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AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-331

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:
* PCSat (NO-44) Operational
* PCSat2 Awaiting Improved Sun Angles
* SuitSat Deployment Delay
* SA AMSAT Satellite Conference 2006 - Call For Papers
* POSAT Update
* OSCAR 11 Report - 21 November 2005
* AMSAT Awards
* ARISS Status - 21 November 2005


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-331.01
PCSat (NO-44) Operational

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 331.01
 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
November 27, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-331.01

PCsat (NO-44) Will be OPS NORMAL for 2 weeks starting 25 November 2005.
PCsat was last operating OPS-NORMAL back in Jan/Feb 2005 for about a
month until it returned to negative-power-budget mode on 16 Feb 2005.
PCsat enters full sun every 2 months or so, but the energy budget is
only high enough during the winter months for full receovery due to the
better sun angles then on its +Z solar panel.

PCsat is using the same path as ARISS for convenience:
UNPROTO APRS VIA ARISS.

APRS mobiles in the USA will also see occasional packets from the Side B
downlink on the USA APRS frequency of 144.39.

Please remember the rules for PCsat as published in the User Service
Agreement, and that is "no unattended beacons via PCsat" to conserve
power for those people trying live contacts.

[ANS thanks Bob WB4APR for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-331.02
PCSat2 Awaiting Improved Sun Angles

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 331.02
 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
November 27, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-331.02

PCSAT2 shut down due to low voltage sometime after 1855z on 23 Nov due
to high beta angle. Nothing was heard on the 2032z pass.

PCSAT2 is attached to the outside of ISS and only gets sun when ISS is
maintaining an attitude with good sun angle on our location.  The worst
angle is on Saturday, 26 November 2005.  Recovery is not expected until
later next week when sun angles begin to improve.  At that time it is
hoped that joint ops with PCsat (NO-44) will be possible.

Last telemetry was showing the 16 volt Lithimu-Ion Battery down to 11.6
volts.  Load current was the usual 313 mA and Solar current was 377 mA
near local noon. Even with load sheding, and re-charge, the PCSat2
receivers will be on and the only power savings due to the shut-down
will be the 60 mA of the TNC's.  This is only 20% of the nominal load
current and is insufficient to gain much ground until the entire system
returns to better sun angles sometime after 1 Dec.

[ANS thanks Bob, WB4APR, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-331.03
SuitSat Deployment Delay

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 331.03
 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
November 27, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-331.03

Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, AMSAT V.P. for Human Spaceflight reports that he
has received information that the Russian EVA that will deploy SuitSat,
which had been planned for December 8, has been delayed to late
January/Early 
February.  

[ANS thanks Frank KA3HDO for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-331.04
SA AMSAT Satellite Conference 2006 - Call For Papers

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 331.04
 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
November 27, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-331.04

CALL FOR PAPERS FOR THE SA AMSAT SATELLITE CONFERENCE 2006
(SA AMSATCON2006)

The Southern Africa Amateur Radio Satellite Association (SA AMSAT)
will be holding its annual satellite conference on 25 March 2006 at
the University of  KwaZulu-Natal. The key note speaker will be Prof
Justin Jonas who will deliver a presentation on the SKA (Square
kilometre Array) project. Prof Takawira, head of the Department of
Electrical and Electronic Engineering will open the conference.

SA AMSAT is calling for proposals for papers on subjects covering
the various aspects of satellite and weak signal communication
including equipment and antenna design and construction.

Prospective authors should send a brief synopsis of their proposed
paper to saamsat@intekom.co.za for consideration by the conference
committee. The deadline is 30 January 2006.  Proposals and
submission may also be mailed to SA AMSAT, PO Box 90438, Garsfontein
0042.

Authors will be advised by 6 February 2006 of acceptance of their
papers. Final papers in Microsoft word format are required by 10 March
2006.

The morning sessions will be focussing on technologies while the
afternoon sessions will include practical aspects of satellite
communication for both experienced satellite enthusiast as well as
newcomers.

Attendance to the conference is open to all satellite enthusiasts.
Details of registration and fees will be announced during January 2006.

[ANS thanks JoAnne, WB9JEJ, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-331.05
POSAT Update

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 331.05
 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
November 27, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-331.05

During the AMSAT-UK Colloquium in late July it was announced that it was
expected that the POSAT satellite would be reconfigured for amateur
radio use.
 
We are pleased to confirm that this is still the plan but it is taking a
little longer than expected to make the necessary non-technical
arrangements.
 
The final operating configurations will take into account the various
options discussed on the AMSAT-BB within the constraints imposed by the
operating system on board and by the load on the command station.
 
As soon as we have more detailed information we will make a further
announcement

73 Jim Heck, G3WGM
Hon Sec AMSAT-UK

[ANS thanks Jim, G3WGM, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-331.06
OSCAR 11 Report - 21 November 2005

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 331.06
 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
November 27, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-331.06

During the period 20 October to 21 November 2005 the VHF beacon on
145.826 MHz. resumed transmissions on 21 October, and continued until 30
October. Transmissions then resumed, as expected, on 10 November.
However, the beacon stopped transmitting prematurely, some time between
14 and 16 November.  If the watchdog resets as expected, then the beacon
should restart around 06 December.

Signals have been very variable during this period. Sometimes received
at good strength, at other times they were inaudible , even with the BFO
switched ON (ie. in CW mode).

The on-board clock continues to show a very large error. Currently it is
19.9 days slow.

All the analogue telemetry channels, 0 to 59 are zero, ie they have
failed.  The status channels 60 to 67 are still working.

The eclipses have now ended, and the satellite should be in continuous
sunlight for the remainder of this year, and next year until early May.
This should help the satellite to continue transmitting, although
continuous sunlight can cause problems due to excessive temperatures.
Power supply problems can be caused by poor earth pointing attitude, ie
the sunlight illuminating the ends of the satellite, instead of the
solar arrays.

The watchdog timer appears to be operating on the 20 day cycle, ie.
approximately ten days ON followed by 10 days OFF. It appears to be
unaffected by problems of the on-board clock. However, poor solar
attitude, and battery problems, may be combining to produce a low 14
volt line supply. This appears to be causing the beacon to switch OFF
prematurely, and resets the watchdog timer cycle.  It seems very likely
that the battery is now unable to retain its charge, due to having
endured around 100,000 partial charge/discharge cycles, always a problem
with NiCad cells.  When analogue telemetry was transmitted, it showed an
unexplained current drain from the 14 volt line. This just adds to the
present problems.

The Beacon frequencies are -
VHF 145.826 MHz.  AFSK FM  ASCII Telemetry
UHF 435.025 MHz.  OFF
S-band 2401.5 MHz. OFF

Listeners to OSCAR-11 may be interested in visiting my website which
contains an archive of news & telemetry data. It also contains details
about using a soundcard or hardware demodulators for data capture.
There is software for capturing data, and decoding ASCII telemetry.  The
URL is www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew/

If you place this bulletin on a terrestrial packet network, please
use the bulletin identifier $BID:U2RPT115.CWV, to prevent duplication.

[ANS thanks Clive G3CWV  for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-331.07
AMSAT Awards

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 331.07
 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
November 27, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-331.07

This week, congratulations go out to all of the following.

Sebastiano Trovato, IW9HBY, Satellite Communications Achievement Award
#425
Jonathan Poulton, W0CK, Satellite Communications Achievement Award #426

Keith Austermiller, KB9STR, 51 on 51 Award #42
Brock Thomsen, W6GMT, 51 on 51 Award #43
Mike Herr, WA6ARA, 51 on 51 Award #44

To see all the awards visit http://www.amsat.org or
http://www.amsatnet.com


[ANS thanks Bruce KK5DO, for the above information]      

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-331.08
ARISS Status - 21 November 2005

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 331.08
 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
November 27, 2005
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-331.08

1.  Hermann Middle School Contact Successful

On Wednesday, 16 November 2005, Hermann Middle School, in Hermann,
Missouri, contacted the ISS via ham radio.    The school library was
standing room only, as seven students asked questions of Bill McArthur,
KC5ACR. The audio was distributed over the PA system to the rest of the
school. MSNBC carried the event live through the school's Hermann
Bearcat Amateur Radio Club webcam.  Two television stations, channel 5,
St. Louis and channel 13, Jefferson City, covered the event and ran
video clips in their news casts.  The students, volunteers and teachers
who participated will receive DVDs as a remembrance of the event. The
Hermann Middle School radio contact coordinator reported, "This was a
wonderful thing that happened to our rural school district.  They are
all smiles right now."


2. Takatsuki Education Center Contact Successful

On Thursday, 17 November 2005, Takatsuki Education Center in Takatsuki,
Osaka, Japan, experienced a successful contact with the ISS.  Ten sixth
graders from Hiyoshidai Elementary School posed twenty questions to Bill
McArthur, KC5ACR, as an audience of approximately 400 students, parents
and others gathered to watch the event.  Two television stations,
including NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation), three newspapers, and
other media covered the contact.  The contact audio is available at:
http://jk1zrw.dyndns.org/takatsuki.html.en

For the video, see:
http://www.city.takatsuki.osaka.jp/multimedia/media/ariss-hiyosidai.asf


3. ARRL Article on Negri and Furtherwick School Contacts

ARRL ran an article covering the Instituto Comprensivo Francesco Negri
and Furtherwick Park School contacts. "Students in Italy, England
Entertained, Educated via Ham Radio" may be found at:
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/11/16/1/?nc=1


4.Italian School Contact Video

On Wednesday, November 9, students from Instituto Comprensivo Francesco
Negri spoke with astronaut Bill McArthur via amateur radio.  Radio
operator Claudio Ariotti, IK1SLD, posted a video clip and photos of the
event on the following website: 
http://scuola.spaceonline.tv/


5. Furtherwick Park School Contact

On Wednesday, November 9, Furtherwick Park School successfully contacted
the ISS.  The BBC covered the event in an article, "Pupils link up with
International Space Station."  See:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/essex/content/articles/2005/11/11/space_station_feature.sh

ARISS member, Howard Long has made available a video of the contact.
See:
http://www.howardlong.com/images/Furtherwick.wmv


6. Russian EVA to Deploy SuitSat Postponed

SuitSat, a Russian spacesuit containing ham radio equipment and a CD of
student artwork, was scheduled to be deployed during a Russian EVA on
December 8. This EVA has been postponed and is not expected to take
place until late January/early February 2006. 
 
This unique satellite continues to receive news coverage, as Frank
Bauer's SuitSat paper has been translated into French and posted on the
AMSAT-France website.  See: http://www.amsat-france.org/ariss

[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
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