ANS-104 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
 

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-104

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 Web Updates Highlight Dayton Activities
* AMSAT/TAPR Banquet at Dayton
* AO-16 Status Update
* DelfiC3 Update
* Houston AMSAT Net Audio Available on Podcast
* Scotland Calling Via Satellite
* TAPR Digital Communications Conference
* 42nd Annual CSVHFS Conference Call for Papers
* ARISS Status Report for the Week of April 7, 2008

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-104.01
AMSAT Web Updates Highlight Dayton Activities

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 104.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
April 13, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-104.01

The AMSAT web site now contains information about AMSAT activities
during the 2008 Dayton Hamvention.

Go to http://www.amsat.org and use the new Dayton button on the left
hand navigation area or go directly there using this URL:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/hamve...Dayton2008.php.

On the site you can find out about the:
+ AMSAT/TAPR Banquet
+ AMSAT Forum
+ Activities at the Booth
+ Thursday Pizza n' Suds
+ New AMSAT Offerings and displays at the booth

This will be a great opportunity to find out up to date information
about what is going on at AMSAT as well as talk with your Officers
and Board members. There will be a large outside satellite demon-
stration area and a daily "Introduction to Satellites" talk.

Here is a summary of the AMSAT offerings at the Booth:

Publications
------------
Getting Started with Amateur Satellites (***Updated 2008) - $15
Frequency chart (2008 Update) - $5
Digital Satellite and Telemetry Guide (2005)
- $20 Guide with disk $30 (** Special)
AO-51 Operation, Development and Specifications (2005) - $20
Proceedings of the AMSAT-NA 2006 Space Symposium - $20

Software & CDs
--------------
SatPC32 - $40 (**** Dayton Special normally $45)
InstantTrack - $20 (**** Dayton Special normally $30)
MacDoppler - $80 AMSAT Members/ $100 others
NEW* DVD of 2004, 2005, 2007 Symposia. Papers/PowerPoint/audio - $30
NEW* Digital Disk with WiSP + digital files - $20

Apparel
-------
NEW* AMSAT blue Golf Shirts - $30
NEW* AMSAT gold tee shirts $20
NEW* AMSAT Hats - $10
NEW* AMSAT blue long sleeve tee shirts $20
old AMSAT golf shirts $20
old AMSAT/Eagle Tee Shirts - $10

Hardware
--------
LVB Tracker enclosure $50
LVB Tracker bare board $20
LVB Tracker box (complete built kit) $200
AMSAT 2 GB Flash drive $25 (***Dayton Special) normally $30
Arrow Antenna w/Duplexer - $139.00

Miscellaneous Merchandise You Can't Live Without
------------------------------------------------
NEW* AMSAT lapel pin (***NEW***) $10
AMSAT measuring tape free with membership free, purchase $5
30th Anniversary AO-7 QSL Cards (**** Dayton Special)
- 100 cards - $5.00, 250 for $10
Eagle & ARISS Patches - $7.00
Eagle Decals - $5.00
$5 donation - 3 AMSAT Magnets or 2 AMSAT Pens
AMSAT computer backpacks - $30 (*** Dayton special)
AMSAT clocks $10

[ANS thanks Gould, WA4SXM for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-104.02
AMSAT/TAPR Banquet at Dayton

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 104.02
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
April 13, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-104.02

The second annual AMSAT/TAPR Banquet during Dayton Hamvention will
be held Friday evening at the Kohler Presidental Banquet Center,
Kettering, OH [just south of Dayton]. The evening will begin with
a cash bar at 6:30 PM. Dinner will be served at 7:15. The Banquet
Center has a reputation for good food and service, so don't miss
this event.

Maps to the AMSAT/TAPR Banquet will be available at the AMSAT booth.
Additional information and coordinates are posted on the AMSAT web
site under the Dayton 2008 area.

The price for the dinner is $25.00 per person and includes a salad,
entree, sides, desert, tax and gratuity. Coffee, tea and iced tea
are included. Wine, beer and mixed drinks are available at the cash
bar before and during the meal.

Reservations are required and must be made by Monday, 12 May 2008.
Please contact Martha ) at the AMSAT office for
information or call to make reservations. You can reach Martha
from 10:00am to 6:00pm EDT at (301) 589-6062, or in the US toll
free at (888)322-6728.

Banquet Menu
Fresh mixed green salad with assorted dressings
Roast Prime Rib of Beef au jus - carved on site
Marinated Roasted Garlic Rosemary Chicken Breast in lemon butter sauce
Salmon with Newburg sauce
Whipped potatoes
Normandy blended green beans
Fresh fruit bowl
Roll and butter
Coffee/ iced tea/ water
Assorted pies

[ANS thanks Gould, WA4SXM for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-104.03
AO-16 Status Update

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 104.03
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
April 13, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-104.03

Mark, N8MH reporting on behalf of the AO-16 control team says
that the satellite continues to operate well in its new voice
configuration. Use these frequencies to access the satellite:
+ Uplink: 145.920 MHz FM
+ Downlink: 437.026 MHz DSB (LSB and USB)

After several months of continuous illumination, AO-16 is again
experiencing short periods of eclipse. Recent telemetry indicates
that the spacecraft temperatures are decreasing a bit as a result.

As the eclipse periods of AO-16 continue to increase in the coming
months, we must continue to monitor the spacecraft power budget.
Spacecraft control is now limited to the Microsat Boot Loader (MBL).
Therefore, the power budget of AO-16 is managed by varying manually
the output power of the transmitter.

Users of AO-16 are encouraged to report any aberrant operations by
either posting to the AMSAT-BB or by emailing the command team at
. “Aberrant operations” might include the following:

complete loss of signal from the spacecraft or significant change
in the transmitter frequency.

We are grateful to see significant activity on AO-16!

[ANS thanks Mark, N8MH for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-104.04
DelfiC3 Update

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 104.04
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
April 13, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-104.04

The DelfiC3 launch preparation team has arrived back at the Delft
University from launch preparations in India. Prior to departure
they performed the final steps of preparing Delfi-C3 for launch.

Delfi-C3 has been placed in its X-POD and left in the cleanroom
at Sriharikota. All the checks and tests have been performed to
satisfaction and the team is convinced that Delfi-C3 is completely
ready for a launch. Updates are posted at http://www.delfic3.nl.

The DelfiC3 team has posted an English PDF version of a presentation
on the Delfi-C3 satellite at:
http://www.delfic3.nl/forum/showthre...?p#75#post2375

[ANS thanks Wouter Jan Ubbels, PE4WJ for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-104.05
Houston AMSAT Net Audio Available on Podcast

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 104.05
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
April 13, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-104.05

Bruce, KK5DO reported this week that he Houston AMSAT Net is
now available as a Podcast. You can subscribe to:

http://www.amsatnet.com/podcast.xml

Please let Bruce know off the list if there are any problems.
Net #734 and #735 are available. They will remain online for 4
weeks then roll off.

You can always download and listen with an MP3 player at
http://www.amsatnet.com/audio.html

Thanks to Dale, WD0AKO, for doing the encoding and creating our
album art.

[ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-104.06
Scotland Calling Via Satellite

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 104.06
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
April 13, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-104.06

Paul, 2E1EUB will activate grid IO87rj near Aberdeen, Scotland on the
satellites for one week starting on April 12, 2008.

Paul says, "Is not an easy location for stateside but it is possible.
if you wish to work me, please be quick as only a small window for USA!
The window to Europe window is much easier."

Paul will be on all birds but mainly focusing on AO-7 SSB operating.
QSL is via home call 2E1EUB.

[ANS thanks Paul, 2E1EUB for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-104.07
TAPR Digital Communications Conference

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 104.07
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
April 13, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-104.07

Technical papers are solicited for presentation at the 27th Annual
ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference to be held September
26-28, 2008 in Chicago, Illinois. These papers will also be published
in the Conference Proceedings (you do NOT need to attend the conference
to have your paper included in the Proceedings). The submission dead-
line is July 31, 2008. Please send papers to:

Maty Weinberg
ARRL
225 Main St
Newington, CT 06111

or you can make your submission via e-mail to:

Papers will be published exactly as submitted and authors will retain
all rights.

[ANS thanks Steve, WB8IMY at the ARRL for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-104.08
42nd Annual CSVHFS Conference Call for Papers

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 104.08
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
April 13, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-104.08

The Central States VHF Society is calling for the submission of
papers and presentations for the upcoming 42nd Annual Central
States VHF Society Conference to be held in Wichita, KS, 24-26
July 2008. Papers and presentations are solicited on both the
technical and operational aspects of VHF, UHF and Microwave weak
signal amateur radio. Some suggested areas of interest a

* Antennas including Modeling/Design, Arrays, and Control;
* Construction of Equipment, such as Transmitters, Receivers, and
Transverters
* RF power amps
* Pre-amplifiers (low noise)
* Test Equipment including Homebrew, Using, and Making Measurements
* Operating including Contesting, Roving, and DXpeditions
* Propagation including Ducting, Sporadic E, Tropospheric and Meteor
Scatter, etc.
* Software-defined Radio (SDR)
* Digital Modes WSJT, JT65, etc.
* EME
* Digital Signal Processing (DSP)
* Regulatory topics

The deadline for the submission of papers and presentations is 15 May.
See http://www.csvhfs.org/conference/callforpapers.html for more
information

[ANS thanks the CSVHFS for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-104.09
ARISS Status Report for the Week of April 7, 2008

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 104.09
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
April 13, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-104.09

1. School Contacts

An ARISS contact was held with Osnovna skola Pazin in Pazin, Croatia
on Monday, April 7. Eight hundred students are enrolled at the school
which has offered technical classes in robotics, electronics and com-
puter science for the past ten years. Students from Pazin's two high
schools are also expected to attend this event. The schools hope to
pique the students' interest in space and electronics through this
educational activity. The audio for this event will be fed into the
EchoLink AMSAT (101 377) and JK1ZRW (277 208) servers.

An ARISS contact has been scheduled with Han Gwang Boys & Girls High
School in Pyeong Taek City, Republic of Korea on Sunday, April 13. It
has an amateur radio club station, DS0IC which is the largest school
club station in Korea with approximately 150 operators (100 students
and 50 teachers). South Korean space visitor Yi So-yeon plans to
speak with the high school youth during this event.

Central Middle School in Parsippany, New Jersey, has been slated for
an ARISS contact on Monday, April 14 at 17:05 UTC. An essay and pre-
sentation contest will be held to determine which students will speak
with the astronaut. The New Providence Amateur Radio Club will assist
with the contact. The event will be available through a live trans-
mission to all local schools using amateur band fast scan television.


An ARISS contact has been scheduled with the National Science Museum
of Korea on Thursday, April 17. The Museum is an umbrella organization
of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. Spaceflight par-
ticipant Yi So-yeon will participate in this educational activity.

2. Shanghai Students Experience ARISS Contact

On Tuesday, April 1, students attending the Shanghai Youth Centre of
Science and Technology Education in Xuhui, Shanghai, China participated
in an ARISS contact. Astronaut Garrett Reisman, KE5HAE, answered 8
questions posed to him by eight children as an audience of approximately

300 people looked on. Four television station and 8 newspapers covered
the event.

3. Debrief Scheduled for Eyharts

The ARISS team has been scheduled for an Expedition 16 crew debrief
with Leopold Eyharts, KE5FNO/FX0STD on Monday, April 7.

4. DLN ARISS Module Status

A draft version of the Digital Learning Network (DLN) ARISS module
will be ready for review by the end of May 2008. The module will
provide grades K-12 with a foundation of what amateur radio is and
how it is used, information on NASA and ARISS and will incorporate
demonstrations from ARISS lesson plans. It will also highlight
special projects such as SuitSat-2. The DLN module will provide
education resource links to be used pre- and post-ARISS contact
and will give information on how to apply for a contact.

5. Christa McAuliffe Planetarium Radio Station

Six staff members at the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium in Concord,
New Hampshire passed their amateur radio exams. Two made the General
class; the rest Technician.

An amateur radio station will be set up at the planetarium on May 3
which will be capable of operating from HF to UHF and will have an
antenna system for working satellites. The planetarium is home to
the NASA Educator Resource Center (ERC) for New Hampshire.

[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