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[ans] ANS-085 for distributio
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 085.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
March 25, 2012
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-085.01
AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations
It is time to submit nominations for the upcoming open seats on the
AMSAT-NA Board of Directors. A valid nomination requires either one
current Member Society, or five current individual members in good
standing, to nominate an AMSAT-NA member for the position.
Three directors have terms expiring this year: Tom Clark, K3IO; Lou
McFadin, W5DID; and Gould Smith, WA4SXM. The three nominees receiving
the highest number of votes will be seated as regular board members with
two year terms.
The two nominees receiving the next highest number of votes will be
seated as alternates for one year.
Written nominations, consisting of names, calls and individual
signatures, should be mailed to: AMSAT-NA, 850 Sligo Ave #600, Silver
Spring, MD, 20910.
They must be received no later than June 15th. No other action is
required.
Nominations may also be made by electronic means. These include e-mail,
FAX, or electronic image of a petition. Electronic petitions should be
sent to MARTHA@AMSAT.ORG or faxed to 301-608-3410, and also must be
received by June 15th. If using any electronic submission, there is a
second, verifying step.
ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS WITHOUT THIS SECOND, WRITTEN VERIFICATION ARE NOT
VALID UNDER THE EXISTING AMSAT-NA BYLAWS. A verifying traditional
written petition MUST be received at the AMSAT-NA office at the above
address within
7 days following the close of nominations.
[ANS Thanks Alan, WA4SCA for this input]
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ARISS Mentor Introduction at Dayton 2012
AMSAT and ARRL are teaming up during the 2012 Hamvention to recruit new
ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) mentors. Friday
and
Saturday (May 18 & 19) at 4pm in the ARRL stage area AMSAT will explain
the need for additional ARISS mentors and the requirements and
responsibilities needed to help provide a reliable conversation between
astronauts and selected schools or groups. We encourage anyone
interested in helping make future school contacts with the ISS
successful to please attend.
[ANS Thanks the ARISS Team]
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NASA'S GRAIL MOONKAM RETURNS FIRST STUDENT-SELECTED LUNAR IMAGES
WASHINGTON -- One of two NASA spacecraft orbiting the moon has beamed
back the first student-requested pictures of the lunar surface from its
onboard camera. Fourth grade students from the Emily Dickinson
Elementary School in Bozeman, Mont., received the honor of making the
first image selections by winning a nationwide competition to rename
the two spacecraft.
The image was taken by the MoonKam, or Moon Knowledge Acquired by
Middle school students. Previously named Gravity Recovery And Interior
Laboratory (GRAIL) A and B, the twin spacecraft are now called Ebb and
Flow. Both washing-machine-sized orbiters carry a small MoonKAM camera.
Over 60 student-requested images were taken aboard the Ebb spacecraft
from March 15-17 and downlinked to Earth on March 20.
"MoonKAM is based on the premise that if your average picture is worth
a thousand words, then a picture from lunar orbit may be worth a
classroom full of engineering and science degrees," said Maria Zuber,
GRAIL mission principal investigator from the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. "Through MoonKAM, we have an
opportunity to reach out to the next generation of scientists and
engineers. It is great to see things off to such a positive start."
GRAIL is NASA's first planetary mission to carry instruments fully
dedicated to education and public outreach. Students will select target
areas on the lunar surface and request images to study from the GRAIL
MoonKAM Mission Operations Center in San Diego.
The MoonKAM program is led by Sally Ride, America's first woman in
space, and her team at Sally Ride Science in collaboration with
undergraduate students at the University of California in San Diego.
More than 2,700 schools spanning 52 countries are using the MoonKAM
cameras.
"What might seem like just a cool activity for these kids may very well
have a profound impact on their futures," Ride said. "The students
really are excited about MoonKAM, and that translates into an
excitement about science and engineering."
Launched in September 2011, Ebb and Flow will answer longstanding
questions about the moon and give scientists a better understanding of
how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., manages the GRAIL
mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
GRAIL is part of the Discovery Program managed at NASA's Marshall Space
Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in
Denver built the spacecraft.
To view the student-requested images, visit:
http://images.moonkam.ucsd.edu
For more information about MoonKAM, visit:
https://moonkam.ucsd.edu
For more information about GRAIL, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/grail
[ANS Thanks Michael Williams, K9QHO, for this input]
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Satellite Operation Planned for UK Olympic Special Event Station
This week John Warburton, G4IRN announced The Radio Society of Great
Britain will activate two special event call-signs to celebrate the
London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games:
+ 2O12L (Two Oscar One Two Lima) from London, England 2O12W (Two Oscar
+ One Two Wales) from Barry, Wales.
The London station, 2012L will be active through the duration of the
Games, located at the historic Eltham Palace, south-east London on
160m-2m, all modes. More information on the web site:
http://www.2O12L.com
The Welsh station 2O12W will also be active on all bands from 160m to
23cms and all modes including SSTV and satellite from Whitmore Bay,
Barry Island, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. More information on web site:
http://www.2O12W.com.
2O12L and 2O12W go on the air on 27th July 2012.
[ANS thanks The Radio Society of Great Britain and Southgate News for
the above information]
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Masat-1 Experiment Required Silent Mode for a Short Period of Time
Masat-1 (MO-72) recently has been switched to a 'silent mode' on March
16, March 21, and March 22 to perform long term, sensitive
electromagnetic measurements which require the switching off the
satellite's transmitter. In silent mode, all RF transmission from the
satellite is turned off, while the satellite receiver makes the required
measurements. After these experiments regular telemetry transmission
resumed operation.
MO-72 Call sign: HA5MASAT
TX frequency: 437.345 MHz
Modulation: CW (120 char/min.), 2-GFSK (625 and 1250 bit/s) TX power:
100 and 400 mW
Soundcard software to capture and decode the GFSK telemetry can be
downloaded from: http://cubesat.bme.hu/en/radioamatoroknek/
The latest keplerian elements are also available on this site.
[ANS thanks the Masat-1 Team and AMSAT-UK for the above information]
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HAMSAT VO-52 User Reports Requested
AMSAT-India Secretary Nitin, VU3TYG says the user feedback form (in Word
format) requested by VO-52 controllers has been posted on the web for
download from:
http://www.amsatindia.org/reports/VO-52-Feedback.doc
HAMSAT VO-52 controllers at ISRO thanked amateur radio operators for the
reports received after VO-52 was reactived with the Dutch Trans- ponder.
They are in the process of documenting anomaly analysis and Transponder
2 Switch ON' report containing the feedback from users.
Reports are requested to be sent in the Word format as attachments to
e-mail sent to: tprangan@istrac.org and copied to wmy@isac.gov.in.
[ANS thanks AMSAT-India Secretary Nitin, VU3TYG and Mani, VU2WMY at
India ISRO Satellite Centre for the above information]
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Satellite Shorts From All Over
+ AMSAT to facilitate student satellite contacts
AMSAT is encouraging all students attending the 2012 Dayton Hamvention
to come by the Satellite Demonstration Area just outside of the Ball
Area entrance and make a contact using the amateur satellites. There
will be AMSAT volunteers there to explain how to make the contacts and
during actual
satellite passes will try to get as many students as possible to
complete actual contacts. There are lists of satellite pass times in the
satellite demonstration area and at the AMSAT booth (BA444-BA449).
[ANS Thanks Gould, WA4SXM, For the above.]
+ NASA released a new narrated animation depicting the planned 2014
launch of the Orion spacecraft on the Exploration Flight Test-1
(EFT-1) mission to a 3600 mile altitude orbit:
http://tinyurl.com/OrionOrbitTest (YouTube)
Full article at: http://tinyurl.com/OrionArticle (UniverseToday)
+ Paul, 2E1EUB says his next mobile satellite operations as 2M1EUB
from his van will be starting March 24 for 7 days from the east
coast of Scotland. Main operations are planned for AO-7 Mode A/B
and other satellites as available. Paul will post his latest infor-
mation on amsat-bb and also on the lookup at QRZ.com for 2M1EUB.
+ The Project Blue Horizon 6 high-altitude transatlantic balloon
flight took off on Friday, March 23 at 2300 EST (0300 Saturday UT)
from Owego, NY transmitting on 7.1023 and 10.1466 MHz CW with the
N2XE call sign and 144.390 MHz FM APRS using the KD2AUD call sign.
Please send reports via e-mail to pbh18.data@gmail.com or manually
enter received data points at http://www.projectbluehorizon.com/
More information is available on their web page.
+ Congratulations to Rick Walter, WB3CSY, for earning VUCC Satellite
certificate #228 with 165 confirmed grids. Rick wrote, "I would
like to thank the many satellite operators who continually take
time to stop during their travels and give us rare grids. It would
be much more difficult to obtain this prestigious award without
their help."
+ The next Hudson Valley Satcom Net is Thursday March 29, 8:00PM EDT
(UTC-4) on the 146.97 MHz Mt. Beacon ARC Repeater and also on the
N2EYH-L Echolink Node. More information at: http://www.hvsatcom.org
and http://www.wr2abb.org/ (Stu, WA2BSS)
+ Watch the BBC video of UKube-1, planned to launch in 2013:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-17439236
UKube-1 will carry a set of AMSAT-UK FUNcube boards that will pro-
vide a 435/145 MHz linear transponder for SSB/CW amateur radio com-
munications. See also: http://www.uk.amsat.org/5933
+ John, K8YSE reported that Yuri, UT1FG/MM, who has been so active
on the birds may be off the air for a short time. He is navigating
the St. Lawrence Seaway and has been too busy to operate on the
satellites. There are many inspection requirements for a ship com-
ing into the Great Lakes and his duties are such that he does not
have much free time. He will be in Montreal shortly. All of his
equipment is working fine. Yuri will be operating as time permits.
+ The Winter 2012 TAPR Packet Status Register Journal now available
for download: http://www.tapr.org/psr/psr117.pdf. You can download
previous editions from http://www.tapr.org/psr.html. This quarterly
Journal is full of Technical, Non-Technical and User Digital infor-
mation and articles.
+ Watch a video of time lapse images from the ISS showing how stars
appear from space: http://vimeo.com/ajrclips/starsfromspace. A
jaw dropping flight of the ISS over the aurora can be viewed at:
http://tinyurl.com/AuroraGreatLakes
+USAF and Lockheed have Satellite Problems Too:
http://news.yahoo.com/delicate-rescue-saves-stranded-1-7b-us-satellite-1
44826517.html
At least their problems had a happy ending.
+New Echolink Net. Saturday evenings at 8pm Eastern. The NET is titled
"SATCHAT" by initiator. Check in at the AMSAT Conf. Echolink slot and
Join the conversations about satellites. Ask questions and hear what
other people in the country are Doing for satellite activity. It is
hosted by: Vince Waelti, K9TSU Stop by and add your experiences to the
group.
[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]
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Symposium 2012 Monday Trip to the Kennedy Space Center
Those attending the 2012 AMSAT Symposium and interested in a Monday Trip
(Oct 29) to the Kennedy Space Center please contact Martha via email:
martha at amsat.org.
The trip will include a round trip bus from the hotel and entrance to
the Space Center. The cost will be about $100. This is a wonderful
experience for those that haven't been and for those that have been
multiple times. We need to get an idea of how many will participate to
select the correct bus.
[ANS Thanks Gould for this Symposium Update.]
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New Feature For SatPC32 Adjusts Doppler From Satellite Point of View
Erich, DK1TB has added a new feature into SatPC32 V12.8b which will
allow adjustment for doppler shift between two separate stations so each
will appear to be on the same frequency. From a ground station point of
view each station will see a different doppler shift unless they are
located physically near each other. What is desired is that both
stations will appear on the same frequency from the satellite receiver's
point of view.
The whole idea of doppler correction is to be at a constant frequency
within the satellite receiver passband. To do that you have to adjust
your uplink frequency constantly. And you have to adjust your down- link
frequency to continue to hear yourself or someone else using full
doppler correction.
Erich has now added the option of seeing the frequency you are on at the
satellite receiver. This is a common frame of reference so if you tell
someone you'll be on 435.845 at the satellite, they can be on that same
frequency even though your terrestrial dial frequencies will be much
different. Just adjust your receiver or use the up/down buttons in
SatPC32 to set your frequency shown in the "Sat" window.
That frequency will remain constant as your uplink and downlink are
controlled by SatPC32.
Staying at a constant frequency at the satellite allows many stations to
share the bird without drifting into each other. And being able to know
exactly where you are in the passband without doing the calcula- tion in
your head gives you more time to concentrate on making a suc- cessful
QSO.
This feature is implemented by loading a patch file for SatPC32, V12.8b
which can be found in the "downloads" link at:
http://www.dk1tb.de - Scroll down to Section 7, Patches.
Erich, DK1TB donates the proceeds from the sale of SatPC32 to AMSAT.
When you purchase this software you are helping AMSAT.
You can download the software from the SatPC32 website at:
http://www.dk1tb.de/ A CD-ROM with the software is available from the
AMSAT Store: http://www.amsat-na.com/store/item.php?id=100017
To activate the downloaded version of the program, you can purchase a
registration code via the AMSAT online store or by calling the AMSAT
office. See: http://www.amsat-na.com/store/item.php?id=100020
[ANS thanks John Papay, K8YSE for the above information]
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(ARISS) Status Report March 19, 2012
1. Upcoming School Contacts
Centre de Formation de la Base Aérienne de Payerne, Switzerland has been
scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
(ARISS) contact was successful on Wednesday, March 21 at 08:39 UTC. The
contact was held in the museum "Clin d'Ailes", located on the Payerne
Swiss Airforce Base that has on display military aeronautics exhibits
from the second half of the 20th century. Mr. Claude Nicollier, HB9CN,
who is the first Swiss astronaut and president of the Museum Foundation,
plans to attend the event. The Clin d'Ailes Swiss Air Force Museum Ham
Radio Club, holding callsigns HB4FR and HB9SPACE, set up its radio for
the contact. Students plan to launch a stratospheric balloon equipped
with video and photo cameras and sensors and beacons two weeks prior to
the event. After the ARISS contact, they will present the videos,
photos and the analysis of the recorded sensor data.
Salem Elementary School in Apex, North conducted an ARISS contact on
Wednesday, March 21 at 14:09 UTC via station VK5ZAI in Australia. This
contact is part of a comprehensive education plan which will pique
students' interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).
2. Liberty Junior High Radios Don Pettit on ISS
Students attending Liberty Junior High School in Burbank, Illinois
experienced a very successful Amateur Radio on the International Space
Station (ARISS) contact on Wednesday, March 14. Over 800 students,
teachers and guests were present as students put their questions to
astronaut Don Pettit, KD5MDT on ISS. The ARISS contact highlighted the
school's comprehensive education plan covering Science, Technology,
Engineering and Math (STEM) subject matter. Other activities students
participated in included investigating thermal properties of different
materials, building models of the ISS and exploring the cast distances
of space and the effect of distance and radio waves.
3. Belgium Contact Successful
An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact was
held on Friday, March 16 between Middenschool de Regenboog Bree in Bree,
Belgium and on-orbit astronaut André Kuipers, PI9ISS. A newly licensed
14 year girl operated the radio during the event while students had all
15 of their prepared questions answered. The contact was carried out as
part of a curriculum covering the micro-gravity environment, history of
manned spaceflight, commercial spaceflight and the construction of the
ISS.
4. Leone Acciaiuoli Students Question ISS Astronaut
On Sunday, March 18, Dan Burbank, KC5ZSX fielded ten questions from
youth attending the Istituto Tecnologico Statale Trasporti e Logistica
"Leone Acciaiuoli" in Ortona, Italy via an ARISS contact. Approximately
200 people were in attendance, including representatives from two
television stations. AMSAT-Italia also provided coverage, streaming
video on the Internet. The contact complemented science courses taught
at the school such as Navigation, Astronomy, Mathematics, Physics and
Satellite Communications and was a featured activity during the
International Day of Planetaria.
5. ARISS-U.S. Schools Selected
The NASA Teaching From Space office received 27 U.S. proposals for ARISS
contacts that will be scheduled during the second half of this year. The
U.S. Selection Committee reviewed the proposals and selected 18 schools
for these contacts. The schools will be notified of their status early
this week.
[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 addi- tional
benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office.
Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at
one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students
enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu-
dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status.
Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership
information.
73,
This week's ANS Editor,
Dee Interdonato, NB2F
nb2f at amsat dot org
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