AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-020

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:


In this edition:

* AO-51 Recovered
* AMSAT Maryland Lab Update
* P3E C-Band Receiver Construction Completed, Testing Begins
* Six CubeSats to Launch From India
* Opportunity to Help With AMSAT's EaglePedia
* ARISS Status Report for the Week of January 14, 2008


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-020.01
AO-51 Recovered

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 020.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 20, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-020.01

The AO-51 Command Team successfully recovered the satellite this week
after its software crashed. Gould, WA4SXM along with Kevin, WA6FWF
uploaded and re-started the code. AO-51 is operational in normal mode:
V/U analog 145.920/435.300 on TXB & command station digital on TXA.

Heating is the Command Team's main concern during this no eclipse
period. Two different strageties have been studied to prevent over-
heating from too much solar exposure. The first alternative includes
turning the transmitter off to not generate additional heat. The
second alternative involves turning the transmitter to as high as
power setting as possible to use the sunlight that is converted to
electricity which is then radiated out the antenna.

The Command Team decided that the best approach was to use as much
energy as possible. When the satellite software crashed Sunday all
transmitters stopped operation. They found Battery 1 had a temperature
of 41-42 C, which is too hot. Keeping high TX power (2.28W) on TXA for
one orbit as soon as command was recovered resulted in the temperature
of battery 1 reducing down to 36C.

Gould summarized, "Everything is looking well so far and we are getting
consistent data, with the FM repeater transmitter power setting of at
1.12 W". The telemetry link is operating L/U BB mode at 500 mW.

Joe, K3SZH says he was able to contact David, G1OCN via AO-51. It was
a short contact since the satellite was only 1 degree above Joe's
horizon.

[ANS thanks Gould, WA4SXM and the AO-51 Command Team for the above
information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-020.02
AMSAT Maryland Lab Update

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 020.02
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 20, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-020.02

Bob, KF4KSS, AMSAT Lab Manager provided an update on the work to bring
the new Pocomoke City, MD facility shared with the Hawk Institute of
Space Sciences on-line.

+ January will close the cleanroom construction activities.

+ February will begin the tower and all the RF for the satellite control
station including U, V, L, S and HF bands. Details will be published
as they are completed.

+ After the tower installation, we will begin work on the engineering
unit of the structure for the AMSAT Eagle amateur radio satellite. We
plan on having parts of it complete in time for the Dayton Hamvention
in May.

+ An on-line gallery of Lab pictures can be found at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/bob2leo

[ANS thanks Bob, KF4KSS for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-020.03
P3E C-Band Receiver Construction Completed, Testing Begins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 020.03
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 20, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-020.03

Peter Gülzow, DB2OS, wrote from Marburg, Germany reporting that the
AMSAT-DL C-Band receiver for P3E is completed and currently under
testing. The receiver was developed by Volker Winterscheid, DF7IT.
The 5.6 GHz receiver is housed in a 74x74x30 mm module Which contains
a pre-amp, mixer to 10.7 MHz IF, passband filters, and AGC system.

Except for the setting of the AGC time constant, all electrical work
is completed on the module. Testing is also being done for selectivity
and rejection of adjacent weather radar signals in this band.

More detailed information on the C-band RX for P3-E will appear after
completion of the tests in AMSAT-DL Journal.

[ANS thanks Peter Gülzow, DB2OS for the above information]
/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-020.04
Six CubeSats to Launch From India

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 020.04
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 20, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-020.04

Six University Cubesat/Amateur Radio satellites are planned for launch
in early March, 2008 from India. Full satellite information for each
is too lengthy for complete coverage here. Below is a summary of the
satellites and their frequencies and operating modes (if known).

Links to the University CubeSat Team's web pages with many additional
mission details can be found at:
http://www.uk.amsat.org/
http://showcase.netins.net/web/wallio/CubeSat.htm (W0RPK CubeSat Page)

CANX-2
University of Toronto (Canada)
2m CW TLM plus 70cm uplink/13cm downlink (Not AX.25)

AAUSAT-II
Aalborg University (Denmark)
437.425 AFSK & FSK up/downlink
1200-9600bps AX.25
FM CW TLM

COMPASS-1
University of Applied Sciences (Germany)
Primary telemetry downlink: 437.405 9600bps FSK AX.25
Beacon downlink: 437.275 CW

DELFI-C3
Technical University of Delft (Netherlands)
Primary telemetry downlink: 145.870 MHz 1200 Baud BPSK AX.25 400mW
Backup telemetry downlink: 145.930 MHz 1200 Baud BPSK AX.25 400mW

The satellite will be in telemetry only mode for approximately
the first three months of the mission, after which it is switched
to linear transponder mode.
Downlink: 145.880 - 145.920 MHz (inverting) 400mW PEP
Uplink: 435.570 - 435.530 MHz
Transponder mode beacon: 145.870 MHz CW (10dB below transponder PEP)

CUTE 1.7+APD II
Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan)
SRLL protocol

SEEDS
Nihon University (Japan)
437.485MHz AX.25 (450mW)
CW (90mW)

[ANS thanks Trevor, M5AKA, and Ralph, W0RPK for the above information]
/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-020.05
Opportunity to Help With AMSAT's EaglePedia

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 020.05
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 20, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-020.05

AMSAT is looking for two to three motivated individuals interested
in helping with AMSAT's EaglePedia. EaglePedia is a Wiki and is the
central repository for all information on AMSAT's upcoming Eagle
spacecraft and possible future missions. AMSAT engineers and the
general public will be accessing EaglePedia.

Volunteers will be responsible for re-organizing the current Wiki
layout, adding new content, and supporting the AMSAT Engineers as they
design, build and organize the project's documentation. Ideal
candidates will have technical writing, web development, HTML and Wiki
experience, possibly with technical backgrounds (hopefully you all
have this already!). Knowledge of WikiMedia, MySQL, UNIX and
spacecraft engineering and project management is a plus (but not
required).

This is a fantastic oppurtunity to support one of AMSAT's most
ambitious projects!

Please contact Dave, N0TGD (hartzell -at- gmail.com) directly for
more information or to communicate your interest in helping AMSAT-NA!
Please put "EaglePedia" somewhere in the subject line.

[ANS thanks Dave, N0TGD for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-020.06
ARISS Status Report for the Week of January 14, 2008

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 020.06
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 20, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-020.06

1. ARISS School Contacts Status

Due crew schedules onboard the ISS, no ARISS contacts are planned at
this time. The ARISS team expects contacts to resume once STS-122
launches in early February.


2. Astronaut Training Status

Timothy Creamer, KC5WKI, received training on the ARISS basic radio
operations and school contacts on Tuesday, January 8. Creamer is a
backup crew member for the Expedition 18 mission.

Koichi Wakata, KC5ZTA, and Soichi Noguchi, KD5TVP, will be scheduled
for training on ARISS radio operations and school contacts in the near
future. Wakata is scheduled to fly on Expedition 18; Noguchi is slated
as his backup.

Two training sessions have also been scheduled for Russian crew
members on January 16 and 24.


3. ARISS International Team Meeting Held

Minutes of the December ARISS teleconference have been posted.
See: http://www.rac.ca/ariss/arisstel20071218.htm
The next ARISS teleconference will be held on January 22.


4. South Korean will Participate in ARISS Contact

South Korean spaceflight participant Ko San holds a South Korean
amateur radio license. San plans to participate in an ARISS contact
while aboard the ISS. He will fly on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft with
Expedition 17 crew members Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko slated
to launch on April 8, 2008.

[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,
JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM