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Ärende: [ans] ANS-078 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletin
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[ans] ANS-078 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletin
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 078.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
March 18, 2012
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-078.01
IARU Announces New Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination Form
Frequency coordination for amateur radio satellites is provided by
the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) through its Satellite
Advisor, an official appointed by the IARU Administrative Council,
its top policymaking body. This post is currently held by Hans van
de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV.
Hans describes his role, "The IARU Satellite Advisor is assisted by
an Advisory Panel of qualified amateurs from all three IARU Regions.
The panel meets regularly via Skype to consider amateur satellite
frequency coordination requests for satellites planned for operation
on frequencies in the amateur service. The panel members often pro-
vide advice and assist satellite builders with the selection of the
best possible frequencies to meet the objectives of their mission."
The Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination request form has been
updated (Version 27) and is available for download from:
http://www.iaru.org/satellite.
On the IARU web satellite page there are also available a number of
guideline documents which will assist satellite builders, including
a document on the ITU requirements for Amateur Radio Satellites.
The list of amateur radio satellites coordinated by the IARU is
posted on-line at: http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru
[ANS thanks Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV for the above information]
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Watch for Packets from US Naval Academy Ice Goat 1 Buoy
This month a group of Oceanography and Aeronautical engineering
students from the US Naval Academy, led by Lt. Commander John
Woods, a military instructor in oceanography, deployed a buoy
rigged to monitor weather in the harsh conditions of the arctic.
They delivered the "Ice Goat 1," buoy to the northern part of
Alaska traveling by plane, then helicopter and finally snow-
mobile to the arctic ice off of the coast of Point Barrow, Ala-
ska. Once the ice melts the bouy will begin its sea voyage.
Ice Goat 1 also carries an APRS beacon operating on 145.825 MHz.
The position packets can be relayed via the ISS digipeater. How-
ever, the ISS only rises 1.5 degrees above the horizon at arctic
latitudes. Reports of direct reception of the 145.825 MHz beacon
are sought from any lucky Alaskan, and perhaps eventually Pacific
Northwest amateur radio stations (depending on ocean current) who
may be in range. Please send reports of reception to:
wb4apr@amsat.org.
This week, W3ADO, the US Naval Academy Amateur Radio Club has
posted a notice via the ISS digipeater:
W3ADO]APRS,RS0ISS-3*,qAR,N4XS-3::BLN1 :APRS Arctic Buoy in Barrow
Alaska. Watch for pkts!
The science mission of this buoy will broadcast webcam images and
measure a variety of environmental parameters including air temper-
ature, barometric pressure, and possibly under ice acoustics. As
the buoy collects information about the surrounding parameters all
data will be compiled on an internal data logger and transmitted
back to USNA using an Iridium satellite data link.
[ANS thanks Bob Bruninga, WB4APR for the above information]
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India HAMSAT VO-52 Recovery Successful
A report received from the ISRO Satellite Centre at Bangalore,
India on March 14 says the HAMSAT VO-52 is back on the air. Mani,
VU2WMY wrote, "The commands to 'Turn On' the PE1RAH Dutch trans-
ponder was successfully sent during 14:00 UT 35 deg ascending node
pass over Bangalore, India. The commands were successfully received,
acknowledged and confirmed by telemetry. The beacon signal was heard
loud and strong here at Bangalore."
Stations in Europe and North America reported good signals from VO-52
immediately after the transponder was activated. The beacon was heard
with two-way contacts completed through the transponder.
The HAMSAT team requests detailed initial reports be sent to::
tprangan@istrac.org and a copy to wmy@isac.gov.in
would be greatly appreciated.
HAMSAT VO-52 frequencies are:
Uplink: 435.2250 - 435.2750 MHz SSB/CW
Downlink: 145.9250 - 145.8750 MHz SSB/CW
Beacon: 145.8600 MHz CW
The CW beacon is sending: HI HI HI THIS IS VU SAT WITH THE DUTCH
MODE UV TRANSPONDER MADE BY WILLIAM LEIJENAAR 73 DE PE1RAH
Upon successful recovery of VO-52 Mani, VU2WMY sent the following
message on behalf of the HAMSAT team:
I take this opportunity to sincerely thank each and every
user and well wishers, who have been following and monitoring
closely all those events and activities that followed since
the interruption on 28th February 2012.
Thanks for all those encouraging and supporting expressions!
The initial telemetry reports indicated all the crucial and
critical parameters to be normal and satisfactory and we do
hope 'HAMSAT VO-52' would be available with much stronger power.
The overall spacecraft health is in 'Excellent Condition' and
all that we need to do is to monitor the transponder parameters.
14:05 UT on 14 March was a moment of great satisfaction and joy
to all of us here in bringing 'HAMSAT VO-52'back to life. It also
gives us great pleasure to note that 'HAMSAT VO-52'from India/ISRO
has a earned a name in the history of 'Amateur Radio Satellites'.
On behalf of everyone, I take this opportunity to sincerely thank
particularly, Mr. Parimalarangan-Operations Director for his hard
work and great efforts besides his exemplary technical competence
and skills exhibited in recovering back 'HAMSAT VO-52'.
Also my sincere thanks to Mission Director Mr. R. Suresh and the
entire 'HAMSAT VO-52' Mission Management and Project teams for all
the support, encouragement and recognition provided to 'Amateur
Radio World'.
My Good wishes to VO-52 and the transponders on-board for a 'Healthy
and Long Life'. My Good wishes & greetings, once again to William,
PE1RAH.
[ANS thanks Mani, VU2WMY, Secretary & Station-In-Charge of the Upagrah
Amateur Radio Club VU2URC at the ISRO Satellite Centre for the above
information]
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International Effort at Sea Gets UT1FG/MM Back on Satellites
This week John Papays, K8YSE shared an international amateur radio
goodwill success story in getting Captain Yuri Bodrov, UT1FG/MM
back on the air after a power supply failure at sea.
UT1FG/MM was enroute aboard his cargo ship from a Pacific port in
Nicaragua bound for Montreal Canada via the Panama Canal and into
the Gulf of Mexico. Yuri, an avid 6 meter and satellite operator,
reported that his 12 volt power supply had failed shortly after
leaving port.
John wrote, "The bad news was relayed amongst those of us who had
been following Yuri and working him in wet grids as he traveled.
Brainstorming started with ideas tossed around via emails. One idea
was to buy a power supply and ship it Fedex to Yuri's agent in Pan-
ama and hope it got there in time. But Yuri felt that there would
not be enough time for that to happen. We only had a few days."
Searching with Google and QRZ achieved contact with Captain Manolis
Joannou, HP1CQ, also a sea captain and president of the Panama Canal
Amateur Radio Association. Manolis was able to find a power supply
that could operate off the 220 VAC ship mains and provide 12 volts
to Yuri's IC-706 radio.
Captain Manolis made his way via a motor launch to Yuri's ship and
hand delivered the new power supply. The two Captains spent an hour
together before parting. Yuri was back on the air, working satellites
from the Gulf of Mexico.
For a full story, complete with photos visit:
http://www.papays.com/sat/power/ut1fgpanama.html
[ANS thanks John Papays, K8YSE for the above information]
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Open Source CubeSat Space Protocol Flight Test Aboard GOMX-1
Cubesat Space Protocol (CSP) is a small network-layer delivery proto-
col designed for Cubesats. The idea was developed by a group of stu-
dents from Aalborg University in 2008. The protocol is based on a 32-
bit header containing both transport and network-layer information.
Its implementation is designed for, but not limited to, embedded sys-
tems such as the 8-bit AVR microprocessor and the 32-bit ARM and AVR
from Atmel. The implementation is written in GNU C and is currently
ported to run on FreeRTOS or POSIX operating systems like Linux and
BSD.
GOMX-1, a 2U CubeSat designed and built by more than 15 students at
Denmark's Aalborg University is expected to launch in late 2012 into
a near sun syncronous orbit on a DNEPR rocket from Yasny in Russia
with a number of other amateur radio satellites.
The GOMX-1 mission will qualify a number of satellite subsystems in
space, providing extensive in-flight data. A camera payload will take
color images of the Earth and an experimental Software Defined Radio
receiver will be carried and its performance characterized. The mis-
sion will also test the use of the open source Cubesat Space Protocol
for a complete mission including the space link.
GOMX-1 plans to use GMSK telemetry with selectable 1k2/2k4/4k8/9k6
rates on UHF with approx 28dBm power to a deployed antenna.
For more information refer to these web pages:
GOMX-1 web page: http://gomspace.com/
Cubesat Space Protocol: http://code.google.com/p/cubesat-space-protocol
Gunter's Space Page provides a calendar of planned launches for 2012:
http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_chr/lau2012.htm
[ANS thanks the GOMX-1 Team at Aalborg University for the above
information]
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RAX-2 Amateur Radio Cubesat Scientific Success
The University of Michigan RAX-2 amateur radio cubesat has achieved
success in detecting the communication-disrupting anomaly in the
upper atmosphere it was designed for.
On March 9, Matt Bennett KF6RTB reported on behalf of the RAX-2 team,
"This is unbelievable!! After more than three years of hard work and
dedication by my team and professor at Michigan, our chief scientist
confirmed today that the RAX-2 spacecraft we designed, built, and
launched into space has detected the communication-disrupting ano-
maly in the upper atmosphere that we've been looking for!"
The primary objective of the mission is to use the onboard radar
receiver in conjunction with a powerful radar station in Alaska to
study the formation of a plasma anomaly known for causing the scin-
tillation of radio signals in the UHF and higher bands. This effect
is known to inhibit our space radar tracking capabilities and ground-
space communications. Studying this anomaly in this bi-static radar
configuration (ground based transmitter, space-base receiver) will
provide scientists with a better understanding of these anomalies
that has not been achievable with ground radars alone.
Mark concludes, "The RAX Team would like to acknowledge and say
thank you to the amateur radio satellite community for all of their
support on this mission. We've really enjoyed interacting with
fellow operators while collecting and analyzing telemetry. We've
also learned a great deal about satellite operations from each
other."
RAX-2: 437.345 MHz, 9600 bps GMSK http://rax.engin.umich.edu/
Mission Science Operations http://rax.sri.com/
RAX on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/RadioAuroraExplorer
[ANS thanks Mark Bennett KF6RTB and the RAX-2 team for the above
information]
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Satellite Shorts From All Over
+ A team of 10 operators, from the Aguas-Calientes Amateur Radio
Club will activate Isabel Island, grid DL71, using the callsign
XF1AA. The planned dates are March 16-21. Ismael, XE1AY, is one
of the operators and is active on the satellites. If you should
hear Ismael on the birds, please give him the air time to work
as many as he can. (OPDX Bulletin 1050 & K8YSE)
+ Magyar OSCAR-72 (MO-72) has made the very first Hungarian
photographs from space. Please visit:
http://tinyurl.com/MO72-FirstPhotos (cubesat.bme.hu)
+ Mark Hammond, N8MH is hosting an AMSAT table at the RARSFEST in
Raleigh, NC on Saturday, April 7. Mark is looking for volunteers
to assist. If you can help with this AMSAT publicity effort con-
tact Mark at marklhammond@gmail.com.
+ Plan ahead for August: EMike McCardel, KC8YLD is looking for vol-
unteers for the AMSAT presence at the Ohio State ARRL Convention
which will be held Saturday August 4, 2012 in conjunction with
Voice of Aladdin's Columbus Hamfest. Plans are being formed for
a display table, satellite demos, and a speaker is needed for a
satellite forum. If you are interested in helping out or would
like to propose a forum talk please contact EMike at:
kc8yld@amsat.org
+ 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.
+ Also Paul, 2E1EUB will be guest speaker at the Telford and District
Amateur Radio Society (TDARS) on Wednesday, March 21, where he will
give a talk about amateur radio satellites. In 2011 Paul was awarded
the prestigious Louis Varney Cup for Advances in Space Communication,
which was presented to him at the Telford Hamfest. More information
is posted on Southgate: http://tinyurl.com/Telford-Talk
+ ISS astronaut Don Pettit, KD5MDT demonstrates physics in space in
several videos posted on the 'Science off the Sphere' web pages.
This is a partnership between NASA and the American Physical Soc-
iety. Watch at: http://www.physicscentral.com/sots
+ Enjoy a flight over the northern lights aboard the ISS when you
watch the video at: http://tinyurl.com/ISS-FlyOverAurora
(SpaceDaily.com)
+ Central States VHF Society Conference is planned for July 26-29 in
Cedar Rapids, Iowa. A conference hotel rate of $93 per night is
being arranged. More information will become available as the web
page at http://www.csvhfs.org/ is updated.
+ The 50 MHz and Up Group is hosting this year's Microwave Update
Conference from October 18 to 21 in Santa Clara, CA. Check their
web at: http://www.microwaveupdate.org for more info as it becomes
available. Abstracts for papers, or requests for more information
can be sent by e-mail to: mud2012papers at gmail dot com
+ Congratulations to Rick Tejera, K7TEJ on earning VUCC Satellite
Award #227! Rick says, "Thanks to all who worked me over the past
two years to get me here."
[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]
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ARISS Status Report - 12 March 2012
1. Upcoming School Contacts
An ARISS contact has been scheduled for Istituto =
Tecnologico Statale Trasporti e
Logistica =93Leone Acciaiuoli=94, Ortona, Italy on Sunday, March 18 at 11:3=
1 UTC.
The Ortona Maritime Institute =93Leone Acciaiuoli=94 (I.T.N) is a technical=
high
school that prepares the student for a career as a merchant ship officer or=
to
continue his university studies in the field of engineering disciplines. Am=
ong
the subjects taught at the school are navigation, astronomy, celestial
navigation, satellite navigation, telecommunications (including satellite
telecommunications), mathematics and physics. Since 1991, the Institute has
taken part in the "International Day of Planetaria=94 which provides an
opportunity for educating the public in the areas of planetaria, science and
technology. On this day, the public is able to visit the Planetarium,
laboratories, astronomical telescope and other =
astronomical equipment. The ARISS
contact will be held as part of the day=92s activities.
2. California Students Radio Dan Burbank on Space Station
On Monday, March 5, Dilworth Elementary School in San Jose, California
participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS)
contact with Dan Burbank, KC5ZSX. Burbank fielded =
19 questions put to him by the
students about the challenges encountered while living in space. The contact
took place during the NASA Destination Station exhibit at The Tech Museum
located nearby and complemented lessons on Science Technology, Engineering =
and
Math (STEM).
3. Astronaut Andr=E9 Kuipers Answers Children=92s Questions via ARISS
An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact was held
between Andr=E9 Kuipers and school children at the Space Expo in Noordwijk,
Netherlands on Tuesday, March 6 via station ON4ISS in Belgium. The radio
activity was part of an educational program around Kuipers=92 mission Space=
ship
Earth which targets youth who are 10-14 years of age. Part of this program
consists of mission assignments that Kuipers gives to Dutch schoolchildren.=
The
winners of each challenge were invited to the radio contact. Other activiti=
es
included lessons and experiments.
4. Hams who Experimented with ARISSat Make the News
Farrell and Jeff Winder, the father and son who helped in the development of
SuitSat-1, made the news recently when they used =
ARISSat=92s transponder and after
several tries, successfully sent and received a picture of Farrell Winder's
automobile license plate. Community Press posted =
the story, =93Father, son team up
in 'outer space'.=94 See:
http://communitypress.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=3D/C2/201203=
01/NEWS
/303010057/
[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,
Lee McLamb, KU4OS
ku4os at amsat dot org
_______________________________________________
Via the ANS mailing list courtesy of AMSAT-NA
http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans
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