After several passes I got a connection into U2MIR (not U2MIR-1).
I sent a single message up but their wasn't a control op on at the
time. Do they have any provisions to see at a later time the message
I sent or must I log into the bbs ? The window in the Northeast is
approximately 6 Minutes. My understanding is that they will QSL
right ?
Last weekend my system had U2MIR in the axheard list on 144.625, I
didn`t realise what it was until much later. I thought it was just
another local node as TheNET/NETROM nodes have wierd names around here.
SB SPACE @ ALLBBS KD2BD $SPC0128
* SpaceNews 28-Jan-91 *
Bulletin ID: $SPC0128
=========
SpaceNews
=========
MONDAY JANUARY 28, 1991
SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It
is published every week and is made available for unlimited distribution.
* U2MIR-1 NEWS *
================
Packet Radio (AX.25) communications were carried out last week between
the Soviet "Mir" space station and many ground stations on 145.550 MHz.
Callsigns of U2MIR and U2MIR-1 were used by the amateur radio station
on board Mir. Personal observations as well as observations by others
seem to confirm the fact that Mir now has a fully operational packet
radio bulletin board system, complete with a "standard" PBBS command
system capable of supporting mail exchanges between users as well as
disseminating news bulletins to all users of the system.
The U2MIR-1 BBS system is compatible with standard 1200 baud 2-meter
FM packet stations currently in existance all over the world. No
special TNCs or external PSK modems are required for access. Downlink
signals from Mir are strong. Even operation with indoor antennas seems
possible.
Packet radio operations from Mir came as quite a surprise to many who
expected operations to begin in March. While BBS operations took place
for several days last week, it remains to be seen when or if operations
will continue on a permanent basis. Packet BBS operations from U2MIR
can generally be made at any time, since the station can be run in an
unattended mode while the cosmonauts are sleeping or busy with other
work.
* SPACE RADIATION *
===================
NASA is reporting that operations of the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope
are being affected by radiation induced electronic failures on a daily
basis. Single event upsets (SEUs) in a 1 kilobit low-power TTL bipolar
random access memory (93L-422) are causing Hubble's crucial focusing
elements to lose data on a regular basis.
SEU induced errors are being minimized by using a rapid refresh cycle
with the RAM device to limit the time in which multiple SEUs can occur.
The 93L-422 RAM device has a well documented history of SEU failures,
but was used anyway since clever software routines could help correct
or prevent SEUs from affecting telescope operations. It appears the
SEU problem was greater than anticipated and might also explain why
NASA scientists mysteriously lost radio contact with the Magellan
Venus spacecraft for 18 hours shortly after insertion motor separation
last fall. Scientists are now trying to duplicate that problem in an
effort to determine its cause.
All OSCAR satellites experience problems with radiation induced RAM
errors. High energy radiation particles damaged one of the sense
amplifiers in the Integrated Housekeeping Unit (IHU) on board OSCAR-10.
Since that damage occurred, the spacecraft essentially became "brain
dead", and no longer transmits RTTY and CW telemetry or supports a
sophisticated transponder schedule.
Most satellites operating with 8-bit CPUs generally use 12-bit RAM systems
to help reduce the effect of radiation induced memory errors. OSCAR-11
as well as the MicroSats run a "wash" routine as part of eir spacecraft's
operating system. The wash routine checks all memoryocations, counting
all errors and correcting all single bit errors. A "wash pointer" reports
the current memory address checked and transmits thanformation as part
of the spacecraft telemetry report.
OSCAR-11 has been used quite extensively to study the problem of single
event upsets on spacecraft systems. In fact, it is an interesting hobby
to find correlations between radiation induced spacecraft RAM errors,
space dust counts, and ionospheric HF radio propagation conditions!
Most SEUs occur around the polar regions of the Earth, especially around
an area known as the "South Atlantic Anomaly", a heavily proton charged
region around Antartica. Solar flares are also responsible for increasing
the rate at which SEUs occur in satellite computer subsystems.
* TNX QSL! *
============
A special thanks to all those who sent QSLs and letters to SpaceNews:
N1HZH : Joel Magid, Groton, Massachusettes, USA
K3CRF : Dave Smith, Bellevue, Nebraska, USA
....and e-mail messages:
VK2EE, WB2DHY, WB4IJV, K7EA, DG9MAQ
* FEEDBACK WELCOMED *
=====================
Feedback regarding SpaceNews can be directed to the editor (John) via any
of the following paths:
I had packets from U2MIR-1 on my screen when I got home.
He apparently went over about 13:48 PST.
I left the rig on 145.55 when I went to work this morning.
73, doug
SB SPACE @ ALLBBS KD2BD $SPC0204
* SpaceNews 04-Feb-91 *
Bulletin ID: $SPC0204
=========
SpaceNews
=========
MONDAY FEBRUARY 4, 1991
SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It
is published every week and is made available for unlimited distribution.
* U2MIR-1 NEWS *
================
Packet Radio (AX.25) communications from Mir appear to be taking place
on a regular basis over a frequency of 145.550 MHz. A brief connection
with U2MIR-1 was made by KD2BD on 28-Jan-91 at 16:59:25 UTC using an
indoor 4-element quagi and 7 watts of transmitter power. Signals from
Mir are STRONG. U2MIR is probably running at a power level of 20 watts.
A large number of stations have been able to connect with Mir. The TNC
in use on Mir can be said to have a very short "fuse". Packets are sent
very rapidly, and if acknowlegements are not received within a short
period of time, U2MIR-1 sends disconnect frames and clears its buffers
through its unprotocol address (CQ). Groundstations can also digipeat
through either U2MIR or U2MIR-1.
Once connected to U2MIR-1, the BBS responds as follows:
Logged on to U2MIR's Personal Message System
CMD(B/H/J/K/KM/L/M/R/S/SR/V/?)
Successful mail sessions are ended with a response such as:
Message saved as Msg # 78
The U2MIR-1 BBS also keeps a journal of all stations heard and
connected to, but the clock and calendar of this function does
not yet seem to be set. For example, log listings are given as:
KA9NMD 00/00/00 00:00
KD2BD 00/00/00 00:00
Stations wishing to connect with U2MIR-1 should bear in mind that Musa
may come on voice at any time, so it is considered a BAD practice to
send connect packets until packet signals from U2MIR are first heard.
There also seems to be a very large variation in downlink signals from
Mir. It is sometimes helpful to open your receiver squelch during
weak signal periods to prevent your TNC from sending packets and exceeding
its retry count without having a chance of being heard by U2MIR due to
changes in spacecraft attitude and the resulting QSB. Programmable
transceivers should be used to transmit 5 KHz lower and receive 5 KHz
higher than 145.550 MHz at the time of AOS, move to 145.550 MHz at TCA,
and receive low and transmit high until LOS, in order to compensate for
doppler effect.
* NOAA SATELLITES *
===================
NOAA weather satellites transmit weather images taken in both visible
and infra-red light from low-Earth orbit on a regular basis. NOAA-12
is expected to be launched on 14-May-91 at 1552 UTC.
The current series of NOAA satellites transmit APT on the following VHF
frequencies:
Odd numbered NOAA satellites can be copied during the mid-afternoon and
early morning hours. Even numbered NOAAs can be copied during the mid-
morning and mid-evening hours, local time.
* NOAA NEWS *
=============
NOAA is developing a directory of resources for earth observation
in education. The directory is one of several educational
projects NOAA is undertaking as part of International Space Year
(ISY) - 1992. The directory will serve as a resource on how
imagery from environmental satellites is being used in schools to
enhance learning. The core of the directory will consist of a
listing of schools worldwide that use real time satellite imagery
with a brief description of how the imagery is used in classroom
instruction. In addition, the directory will contain a section
on curriculum materials developed by teachers, a listing of
current manufacturers of hardware and software for receiving and
processing satellite images, and a bibliography on educational
applications of environmental satellites.
Any information that the users of NOAA satellite data, can
provide in support of this effort would be greatly appreciated.
If you know of any schools or teachers who are using environmental
satellite data in their curriculum, please let NOAA know.
Drop a letter or postcard to NOAA Educational Affairs
Office, Federal Building #4 Room 0158, Washington, DC 20233; or
call 301-763-4690 (24 hours a day) and leave a message with Ms.
Arlette Washington.
* TNX QSL! *
============
A special thanks to all those who sent QSLs and letters to SpaceNews:
PA0HTR : Henk Kanon, Den Helder, Netherlands
WA1STO : Rosalie White, ARRL, Newington, Connecticut, USA
....and e-mail messages:
KZ1Z, KA2SZO, K3ORC, KC6GWQ
* FEEDBACK WELCOMED *
=====================
Feedback regarding SpaceNews can be directed to the editor (John) via any
of the following paths:
I tried to connect to U2MIR (and U2MIR-1) on packet this weekend and got
a BUSY, followed by the disconnect message from both calls. With 'MCOM ON', I
saw that everybody else was getting the same response: immediate 'DM' status
from U2MIR with no actual connects being made.
Now, this means HE (it?) ACTUALLY HEARD ME, so, does this count?
SB SPACE @ ALLBBS KD2BD $SPC0211
* SpaceNews 11-Feb-91 *
Bulletin ID: $SPC0211
=========
SpaceNews
=========
MONDAY FEBRUARY 11, 1991
SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It
is published every week and is made available for unlimited distribution.
* U2MIR-1 NEWS *
================
Here is an example of what the U2MIR mailbox help file looks like:
B(ye) B [CR] disconnects you from PMS.
H(elp) H [CR] or ? [CR] displays this help file.
J(log) J [CR] displays a list of callsigns heard (optional date/time)
K(ill) K n [CR] deletes message number n (only to/from your callsign).
KM(ine) KM[CR] deletes all READ messages addressed to your call sign.
L(ist) L [CR] lists the 10 latest messages.
M(ine) M [CR] lists the 10 latest messages to/from your callsign.
R(ead) R n [CR] reads message number n.
S(end) S (callsign) [CR] begins a message addressed to (callsign).
Subject: max 28 characters ending with [CR].
Text: End each line with [CR]. End message by
typing /ex [CR] or CTRL-Z [CR]
at the beginning of a new line.
SR(eply) SR n[CR] Sends a reply to message n prompting only for text.
V(ersion) V [CR] displays the software version of the PMS system.
CMD(B/H/J/K/KM/L/M/R/S/SR/V/?)
U2MIR-5 was active last week when U2MIR-1 was issuing "busy" signals.
* MAGELLAN NEWS *
=================
The Magellan spacecraft has now completed over 944 mapping orbits covering
almost 50 percent of the surface of planet Venus. All systems on board
the spacecraft are performing well.
* SHUTTLE INFO *
================
Shuttle Communications Frequencies (UHF-AM)
243.000 MHz Standard military aircraft emergecy frequency
259.700 MHz Air-to-ground or suit-to-orbiter
279.000 MHz Suit-to-orbiter or suit-to-suit
296.000 MHz Primary UHF downlink
296.800 MHz Air-to-ground or orbiter-to-suit
The UHF communications system is primarily designed to support duplex
voice communications between EVA crew members and the orbiter. Two
UHF antennas are used in this system. The primary UHF antenna is an
annular slot antenna. The second antenna is a microstrip antenna having
a gain of -10dBci, and is primarily used by astronauts in the airlock.
Simplex mode:
The on-board voice signal from the audio system is first clipped to an
RMS-to-peak ratio of 0.427 (9.0 dB clipping) and filtered (300-3000 Hz)
before amplitude modulating the carrier with a modulation index of 90%.
Transmitter power is 10 watts.
EVA Mode:
The UHF communications system can support two astronauts performing EVA
for two-way duplex voice transmissions and reception of EKG signals.
In the primary mode, the orbiter UHF communications system transmits a
298.600 MHz carrier which is amplitude modulated by the voice signal.
It simultaneously receives the 259.700 MHz and 279.000 MHz AM carriers
from two astronauts. Each received Am carrier includes a voice channel
and a frequency modulated EKG subcarrier channel. Transmitter power is
lowered to 250 mW in EVA mode by bypassing the final power amplifier.
