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AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-247

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:

ans-editor@amsat.org

In this edition:

* Symposium News from AMSAT President
* Katrina Assistance
* ARISS Status August 29, 2005
* SSETI Express - Four Weeks Until Lift-Off
* PCSAT2 Mode Change
* North Texas Balloon Project Launch #14

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-247.01
Symposium News from AMSAT President

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 247.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
September 4, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-247.01

I received many panicked phone calls and e-mails today regarding the 
upcoming AMSAT Annual meeting, which also includes a Board of Directors 
meeting before the Symposium and IARU and Eagle Team meetings afterwards. 
Some of you have tried to call the hotel without success. Others have 
realized that their decision to fly to New Orleans and drive was flawed as 
the airport is under water only to find the airlines gouging you with high 
fees to change a "non-refundable ticket" that they can't honor anyway.

The hotel is 100 miles West of New Orleans and therefore was spared the 
brunt of the storm and the resultant devastation. However, refugees are 
filling up hotels up to 300 miles away and many will not be returning any 
time soon. I fear that our Symposium may be doomed but I do not know for 
sure.

Over the next several days AMSAT officials will be evaluating the situation 
in Lafayette LA and will be considering alternatives. We have already had 
one offer to try to host the Symposium in Dayton Ohio. Moving the symposium
and associated meetings at this late date would be a Herculean task and may 
cost everyone significant extra air fare fees. The airlines have added major 
fuel cost surcharges and are sticking with the extra fees for exchanging 
tickets.

Please do not change or cash in tickets yet. The hotel is no longer 
accepting any reservations, even at the national 800 number.

If there are any other volunteers willing to try to host this event with no 
time to prepare and thousands of details to manage please contact our VP of 
Marketing and User Services, Barry Baines, WD4ASW at wd4asw@amsat.org or 
AMSAT's Manager, Martha Saragovitz at martha@amsat.org.

Remember, we don't know for sure that we must change anything so wait until 
there is a final announcement before making any changes.

Rick Hambly, W2GPS
AMSAT President

[ANS thanks Rick, W2GPS for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-247.02
Katrina Assistance

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 247.02
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
September 4, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-247.02

We are all concerned about the people in the path of Katrina's destruction. 
Many of us have friends or family in the area, others have friends and 
co-workers who have friends or family in the area. At this time, information 
into and out of the affected areas is sporadic. Our fellow hams are 
overloaded with requests for food, water and rescue.

If you need to locate someone visit: http://www.satern.org/ and complete the 
health and welfare information request. This group is also on the air on 
14.265. SATERN has the ability to hold the messages and to handle delivery 
when information can get to the affected area. Don't forget to provide the 
last known address of the person you are looking for as well as the area 
they may have evacuated to.

Here's how YOU can help now. Keep frequencies with any kind of relief 
traffic clear -- that means listen only, don't be a policeman. Offer to 
handle the internet input or the HF traffic to SATERN from your area for 
those without internet access or HF privileges. Try a text message via cell 
phone. Have patience.

If you want to go to the area to assist with communications or other 
activities, contact the Red Cross or other relief agencies FIRST. They have 
required training courses before you can be deployed so do not be surprised 
if you are told no. Donate money. Most importantly, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO TRAVEL 
TO THE AREA ON YOUR OWN.

[ANS thanks Sherri, W4STB for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-247.03
ARISS Status August 29, 2005

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 247.03
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
September 4, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-247.03

1. Sapporo Contact Successful

The Sapporo Junior Amateur Radio Club in Sapporo, Kokkaido, Japan 
experienced a successful contact with the ISS on Monday, August 22. Thirteen 
students asked 19 questions of John Phillips, KE5DRY, as high school student 
Jun Maeda, JL8AQH, manned the radio. Approximately fifty people attended the 
event, which was covered by three newspapers and two television stations.

2. ARISS International Meeting

The monthly ARISS International Teleconference was held on Tuesday, August 
23. Among the items discussed were the SuitSat project, the SSTV status, 
PCSAT2, and the Exploration Initiative. The next ARISS International Meeting 
will be held on September 20.

3. ARRL Article on ARISS Delegate Rosalie White

On August 22, ARRL ran a web story on ARRL Field and Educational Services 
Manager, Rosalie White. Rosalie has returned to her home state of Indiana to 
help with family issues, but she will continue to work with ARRL and ARISS. 
The story, "Rosalie White, K1STO, departs ARRL Headquarters, keeps 
connection," may be found at: http://www.arrl.org/

4. SuitSat and SSTV Shipped

Sergey Samburov, RV3DR, reports that the SuitSat hardware and the SSTV 
system have been packed and shipped to Baikonur Cosmodrome to be included on 
the next Progress flight, and that the crew has been trained in SuitSat 
assembly and radio operations. Progress 19P is scheduled to launch on 
September 8.

5. Crew Debrief

On Monday, August 22, the ARISS-U.S. team spoke with Andy Thomas, KD5CHF, 
about the general contacts he made using the ARISS radio system while on the 
ISS. Thomas had not been scheduled for any school contacts due the busy 
schedule of the STS-114 astronauts, but he did make time for a few general 
contacts over Australia and New Zealand, causing much excitement among the 
radio operators there.

6. ARISS Member Interviewed for Documentary

ARISS-Europe member, Carlos Eavis, G0AKI, was interviewed for the BBC Radio 
1 documentary, "Radio Anyone." An article, "BBC Radio 1 documentary 'Radio 
Anyone' now on the web," was posted to the web and provides a link to the 
audio. To listen to the interview, go to:
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/aug2005/radio_anyone_audio.htm

7. ARRL Article on Arizona Contact

Students at D.W. Higgins Institute in Tempe, Arizona spoke with astronaut 
John Phillips, KE5DRY, on Wednesday, August 17. ARRL ran a web story on the 
contact, entitled, "Space QSO Provides Arizona Youngsters Something to 
Remember." See:
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/08/26/3/?nc=1

8. Cosmonaut Makes General Contacts

Sergei Krikalev, U5MIR, made several general contacts over the weekend. 
Stations in the U.S., Kuwait, Malaysia, and Australia reported speaking to 
the cosmonaut on Saturday, August 27, with some sending wishes for a happy 
birthday, as Krikalev turned 47.

[ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-247.04
SSETI Express - Four Weeks Until Lift-Off

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 247.04
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
September 4, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-247.04

The launch date of September 27th and a lift-off time of 06:52:26 UTC now 
looks pretty certain for the Cosmos 3 rocket carrying SSETI Express with its 
three cubesat passengers and four other satellites into orbit.

Updated pre-launch keps will be made available in a few days time and there 
are a number of web pages being developed to enable amateurs to locate SSETI 
Express, receive and download the telemetry and to forward it to Mission 
Control for their evaluation. Later in the mission it will also be possible 
for amateurs to transmit so-called "friendly" commands to request particular 
telemetry or thumbnail pictures.

The SSETI team and ESA - The European Space Agency, are very keen to recruit 
as many radio amateurs as possible around the world to capture the 
telemetry. Our worldwide "virtual groundstation network" is a unique 
facility which we can use to our benefit as well as theirs. By showing how 
well our network can substitute for their expensive professional one, we 
will really encourage them to include amateur transponder systems in their 
future missions.

ESA will be offering a very significant prize for the amateur who sends them 
the largest amount of telemetry during the mission and is also offering a 
unique "I heard it first" T shirt to the station that sends them the first 
report. This is actually likely to be one of the three Stations that we hope 
to having listening for SSETI Express in Antarctica - an ideal item of 
clothing for their forthcoming winter season!

The main mission site is being finalised and can already be accessed at 
www.sseti.net -- click on the "express mission operation web site" link. 
This has full details of the mission, the software, present orbital position 
and a host of other information.

There is also a Mission Control web site at: 
http://www.express.space.aau.dk/?language=en&page=home
which will include a web cam of the control room and eventually the antennas 
and radio equipment.

AMSAT-UK will shortly be publishing the first edition of the SSETI Express 
Handbook which has been kindly edited by Richard, G3RWL. This will be 
available as a downloadable PDF file or, for a small fee, in a full colour 
printed version by post.

The SSETI Express launch campaign team will be setting off for Russia on 
Sept. 5th and will try to keep a good flow of up-to-date information flowing 
from the launch site.

Meanwhile there are two possibilities for joining the excitement of the 
Sept. 27th launch:

On ASTRA 1G which has coverage of most of Europe. The launch will be 
broadcast via ESA Television on ASTRA 1G at 19.2 degrees east:

Transponder:  1.108
Reception Frequency:  12551.50 mHz
Polarization:  Vertical
Symbol Rate:  22Msymb/s
FEC:  5/6
TS_ID:  1108
ON_ID:  1
Service Name:  ESA
Service provider:  ASTRA
Service_ID:  12140
TXT:  none

This is always on and will transmit an ESA logo starting three days before 
the launch. The programme is expected to run for approximately 30 mins and 
will include the launch sequence live from the Plesetsk launch site. The 
final programme timing will be announced by ESA nearer to the time.

On the Internet - World Wide Web

The ESA launch programme on ASTRA 1G will also be available as a web stream 
on the internet. The Home Counties Amateur Television Club operate an 
amateur television repeater (GB3HV) at High Wycombe in the UK and the output 
of this repeater is usually streamed onto the internet. They have kindly 
agreed to make this web stream service available to us for the launch 
period.

The web stream runs at about 210 Kbits/sec so a broadband internet 
connection will be required for a reliable relay. To access this web stream 
you need to have Windows Media Player and connect to 
mms://wm9.btrichmedia.com/hcatv. This service should be capable of serving a 
large number of users without difficulty.

This web stream operates on a 24/7 basis so it can be checked at anytime. 
Before the launch it may be displaying a variety of test cards, amateurs or 
other pictures. The display may take up to 30 seconds to appear and during 
the second half of every hour (from 30 mins to 59 mins after the hour) it 
will display a blank screen unless GB3HV is actually in use.

So we are nearly there! Please keep your fingers crossed for just a little 
longer so we can have a successful launch campaign.

More information will be relayed over the next few weeks but if the web 
sites listed do not give you the answers that you need about anything to do 
with SSETI Express please get in touch.

[ANS thanks Graham, G3VZV for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-247.05
PCSAT2 Mode Change

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 247.05
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
September 4, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-247.05

The PCSAT2 side-A system has been operated for 4 weeks in PSK-31 mode, and 
will now be changed from PSK-31 mode to UI/APRS Packet digipeater mode.

See: http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/pec/pc2ops.html

In this mode, the uplink is 145.825 and downlink is 435.275 +/- 10 kHz 
doppler to avoid any interference with the 145.800 ARISS operations. The 
system is 1200 baud with the callsign of PCSAT2 and alias of ARISS, so the 
same setting as you use for normal ARISS packet, should work here too if you 
use the ARISS alias.

Again, refer to the PCSAT2 operations page and the User Service Agreement 
for this mode. Specifically, unattended beacons are not authorized. The 
digipeater is for human communications, not blind beacons.

See: http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/pec/useragreemt.txt

[ANS thanks Bob, WB4APR for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-247.06
North Texas Balloon Project Launch #14

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 247.06
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
September 4, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-247.06

The North Texas Balloon Project will launch NTBP #14, named "Rapidfire," on 
Sept. 3, 2005 from the Hillsboro, TX, Airport. This flight is essentially a 
re-flight of NTBP #12, flown on 20 August 2005, to counter the actions of 
"Dr. Murphy" enjoyed on NTBP #12. It will have on board a cross band voice 
repeater, voice reports of inside and outside temperatures plus time 
(courtesy of the Fannin County ARC, Bonham, TX), APRS package location, and 
a DF Beacon. Liftoff time will be moved to approximately 8:15 AM CDT. A 
Special Event Callsign, N5B, will be used for this event. This time there 
will be a Special Event operation on 14.282 mHz during the event. There will 
be an HF Launch Information Net on 7260 +/-10 kHz. Other frequencies, and 
information for NTBP #14, are the same as the information for NTBP #12 
posted at www.ntbp.org. Check the Web Page frequently for status and come 
join the fun!

Frequencies:

Crossband Repeater:  Uplink: 445.800 mHz, Downlink: 147.560 mHz
APRS Location Information:  144.390 mHz
Time and Temperature Package:  146.56 mHz
Shuttle Package DF Beacon:  145.56 mHz
Launch Information Net:  7260 +/- 10 kHz
N5B Special Event Check-In:  14.282 mHz

[ANS thanks Keith, W5IU 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,
Al Marote, WA1LBG
wa1lbg at amsat dot org
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