AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-091

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:

* AMSAT Forum at the 2007 Dayton Hamvention
* April 17 CubeSat Launch
* RAFT Command Stations Needed in Southern USA
* AO-51 Configuration for Field Day
* ARISS Status Report for the Week of March 26, 2007

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-091.01
AMSAT Forum at the 2007 Dayton Hamvention

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 091.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
April 1, 2007
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-091.01
The AMSAT forum at Dayton this year has quite an impressive lineup of
speakers and topics. The day and time of the forum has changed from
past years and should be more convenient for most attendees. The forum
will be on Friday afternoon, May 18, 2007 from 11:15am to 2:00pm.

Speakers and topics during the forum a
+ Moderator: Barry Baines, WD4ASW, AMSAT-NA Corporate Secretary

+ Rick Hambly, W2GPS, President, AMSAT-NA "Summary of AMSAT-NA
Activities in 2007"

+ Peter Guelzow, DB2OS, AMSAT-DL President and Bob McGwier, N4HY,
AMSAT-NA VP - Engineering, "Phase 3-Express: An Update"

+ Jim Sanford, WB4GCS, EAGLE Project Manager "Eagle Status Update"

+ Andrew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, AMSAT-NA VP-Operations and Gould Smith,
WA4SXM, AO-51 Command Station, "AMSAT-NA Satellite Operations and
AO-51 Update"

+ Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, AMSAT-NA Director-Human Space Flight, "ARISS
and Future SuitSat Missions"

Mark this event on your calendar and attend the forum to find out the
latest information about current AMSAT projects.

AMSAT's initial block of 30 rooms at the Fairfield Hampton Inn has been
filled. We have negotiated another 7 rooms (with king bed). If you are
interested, please call Martha at AMSAT HQ (301-589-6062) as soon as
possible. The AMSAT office is closed until Wednesday, April 4.

[ANS thanks Gould, WA4SXM for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-091.02
April 17 CubeSat Launch

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 091.02
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
April 1, 2007
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-091.02

The CubeSat launch originally scheduled for March 27 via a ISC Kosmotras
Dnepr launch vehicle from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan has been re-
scheduled to April 17. Four-of-seven CubeSats will be using Amateur Radio
frequencies and modes as follows:

CalPoly PolySat CP3
436.845MHz (1W) 1200bps FM AFSK AX.25 (Part-5 experimental license)
http://polysat.calpoly.edu/

CalPoly PolySat CP4
437.325MHz (1W) 1200bps FM AFSK AX.25
http://polysat.calpoly.edu/

University of Louisiana CAPE-1
435.245MHz (1W) 9600bps FM FSK AX.25 and CW telemetry during opposite
30 second intervals using call sign K5USL
http://ulcape.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://ulcape.org/wiki/CAPE1_Telemetry
Forward received telemetry to

Universidad Sergio Arboleda (Colombia) Libertad-1 437.405MHz (400mw)
1200bps FM AFSK AX.25
http://www.usergioarboleda.edu.co/pr...cial/index.htm
http://www.usergioarboleda.edu.co/pr...h_libertad.pdf

Also see http://cubesat.atl.calpoly.edu/
http://showcase.netins.net/web/wallio/CubeSat.htm and
http://showcase.netins.net/web/wallio/ for more information.

Due to the $8k cost of the private webcast last time, the CubeSat team
is not doing it again. So, instead, they will be providing live updates
on the Cubesat IRC channel. Point your favorite IRC client to #cubesat
on irc.freenode.net We will also be providing a MP3 download of launch
countdown audio stream a few hours after launch. All of this will be
accessible on the CubeSat webpage.

There also is a data packet entry form where you can enter data packets
you received (from any satellite) at your earth station. The form is at:
http://cubesat.atl.calpoly.edu/pages...ata-packet-for
m.php

Preliminary keps:
P-POD A (CP2.1, AeroCube2, CSTB1)
1 xxxxxU xxxxxxxx 07086.29310451 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 0000x
2 xxxxx 098.0870 161.6633 0071000 198.4663 339.8290 14.5270000000001x

P-POD B (CP3, CAPE1, Libertad-1)
1 xxxxxU xxxxxxxx 07086.29312766 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 0000x
2 xxxxx 098.0870 161.6633 0090000 199.4051 339.9000 14.5050000000001x

P-POD C (MAST triple-cube)
1 xxxxxU xxxxxxxx 07086.29311609 .00000000 00000-0 00000-0 0 0000x
2 xxxxx 098.0870 161.6633 0084000 198.3918 339.9240 14.5160000000001x

[ANS thanks Ralph, WØRPK and Bryan Klofas, KF6ZEO at Cal Poly State
University for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-091.03
RAFT Command Stations Needed in Southern USA

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 091.03
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
April 1, 2007
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-091.03

Due to its low orbit and small footprint, the US Naval Academy Satellite
Laboratory needs command stations in the Southern USA between Arizona to
Georgia to help us conduct the RAFT satellite primary mission of detecting
the 218.98 MHz radar fence when it flies through it. Command stations are
needed in those states because they are near the radar fence and will be
in the footprint of the radar. The ideal command station has these
atributes:

1) A reasonable 2m beam for ops on 145.825
2) A packet TNC
3) A familiarity with dumb-terminal TNC operations such as
A. Connections, Converse, UNPROTO, etc
B. Remote sysop logon of Kantronics TNC's
4) Desireable, is some experience with UI packets and APRS

The objective of these southern command stations is to logon, send the
command to activate the RAFT Radar receiver for 1 minute in anticipation
of passing through the fence. Then hopefully recording any audio heard
on the downlink (145.825). Once the radar receiver is on, everyone in
the footprint should be able to hear it.

For info, see the ANDE-RAFT operations page:
http://eng.usna.navy.mil/~bruninga/ande-raft-ops.html

And for more info on the 216.98 MHz radar receiver, follow the links to
the RAFT design pages.

If you meet the criterial above let Bob, WB4APR know.

[ANS thanks Bob, WB4APR at the US Naval Academy Satellite Lab for
the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-091.04
AO-51 Configuration for Field Day

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 091.04
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
April 1, 2007
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-091.04

For Field Day this year AO-51 will be in a dual repeater mode, with
the following frequencies:

L/U repeater
Uplink 1268.700 FM, no PL tone
Downlink 435.150 FM

V/U repeater
Uplink 145.920 FM, no PL tone
Downlink 435.300 FM

As a reminder, both the AMSAT and now ARRL Field Day rules state only
one completed QSO per FM repeater satellite. This is applicable to
one per transponder on a single channel fm satellite. However, in the
case of AO-51, as two transponders are active, you can make one contact
on V/U and one on L/U.

Please adhere to this rule so that others may have an opportunity to
make a QSO. Also, all stations are asked to please only transmit when
they can hear the satellite, and please use full duplex (with headphones)
as a courtesy to the other users.

Those stations planning on using circularly polarized antennas please
remember the 435.150 downlink is left hand circular polarization (LHCP),
and the 435.300 downlink is right hand circular polarization (RHCP).

Stay tuned to AMSAT ANS bulletins or the AO-51 News page:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/echo/ControlTeam.php for practice sessions
of this mode to be scheduled several times between now and Field Day.

73 and Good Luck!
Drew KO4MA
AMSAT VP Operations

[ANS thanks Drew, KO4MA for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-091.05
ARISS Status Report for the Week of March 26, 2007

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 091.05
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
April 1, 2007
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-091.05

1. University School Contact Successful

On Friday, March 16, students from University School in Shaker Heights,
Ohio spoke with Sunita Williams, KD5PLB, via amateur radio. Twelve stu-
dents asked 14 questions. Approximately 500 students, teachers and
parents, as well as several local television and radio stations were
present for the Amateur Radio on the ARISS event. Audio was fed into
the EchoLink AMSAT (101 377) and JK1ZRW (277 208) servers via Skype
and had 19 connections from stations located in 6 countries, including
2 repeaters. Radio station 90.3 FM, WCPN, covered the news. See:
http://www.wcpn.org/news/2007/01-03/0320space.html

2. East Aurora Middle School Contact Successful

East Aurora Middle School in East Aurora, New York experienced an ARISS
contact via the telebridge station ZSBTD in South Africa on Monday,
March 19. Eleven students each asked one question of Sunita Williams,
KD5PLB, as 150 students, teachers, and parents looked on. Three tele-
vision stations WKBD (ABC), WIVB (CBS), and WGRZ (NBC), and the local
newspaper were present to cover the event. East Aurora Union Free Schools’
website posted a write up.
See: http://www.eaur.wnyric.org/popup_info.cfm?story=3887

3. Juvenile Space Club Contact Successful

The Juvenile Space Club in Tatsuno, Tatsunomachi, Nagano-pref, Japan
experienced an ARISS contact on Saturday, March 24. Mike Lopez-Alegria,
KE5GTK, answered one question each posed to him by 16 children in front
of an audience of about 100. Four television stations including Japan
Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) and four newspapers reported on the event.
The audio file may be found on this web site:
http://www.ariss.jp/tatsuno/Audio/tatsuno.wma
Video from two television stations may be viewed on these sites:
http://sbc21.co.jp/news/index.cgi?pa...=0118881&a ct
ion=details
and
http://www.i-nagano.com/nbs-news/2007/03/24181440.html

4. Upcoming School Contacts

Glenden State School in Glenden, Queensland, Australia has been slated
for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact
on Wednesday, April 4, 2007 at 22:39 UTC. Parents and the community
will be invited to Space Week to observe the products of these activities.
Nights of star gazing and poetry contests will also be held. Television,
newspapers and magazines have been notified of the event. The audio from
this contact will be fed into the EchoLink AMSAT (101 377) and JK1ZRW
(277 208) servers, as well as being fed into the IRLP Discovery Reflector
9010.

5. Astronaut Training Status

On Monday, March 27, ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli, IZ0JPA, will receive
training on the basics of performing a school contact at JSC. Nespoli
is slated to fly on space shuttle mission STS-120, which will deliver
the Harmony module to the ISS.

[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