSAT News Service Bulletin 206.03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 25, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-206.03 FRIDAY 30 July A satellite beginners session (content to be finalised) will be run by Dave Johnson, G4DPZ; Carlos Eavis, G0AKI and Ivo Kilnkert, PA1IVO on Friday afternoon SATURDAY 31 July Opening / Welcome Prof. Sir Martin Sweeting, G3YJO Development of a Small Scaled Helicon Double layer Thruster Tom Harle, Surrey Space Centre CubeSail nano-satellite project Lourens Visagie, Surrey Space Centre AMSAT-NA Presentation Barry Baines, President AMSAT-NA, WD4ASW "The FUNcube project update" The Project Manager Jim Heck G3WGM et. al. Tiny U-V Transponder William Leijenaar, PE1RAH P3E/P5A - IHU3 Mario Lorenz, DL5MLO FUNcube SimSat Jim Heck, G3WGM GENSO Presentation Miguel Eduardo Gil Biraud, ESA STK and matlab for orbital and attitude simulation Tilman Glotzner, DG2TG Orbit Determination with GENSO Ivo Klinkert, PA1IVO SUNDAY 1 Aug IARU Satellite Meeting (Colloquium attendees welcome) Chairman: Hans van de Groenendaal ZS6AKV AMSAT-DL Presentation Peter Guelzow, DB2OS New Cubesat project from AMSAT-SA Hans van de Groenendaal ZS6AKV South Africa back in Space, an update on SO67, the CPUT 3U cubesat Hans van de Groenendaal ZS6AKV Satelliite Bands - What's New Murray Niman, G6JYB GNU Radio Alex Csete, OZ9AEC myPocketQub.com - an open source nano satellite project Chris Brunskill Clyde-Space Presentation Steve Greenland Group for Earth Observation (ENVISAT presentation) Francis Bell, GEO ESEO and QB50 Graham Shirville, G3VZV AMSAT-UK Colloquium Schedule http://www.uk.amsat.org/content/view/713/284/ [ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-206.04 AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Election Reminder AMSAT News Service Bulletin 206.04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 25, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-206.04 AMSAT-NA members, The biographies and ballot for the 4 candidates for the AMSAT Board of Directors went out on July 15th. In order to be counted, your ballot must be RECEIVED at the AMSAT office by the close of business on September 15th. Now is a good time to review the biographical information, ask questions, and study the minutes of the recent Board of Directors meetings from the AMSAT Journal. Finally, please vote. This, along with the yearly opportunity to stand for election, is your best opportunity to influence the direction of our organization. 73, Alan Biddle WA4SCA AMSAT-NA Corporate Secretary [ANS thanks Alan, WA4SCA, for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-206.05 AMSAT 2010 Space Symposium - Sign Up and Send Us Your Papers! AMSAT News Service Bulletin 206.05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 25, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-206.05 The 2010 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Meeting will be held on Friday, October 8 through Sunday, October 10. This year we have selected the Chicago/Elk Grove Holiday Inn which is near O'Hare Airport for the event. At the conclusion of the Symposium activities you are invited to participate in a tour of the Tevatron at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory on Sunday. Part of the tour will include a tour of the multi-megawatt RF portions of the particle accelerator as well as a tour of the new Super Conducting RF Test Facility. We will be arranging car pools for travel to FermiLab and back to the hotel. The planned start time for the FermiLab tour will be 12 Noon. The 2010 Symposium Committee has completed the room reservation and registration details for the event. The Hotel booking code for the Elk Grove Village Holiday Inn is AMS for the AMSAT convention. The $79 per-night room rate will apply for those using this group code. The direct web page link to the Elk Grove Village Holiday Inn is http://tinyurl.com/22s788d For people needing special accommodations please call the Hotel directly at (847) 437-6010, ask for Brad. The September 1 deadline of the call for papers for the 2010 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual Meeting is rapidly approaching! So far the Proceedings crew has received two abstracts for papers - thank you! The abstract for your paper does not require any special format. Simply send an e-mail to the Proceedings Editor, K9JKM with the basic information: Author Name, Callsign, and a few sentences that describe your proposed topic. We'll be looking forward to receiving your abstracts at [email protected]. [ANS thanks the 2010 Symposium Committee for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-206.06 Sumbandilasat Returns For Testing AMSAT News Service Bulletin 206.06 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 25, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-206.06 SA AMSAT reports on their web page http://www.amsatsa.org.za/ that operations are slowly being resumed on SO-67. The ground control station will observe the amateur payload to ensure the satellite remains stable and then gradually add more operating time. SA AMSAT requested, "Once the green light is given, requests for operation over your area should be sent to [email protected] by Mondays for possible inclusion in the schedule published on Thursday night/Friday morning covering the following week. It may not always be possible to accede to every request. The weekly schedule will be published on the SA AMSAT web page. With recent changes in software please note the recommended operating procedure described at: http://www.amsatsa.org.za/ [ANS thanks SA AMSAT for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-206.07 September Launch for India Ham Radio Satellite SRMSat AMSAT News Service Bulletin 206.07 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 25, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-206.07 An Amateur Radio satellite being built by students of SRM University in Chennai may be launched by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in September. A description of the SRMSAT ground station indicates it may use the bands 145.8MHz for the uplink and 434.5MHz for the downlink. An SRM University press release describes SRMSAT as a 15 watt satellite weighing between 10 and 15 kg and measuring one meter cube. The satellite will be constructed at the university. This project is aimed at increasing the technical expertise of our staff and students and giving them the rare opportunity of constructing a satellite first-hand with ISRO scientists guiding them. We want to prove that our students are worthy of this feat. We hope to launch a satellite once in every two years, of course, with different scientific objectives, says P Satyanarayana, vice-chancellor, SRM University. Read the NDTV story 'ISRO may launch nano satellite in September' at http://tinyurl.com/25x3vy8 SRMSAT Information http://www.prlog.org/10719954-future-perfect-of-srm-university.html SRMSAT Ground Station http://srmuniv.academia.edu/ssn/Papers SRMSAT Yahoo Group http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/srmsat/ Chennai Hams VHF/UHF/HF Enthusiasts Forum http://chennaihams.blogspot.com/2010/03/asol-exam-conducted-at-srm-university. html [ANS thanks SouthGate ARC for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-206.08 LightSail-1 Passes Critical Design Review AMSAT News Service Bulletin 206.08 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 25, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-206.08 LightSail-1, the Planetary Society's new ultra-light 3U Cubesat-based solar sail spacecraft, has passed its Critical Design Review. At a two-day meeting in Pasadena, a team - including JPL project veterans Bud Schurmeier, Glenn Cunningham, Viktor Kerzhanovich, and Aerospace Corporation's Dave Bearden - reviewed the LightSail-1 project from soup to nuts and gave the thumbs up to proceed with building the spacecraft's hardware and software. LightSat-1will demonstrate that sunlight alone can propel a spacecraft in Earth orbit. The 4.5-kilogram spacecraft is an amazing advance in technology -- analogous in my mind to the miniaturization of computers two decades ago. LightSail-1 has: 10 solar panels -- four deployable arrays with panels on each side plus one panel on the top and one on the bottom of the spacecraft, Two 2-megapixel cameras mounted at the end of two of the solar panels Four Sun sensors mounted at the end of four of the solar panels, Six tiny ultra-sensitive accelerometers that will provide a direct measure of the light-force, A momentum wheel for attitude control, Three single axis gyros, Three torque rods also part of the attitude control system, A battery More details at http://www.planetary.org/programs/projects/solar_sailing/20100625.html LightSail-1 http://www.planetary.org/programs/projects/solar_sailing/lightsail1.html [ANS thanks The Planetary Society for the above information] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-206.09 ARISS Status - 19 July 2010 AMSAT News Service Bulletin 206.09 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. July 25, 2010 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-206.09 1. ARISS Contact with Girl Guides of Canada On Friday, July 16, the Girl Guides of Canada spoke with on-orbit astronaut Doug Wheelock, KF5BOC via an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact. The initial call to the ISS was made by the Commissioner of Girl Guides of Canada. Wheelock then answered 14 questions posed to him by twelve girls while an audience of approximately 2000 Girl Guides and Girl Scouts from around the world looked on. The girls had gathered at Guelph Lake, Ontario for the Guiding Mosaic 2010 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Girl Guides in Canada. The Guides prepared for the contact by studying orbital mechanics and learning about the value of successful international partnerships. 2. MAI-75 Experiment Activated The Russian ISS crew members activated the MAI-75 (Moscow Aviation Institute) experiment on July 15 and 16. The system operated Space Cam in slide show mode using the Martin 1 format. Among those who captured Slow Scan Television (SSTV) images transmitted by the crew were ground stations in South America, Europe and Africa. For more information, see: http://ariss-sstv.blogspot.com/ Images have been archived here: http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/SSTV/ . 3. Astronaut Training Status Upcoming Simulation Contacts Astronauts Ron Garan, KF5GPO, and Mike Fossum, KF5AQG, have been scheduled for simulated Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contacts with the Challenger Learning Center of Indianapolis on Thursday, July 22 at approximately 16:00 UTC and 16:15 UTC respectively. The contact should be available on IRLP (Internet Radio Linking Project) Node 9010. These training sessions are terrestrial-based amateur radio contacts using ARISS equivalent equipment. 4. ISS Ham Debrief Scheduled An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) debrief session has been scheduled with Expedition 22/23 astronaut T. J. Creamer, KC5WKI on Monday, July 19. The feedback provided will help ARISS update program operations. 5. ARISS - Camp Cavett Contact in the News On Thursday, July 8, Cavett Kids Foundations Camp Cavett in Kingston, Oklahoma, participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with astronaut Doug Wheelock, KF5BOC. Channel12 KXII Dara Downs covered the contact and a news clip has been posted to YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF7BHbNGYbc For News Talk Radio KRMGs press release, go to: http://krmg.com/localnews/2010/07/oklahoma-kid-campers-to-talk-w.html The September issues of CQ and CQ VHF are expected to carry stories on the contact as well. 6. ARISS News on Amateur Radio Newsline On July 16, the Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1718 posted a short story which talked about general ham radio contacts made by astronaut Doug Wheelock on the ISS. To view the article, Ham Radio in Space: ISS Random Contacts Back, see: ftp://ftp.arnewsline.org/quincy/News/news.txt [ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI, for the above information] /EX In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to 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, KU4OS ku4os at amsat dot org _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
