AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-294

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.

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******************* AMSAT 2007 Space Symposium *************************

The Wireless Association of South Hills Amateur Radio Club announces the
2007 AMSAT Space Symposium will be held at the Pittsburgh Airport
Marriott Hotel on Friday, October 26 through Sunday, October 28, 2007.
The AMSAT web team has posted informational pages on the AMSAT web site.
You can find the announcement with many links at:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2007/index.php

************************************************** ***********************
*

In this edition:
* AMSAT-NA Space Symposium Begins This Week
* Talk-in for the Symposium
* Echolink to be activated during AMSAT Symposium
* AMSAT Awards
* Donate to AMSAT via MissionFish
* AO-51 Software Crash - Reload/Reboot in Progress
* AMSAT Symposium Proclamations


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-294.01
AMSAT-NA Space Symposium Begins This Week

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 294.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
October 21, 2007
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-294.01

The AMSAT-NA 2007 Space Symposium will begin this week! The AMSAT
Board of Director's meeting on Thursday, October 25 kicks off the
event. Symposium activities begin on Friday, October, 26. Amateur
Radio Satellite Operators will find the AMSAT Space Symposium to be
an exciting and rewarding event-filled weekend. Here are some of the
features and events to look forward to:

+ AMSAT-NA Annual General Meeting
+ AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Meeting
+ AMSAT Directors and Officers will be available to answer
your questions
+ AMSAT Annual Banquet with Keynote Speaker
+ Technical forums focusing on the latest planning and technology of
Amateur Radio in Space
+ All Papers and Presentations will be published in the Symposium
Proceedings for all registered attendees
+ Technical demonstrations of prototype flight hardware and software
for AMSAT Eagle - the next generation in space
+ Discussions and demonstrations of SuitSat-2, ARISS, solid state
RF power amp, antennas, AO-51
+ Update on AMSAT's new Maryland Lab
+ AMSAT Area Coordinators' Breakfast and Meeting on Sunday Morning
+ IARU Satellite Forum
+ President's Club Reception
+ Satellite Beginner's Session: Introduction to Satellites
+ An operating satellite station capable of working AO-7, FO-29,
AO-27, SO-50, AO-51 and VO-52
+ N2SPI satellite antenna demonstrations and antenna construction
with students
+ Meet and greet old friends and make new friends
+ Enjoy eyeball QSOs with satellite designers, builders, and operators
from around the world
+ Sunday afternoon tour to the WPXI-DT Digital Studio

The AMSAT Software Defined Transponder Team is working toward having
an operational VHF - UHF transponder available for the entire weekend.
Eagle Project Team members will be available to answer your questions
and provide demonstrations.

AMSAT-DL Vice-President and Board member Hartmut Päsler, DL1YDD will
give a presentation about the current status of the P3-E project and
P5-A.

The full Symposium schedule has been posted on the web pages.

New to the Symposium this year is a selection of apparel that may be
ordered. We have Symposium themed golf shirts, tee shirts, key rings
ball caps. A percentage of these sales will go to Eagle.

For those people who would rather not register for the Meeting through
the AMSAT store, you can register via phone by calling 301-589-6062.

[ANS thanks 2007 AMSAT Space Symposium Co-chairs Kevin N3HKQ,
and Pat KC4WTT for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-294.02
Talk-in for the Symposium

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 294.02
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
October 21, 2007
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-294.02

All:
Bottom line:

Talk-in for Symposium will be on 146.955/146.355 or 443.65/448.65
repeaters. (out/in) BOTH repeaters REQUIRE 131.8Hz CTCSS.

The 443.65 has very good coverage (3 remote receivers and 250 W tx) in
areas where the 2m is "marginal". If not making UHF, user should try
VHF.

73,
Jim



[ANS thanks Jim, WB4GCS, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-294.03
EchoLink to be activated during the AMSAT Symposium

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 294.03
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
October 21, 2007
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-294.03

During the AMSAT open meeting portion of the Symposium, Echo-Link will
be activated so people from around the globe can check in and join the
meeting's discussion. What follows is an instruction set to enable you
to use this feature. See the echolink website for further clarification.

Here's the instructions as best I can write based on just doing it.
Feel free to contact someone more familiar with echolink --
I'm a rare user.

1. Download and install the echolink client from echolink.org
2. Launch it.
3. First time users must provide some info and allow a few days for
authentication as a valid ham.
4. Select explorer view
5. select Node Types
6. Select Conferences
7. View AMSAT and double click.
8. You will either connect or time out.
9. If you time out, accept the "learn more" option to learn how to
connect either through a proxy or configure your router to allow the
ports needed by echolink.

73,
Jim


[ANS thanks Jim, WB4GCS, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-294.04
AMSAT Awards

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 294.04
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
October 21, 2007
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-294.04

Awards this week a
We would like to welcome the following to the satellite community.
They have made their first satellite contact and are now members of the
AMSAT Satellite Communicators Club.
John Marranca, Jr., KB2HSH

South Africa AMSAT Communication Achievement Award
Fernando Martins, CT2ISG, #US114

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

-- Bruce Paige, KK5DO AMSAT Director Contests and Awards ARRL Awards
Manager (WAS, 5BWAS, VUCC), VE Houston AMSAT Net - Wed 0100z on W0KIE
Intelsat Americas, T1, 6.2/6.8Mhz Also streaming MP3 at
http://www.amsatnet.com Latest satellite news on the ARRL Audio News
http://www.arrl.org

[ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-294.05
Donate to AMSAT via MissionFish

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 294.05
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
October 21, 2007
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-294.05

For all of you that sell your goodies on eBay, wether it is
ham radio related or not, you can donate a portion of your
sale automatically to AMSAT through MissionFish.

To do this, when you list your item for sale, there is a tab
that pops up on the “How you’re selling” screen for Online
Auction or Fixed Price. Within those tabs, there is a blue
and yellow ribbon with “Donate a percentage of sale.” After
selecting AMSAT as your nonprofit organization, pick a per-
centage of the selling price to go to the AMSAT. That’s all
you have to do.

When the auction is over, you give your donation to MissionFish
or do nothing and MissionFish will deduct it from your credit
card. In turn, MissionFish, will deposit the funds into AMSAT’s
bank account.

This is an ideal way to donate a little bit or a big bit to
AMSAT every time you auction something. You do not need to be
a member of AMSAT to donate money through eBay’s online auctions.
So, ask your non-ham friends if they would donate a little to
AMSAT every time they auction something on eBay.

To see how MissionFish works, go to http://www.missionfish.org.


[ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-294.06
AO-51 Software Crash - Reload/Reboot in Progress

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 294.06
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
October 21, 2007
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-294.06
AO-51 Software Crash - Reload/Reboot in Progress

Drew, KO4MA AMSAT-NA Vice President of Operations reported that
at 1848Z on OCtober 11 the software on AO-51 crashed and shut down
both transmitters. The repeater and BBS have been down for several
days while the command stations reload and restart the software.

On October 17, Drew reported on progress by the AO-51 Operations
Team, "We are making good progress in reloading the software nec-
essary to run AO-51, although it was a bit of a rocky start. The
control stations hope to have AO-51 reloaded by the weekend of
October 20-21. As we reload and restart operations on the satellite
we will be able to better predict its return to service."

Interested stations can use their TlmEcho software to watch progress
on the 435.150 MHz downlink. This downlink may only be on over the
Southeastern US depending on how far along the reloading has proceeded.

[ANS thanks Drew, KO4MA for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-294.07
AMSAT-NA Space Symposium Begins This Week

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 294.07
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
October 21, 2007
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-294.07

Proclamations from the Allegheny County Executive and
Pennsylvania Governor recognizing that AMSAT is holding the Symposium in
Pittsburgh can be found at the Website (www.amsat.org) since space is
limited here.

[ANS thanks Kevin Smith 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,
Dee Interdonato, NB2F