AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-048

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 Lab Status and Volunteer Opportunities
* AMSAT Engineering Meeting in Orlando
* Abstract Deadline Extended for the 2008 Cubesat Workshop
* Houston AMSAT Net Changes
* ARISS Status - 11 February 2008

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-048.01
AMSAT Lab Status and Volunteer Opportunities

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 048.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
February 17, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-048.01

Bob Davis, KF4FKSS, AMSAT Lab Manager reports that appears we're within
about 3
work days of completing the cleanroom at the AMSAT lab in Pocomoke, MD!
This
is
good news for those of us that have spent
a year cleaning, scraping, painting, etc.

While Bob was in Orlando supporting Hamcation, where AMSAT had a booth,
presentation, Board of Directors meeting and engineering meetings, J.C.,
Ray,
Steve & Martin worked on the cleanroom. It is really starting to look
complete
now.

Here is the Lab schedule for the next couple of weeks:
Mon Feb 18 - Open 9-5 (this is President's Day)
Sat Feb 23 - Open 9-5.

It is hoped that these dates will conclude the cleanroom effort (which
is
dependent on us volunteers!). Then, work on the Eagle Engineering Unit
will
begin. This is a flight-like structure that will be used to verify some
things
before we are messing with the expensive (and schedule driven) flight
unit.
It
will be taken (incomplete) to the Dayton Hamfest in May.
We also have a couple antennas we want to raise...

All volunteers are welcome! RSVP would be nice, but not required.

For directions, map to this intersection:
Broad St & Pocomoke Belt
Pocomoke City, MD 21851

If you have any questions, email Bob at

[ANS thanks Bob, KF4KSS, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-048.02
AMSAT Engineering Meeting in Orlando

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 048.02
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
February 17, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-048.02

Bob McGwier, N4HY, AMSAT VP of Engineeing called an engineering meeting
for
the
weekend of 8-11 Feb in Orlando, FL. This meeting was to define the
engineering
projects, leaders and deliverables for 2008. The meeting was well
attended
and
many tough issues were discussed. Plans to fast track some of the
projects
to
meet Dayton, SuitSat-2, Atlanta Symposium and the balloon and cubesat
launches
with HAWK and HISS were made. This was a very productive meeting and
details
will follow in the AMSAT Journal. Bob also
described the 2008 engineering tasks
in a video that will soon appear on the AMSAT web site at
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/infor.../videoNews.php .

The meeting also coincided with the Orlando Hamcation, were Rick
Hambly,W2GPS;
Bob McGwier, N4HY; Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA; Bob Davis, KF4KSS and Lou
McFadin,
W5DID discussed the activities in a 90 minute forum. Dave Jordan, AA4KN
and
Robert Davies, KI4HXT hosted the AMSAT booth and did satellite
demonstrations.
The AMSAT booth was well attended and very productive. Most of the
AMSAT
officers and board members were available at the booth on Saturday to
talk
with
members and to answer questions.

Videos are also being prepared of the Orlando forum talks and satellite
demonstrations.

[ANS thanks Gould, WA4SXM, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-048.03
Abstract Deadline Extended for the 2008 Cubesat Workshop

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 048.03
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
February 17, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-048.03

The deadline for abstract submission for the 2008 CubeSat Workshop has
been extended. Please submit your abstract by Friday March 7th at
www.cubesat.org. The workshop sessions are listed below and we
encourage
you to focus your abstract on one of these topics:

1) New CubeSat Developers
2) Novel Avionics
3) Nanosats
4) Access to Space
5) Ground Station Operations
6) Unique Missions

Don't forget, workshop registrations is available online and spaces are
filling up quickly for the workshop April 9th-11th at Cal Poly! Please
contact
with any questions or concerns
regarding
registration or abstract submittal.

[ANS thanks Alex Chin and Marissa Brummitt for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-048.04
Houston AMSAT Net Changes

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 048.04
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
February 17, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-048.04

The Houston AMSAT Net has once again gone through some morphing. After
being on the W0KIE Satellite Radio Network from our 121st net using
SBS-6 on June 18, 1996 we had to move. The W0KIE Satellite Radio Network
was a wonderful long term spot for us. Our 726th net on February 5, 2008
began on our new home, Galaxy-25 and the SkyScanner Satellite Radio
Network (SSRN).

If you would like to hear us on K-band satellite, you can set your dish
and receiver as follows:

The Houston AMSAT Net is on the SkyScanner Satellite Radio Network on
Galaxy-25 @97° West, Transponder 23 (12115 Vert), Symbol Rate: 22425,
APID: 1794 (DVB Free To Air)

Our internet audio can now be heard at:

+ RFD1 16k (dialup speed) at http://www.cband.info/rfd1.m3u
+ RFD2 (broadband speed) at http://www.cband.info/rfd2.m3u
+ AMSAT conference on Echolink

If you would like to join us on the IRC either during the net or at any
other time.

The IRC is: irc.dishnuts.net
Then join the channel #amsat

[ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-048.05
ARISS Status - 11 February 2008

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 048.05
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
February 17, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-048.05

1. Upcoming School Contact

Robespierre Elementary School in Rueil Malmaison, France has been
scheduled
for
an Amateur Radio on the International Space
Station (ARISS) contact on Thursday,
February 21 at 14:21 UTC. Two hundred fifty-six students in grades 1-5
are
enrolled at the school. ESA astronaut Léopold Eyharts, FX0STD/KE5FNO,
plans
to
participate in this contact.


2. Astronaut Training Status

The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) team
coordinated
two amateur radio school contact simulations between students at Bay
Area
Charter Elementary in the Houston area and astronauts Mike Fincke,
KE5AIT
and
Koichi Wakata, KC5ZTA at JSC. The two sessions took place on Friday,
February 8
via the JSC W5RRR repeater. These two contacts were retransmitted on the
Internet Radio Linking Project (IRLP). They were also fed into the
Echolink
AMSAT (101 377) and JK1ZRW (277 208) servers and received 8 connections,
including 2 link nodes and one repeater node from the U.S., Japan, and
the
Ukraine.


3. ARRL Articles on Simulated ARISS Contacts

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) ran a Web story on the simulated
ARISS
contacts that took place between astronauts Mike Finke and Koichi Wakata
at
JSC
and Bay Area Charter Elementary in the Houston area. See:
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2008/02/05/100/?nc=1

The activity was also published in the ARRL Letter. See:
http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/08/0208/

4. Columbus Module Launched

Atlantis launched on Thursday, February 7 carrying ESA’s Columbus
module
with
new Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) antennas.
ARISS
Chairman Frank Bauer sent congratulations to the European team for a job
well
done. See: http://www.amsat.org/amsat/archive/s.../msg01509.html


5. Shukor Debrief Scheduled

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) crew debrief
has
been scheduled with Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, 9W2MUS, on Tuesday,
February
26. Shukor, the first Malaysian space visitor, participated in 5 ARISS
contacts
with students in Malaysia while onboard the ISS.


6. Amateur Radio Newsline Article

On February 8, the Amateur Radio Newsline ran a story on Amateur Radio
on
the
International Space Station (ARISS) Chairman
Frank Bauer’s promotion at NASA. To
view this item, go to:
http://www.arnewsline.org/index.php?...task=view&id&
Itemid

[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,
Lee McLamb, KU4OS