Text 861, 273 rader
Skriven 2006-03-04 22:01:32 av Amsat List (1:323/120.0)
Ärende:
========
AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-064
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:
* AMSAT-NA BoD Nominations Due June 12, 2006
* Request for AMSAT Journal Articles
* SuitSat Visual Sighting Reported
* SuitSat in the Classroom
* ARISS Status February 27, 2006
* Aurora Surprise
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-064.01
AMSAT-NA BoD Nominations Due June 12, 2006
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 064.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
March 5, 2006
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-064.01
NOTICE
AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Nominations Due No Later than June 12, 2006
It is time to submit nominations for the upcoming open seats on the AMSAT-NA
Board of Directors. A nomination requires either one Member Society or five
current individual members to nominate an AMSAT member for the position. A
Director serves for a period of two years. Three Directors' terms expire
this year: Tom Clark, K3IO, Lou McFadin, W5DID and Paul Shuch, N6TX.
Nominations MUST be in writing and mailed to:
AMSAT
850 Sligo Ave #600
Silver Spring MD 20901
[ANS thanks Martha, AMSAT Manager for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-064.02
Request for AMSAT Journal Articles
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 064.02
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
March 5, 2006
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-064.02
Ed Long, WA4SWJ, AMSAT Journal Editor, passed along the following:
"Hi Everyone...
Just a note to let all you authors know that I am looking for articles for
the March/April 2006 issue of The AMSAT Journal. I am trying to get the
Journal released earlier in the two-month normal cycle but I've been delayed
by late submissions in some cases. I surely appreciate all the work that
goes into article development but I could use it a little sooner so I'll be
able to get the Journal out sooner. So, fire up those keyboards and get some
bytes onto that virtual piece of paper on your screens! As usual the best
way to submit them to me (especially with high resolution graphics or
pictures) is to "journal at amsat dot org" (you know what that means). I
would love to have your submissions by March 10th or so. That's only a
couple of weeks away.
Thanks and please let me know if I can help or if you need information from
me.
The January/February 2006 issue has been at the printer for 2 to 3 weeks now
so you should have it soon. I haven't seen my paper copy yet although I get
to see final version in electronic format before anyone. One of the benefits
of being the Journal Editor."
[ANS thanks Ed Long, WA4SWJ, Editor, The AMSAT Journal for the above
information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-064.03
SuitSat Visual Sighting Reported
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 064.03
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
March 5, 2006
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-064.03
In response to an AMSAT request for reports of any visual observations of
SuitSat, Steve Meuse of Londonderry, New Hampshire reported a visual
sighting during a February 28th pass. Steve has written the details of the
sighting on his astronomy blog. See: http://tinyurl.com/qlanx
[ANS thanks Steve Meuse for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-064.04
SuitSat in the Classroom
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 064.04
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
March 5, 2006
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-064.04
Bruce Robertson, VE9QRP, taught three classes on SuitSat in the science
program of his local Middle School in New Brunswick, Canada and filed this
report:
"I thought I'd provide a brief report, partly to seed ideas for future
educational opportunities, partly as a note of thanks to the team that put
SuitSat together and collected its data.
This proved a very engaging topic, one to which the grade 6 and 7 students
warmed quite quickly. The idea of 'reusing' out-of-date equipment in this
manner, the 'secret words' and multilingual nature of the message, and
finally the very haunting image of 'Mr. Smith' tumbling through space all
served to capture young imaginations.
My presentation comprised a modified version of Gould's ppt presentation and
an audio disk with A.J.'s Greatest Hits. I began talking about ISS and
communications from there to earth via ham radio. I played a part of the
recording of Maryam 9K2MD talking to U5MIR. Her enthusiasm is quite evident,
and it draws the girls into the topic a bit. It also is a good introduction
to the idea of callsigns and phonetic alphabets.
After introducing the idea of SS, we watched the video of the launch. We
calculated how much weaker the signal turned out to be than expected, and we
listened to the audio. I gave them each a worksheet which helped guide them.
Recordings with telemetry had headings for 'Temperature', for instance. Then
they gathered in lab groups and tried to fill in material. I allowed
representatives from the groups to gather around the CD player to eek out
another word or two.
We ended the hour with a discussion about what went wrong. Does your car
stereo stop working at 13 degrees C? If the batteries on a suit are rated at
28V, how does the voltage seem? Finally, by listening to the fading and
comparing the video of the suit tumbling, many got the sense that the fading
was due to the suit masking the antenna. All three classes wish to recommend
to the designers of future SuitSats that they install a second antenna, some
thought at right angles to the first, others thought out the feet of the
suit!"
Bruce wrapped up his report by saying "The important thing for us to
recognize is that this was an opportunity that was grasped very well. We
should be proud not only of the people who put the thing together with very
little time, but of those who made a success of it through their technical
skills and their considerable cooperation."
[ANS thanks Bruce, VE9QRP for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-064.05
ARISS Status February 27, 2006
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 064.05
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
March 5, 2006
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-064.05
1. Itaki Elementary School Contact Successful
Students from Itaki Elementary School Fathers' Club in Hiroshima, Japan
spoke with Bill McArthur, KC5ACR, on Monday, February 20. Thirteen children
asked 19 questions of McArthur as an audience of 90 looked on. Media
coverage included 2 newspapers and 5 television stations. Audio and video
are available on the following web site:
http://www.ariss.jp/higashihiroshima.html.en
The audio from this contact was available on the EchoLink AMSAT and JK1ZRW
conference room servers. EchoLink had 16 connections from 6 countries:
Japan, UK, USA, Thailand, Russia, and Holland.
2. Upcoming School Contact
Evangelisches Gymnasium Lippstadt in Lippstadt, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
has been approved for a contact with the ISS. It will take place on
Wednesday, March 8 at 14:56 UTC.
3. Girl Guides Listen to Engineering Day Contact
The audio from the Discover Engineering Family Day contact was fed through
IRLP to which the Node 2050 Halifax connected. Six Girl Guides, their
parents and leaders who were taking part in "Girl Guides on the Air"
activities at this club station were treated to this ARISS event.
4. ARRL Article on Pine Ridge, Cosmos Centre Contacts
ARRL ran an article on the Pine Ridge NES and Cosmos Centre Charleville
contacts entitled, "No Lollies on Space Station, Commander Tells Youngsters
in Space QSO." See: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/02/23/3/?nc=1
5. ARRL Articles on SuitSat
ARRL posted two web stories covering SuitSat's end. To view, "SuitSat-1
Apparently SK; Nothing Heard for Several Days," see:
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/02/22/100/?nc=1
"ARISS Makes It Official: 'Tremendously Successful' SuitSat-1 is SK" may be
found at: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/02/24/1/?nc=1
6. SuitSat Continues to Receive Media Coverage
The ARISS team supplied photos and data to Popular Science, Japanese CQ, and
Design Electronic Magazines, as all of these publications plan to run
articles on SuitSat-1. ABC News also interviewed ARISS Chairman Frank Bauer
and will include a segment on SuitSat in their news broadcast in the near
future.
7. Astronaut Training Status
A second class in Amateur Radio license training was held on Friday,
February 24. Astronauts Jim Dutton, Shane Kimbrough, and Tom Marshburn
attended. Astronauts Chris Cassidy, Randy Bresnik and Bobby Satcher will be
scheduled for their second session at a later date.
8. ARISS Contact Cards
After receiving the new ARISS QSL cards (postcards used to confirm general
contacts), ARRL Headquarters' staff has now fulfilled the backlog of 100
cards. They have currently collected 43 cards toward Bill's Worked All
States award.
[ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI for the above information]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-064.06
Aurora Surprise
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 064.06
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
March 5, 2006
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-064.06
Sunspots have been scarce lately, but that doesn't mean solar activity is
nil. A solar wind gust hit Earth's magnetic field on February 19th, sparking
auroras of exceptional beauty over far-North America. Visit SpaceWeather.com
to view pictures of the storm taken from Earth and Earth-orbit.
[ANS thanks SpaceWeather.com 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
AMSAT LM-1957
wa1lbg at amsat dot org
----
Via the ans mailing list at AMSAT.ORG courtesy of AMSAT-NA.
To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe ans" to Majordomo@amsat.org
--- ViaMAIL!/WC v1.60d
* Origin: Chowdanet (401-724-4410) telnet://chowdanet.com (1:323/120)
|