AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-251

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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************************************************** *************
*** 2008 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting ***
*** October 24-26 in Atlanta, Georgia ***
*** http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2008/index.php ***
************************************************** *************

In this edition:

* Reminder! Symposium Registration and BoD Ballots
* AO-51 Software Reloaded, Satellite is Operational
* AO-16 Recovered
* PNWVHFS Conference October 3-5
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
* ARISS Status Report for the Week of September 2, 2008

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-251.01
Reminder! Symposium Registration and BoD Ballots

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 251.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
September 7, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-251.01

Two AMSAT deadlines are approaching quickly!

After Monday, September 8, 2008 the registration fee for the
2008 Space Symposium and Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia
increases from $40 to $45. Registration at the door will be
$50 over the October 24-26 weekend.

See http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2008/index.php
for all of the latest Symposium information and to register!

September 15 is the deadline to return your ballot for the
AMSAT-NA Board of Director's election.

[ANS thanks AMSAT HQ for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-251.02
AO-51 Software Reloaded, Satellite is Operational

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 251.02
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
September 7, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-251.02

AO-51 experienced a software crash on August 28 and command stations
have been working to reload the spacecraft software. AMSAT-NA VP Oper-
ations, Drew KO4MA, provided progress reports during the reloading pro-
cedures. On September 2 Drew reported, "AO-51 will be unavailable for
a few days beginning Tuesday morning EDT. The command team needs to
reload part of the spacecraft operating software."

Gould, WA4SXM reported from the AO-51 Command Station that, "The soft-
ware crashed during the start procedure of the PL tone task late in the
evening of September 3. The command team has reloaded the software and
setup the repeater and the BB. Both the AO-51 repeater and the BB are
active again as of September 5."

Here is the AO-51 schedule for the remainder of September 2008:

September 8 - September 14

FM Repeater, L/S
Uplink: 1268.700 MHz FM
Downlink: 2401.200 MHz FM

FM Repeater, V/U
Uplink: 145.880 MHz FM
Downlink: 435.150 MHz FM

September 15 - September 21
College Radio Night is September 18!

FM Repeater, V/U
Uplink: 145.920 MHz FM
Downlink: 435.300 MHz FM

9k6 BBS and Telemetry
Uplink: 1268.700 MHz FM
Downlink: 435.150 MHz FM

September 22 - September 28

FM Repeater, V/U
Uplink: 145.920 MHz FM
Downlink: 435.300 MHz FM

FM Repeater, L/U
Uplink: 1268.700 MHz FM
Downlink: 435.150 MHz FM

September 29 - October 5

FM Repeater, V/U
Uplink: 145.920 MHz FM
Downlink: 435.300 MHz FM

9k6 BBS and Telemetry
Uplink: 1268.700 MHz FM
Downlink: 435.150 MHz FM

[ANS thanks the AO-51 Command Team for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-251.03
AO-16 Recovered

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 251.03
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
September 7, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-251.03

AMSAT-NA VP Operations, Drew KO4MA reported this week, "It looks
like the temperature has come up enough on AO-16 so that the watchdog
problem has gone away. On September 1, I turned the satellite on
collected some telemetry, and then commanded it into bent pipe mode
which is VHF-FM up and DSB-UHF down."

The command team will monitor http://oscar.dcarr.org/ and amsat-bb.
If the satellite goes quiet they will endeavor to restart it as soon
as possible. Occasional interruptions to gather telemetry are likely.

Just as a reminder, AO-16 now operates as a cross mode, cross band
voice repeater, with an uplink on 145.920 FM. The downlink is reduced
carrier AM, similar to double sideband, on 437.026. Most stations
find receiving the downlink on USB works best.

Work is continuing to predict how long this latest period of operation
may last, but initial estimates are around 2-3 months total, symmetric
around a period of continuous illumination in October. There may not
be another opportunity after this one, as the satellite will generally
head towards longer eclipses (and lower temperatures) for several years.

[ANS thanks Drew, KO4MA for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-251.04
PNWVHFS Conference October 3-5

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 251.04
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
September 7, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-251.04

You are invited to join Pacific Northwest weak signal VHF, UHF and
Microwave operators at the Best Western Lake Front Hotel and Con-
ference Center in Moses Lake, Washington, for the Annual Pacific
Northwest VHF Conference October 3-5, 2008. Membership in PNWVHFS
is not required for conference attendance.

This year will feature a great line up of speakers and programs
including our keynote speaker Joe Taylor, K1JT, Nobel Laureate and
"father" of WSJT, Software for VHF Meteor-Scatter Communication.

The list of presentations includes:
+ Lyle Johnson, KK7P, co-founder Tucson Amateur Packet Radio, Dayton
Hamvention Technical Excellence Award winner 1984, currently employed
by Elecraft and consulting in the broadcast and space industries, and
HPSDR project.
+ Sean Kutzko, KX9X, ARRL Contest Branch Manager
+ Eric Schwarz, WA6HHQ, Elecraft

All of the conference information is available on-line at:
http://www.pnwvhfs.org/administration/conference.htm

[ANS thanks the PNWVHFS for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-251.05
Satellite Shorts From All Over

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 251.05
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
September 7, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-251.05

+ Mak SV1BSX reported this week that Joe, K3SZH and Fabio PY4AJ have
set a confirmed distance record of 7438 km via AO-7. See:
http://sv1bsx.50webs.com/oscardx/ao7-dx.html for more info.

+ For stations in Europe watch for Juan Antonio, EA4CYQ operating
portable via AO-51 and AO-27 from western Spain (IM76qm).

+ Drew, KO4MA is collecting data on successful AO-40 portable-type
stations. He would like hear what worked and what didn't work for
a portable-throw-it-in-a-suitcase type setup. He is also inter-
ested in hearing description of your CC&R evading driveway or back-
yard setups, for either U/S or L/S. If you have any photos and/or
descriptions of your setup, please forward them to Drew at
, or point him to a link if you have them on the web.

+ AMSAT Area Coordinator, Ken Owen, N6KTH reports that video of a
successful ARISS contact is available on-line at:
http://nasa.id.ucsb.edu/ (This was recorded by the University of
California Santa Barbara) - and -
http://sbarc.camstreams.com/ (This was recorded by WB9KMO and is
playing constantly on a continuous loop.)
Check http://www.n6kth.com for all of the links of media coverage.

[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-251.06
ARISS Status Report for the Week of September 2, 2008

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 251.06
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
September 7, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-251.06

1. Upcoming School Contact

An ARISS contact has been scheduled with Prairielands Council, Boy
Scouts of America at Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, IL on Satur-
day, September 13 at 15:54 UTC. The contact will be facilitated by
telebridge station WH6PN in Hawaii. During the event, Scouts will
earn the Space Exploration Merit Badge, which includes the Mars
Mission Design and the Moon Base Model construction. NASA DLN will
assist with teaching these two topics. Scouts will design and launch
water rockets and explore robotic technology. Segway of Chicago will
assist in Robotics education. Participants will also complete many
of the Radio Merit Badge requirements. The local rocket club will
provide rocket launches throughout the event, two during the outdoor
viewing of the movie "October Sky." The event will conclude with a
hot air balloon launch. Boy Scouts (ages 11-17), Cub Scouts (ages 6-10),

and adult volunteers have been invited to the event. The Space Jam-
boree has attracted the attention of regional media outlets. Four
television stations, radio stations, and local newspapers are planning
features on the Space Jamboree.

2. Swiss Contact Successful

On Saturday, August 30, youth attending Schulehaus Feld 1 in
Richterswil,
Switzerland participated in a successful ARISS contact via telebridge
station VK4KHZ in Australia. To prepare for the event, children
produced
drawings, plays, research papers and multimedia products which were dis-
played the day of the contact. More than 500 students, parents, teachers

and visitors gathered in the sports hall to watch as 21 students posed
questions to Greg Chamitoff, KD5PKZ, aboard the ISS. Additionally, an
audio link was set up outside the sports hall for other visitors to
listen
in. Two television stations (SF DRS Aktuell Schweizer Fernsehen,
Regional
Fernsehen Tele Zürich), one radio station (Radio Zürichsee) and
three
newspapers (Zürichsee Zeitung, Neue Zürcher Zeitung NZZ,
Tages-Anzeiger)
covered the event. The audio was fed into the EchoLink AMSAT server,
which
received 12 connections, and also into Internet Radio Linking Project
(IRLP) Reflector 9010.

3. ARISS Presentation Given at CLC Conference

The Challenger Learning Center (CLC) Lead Flight Directors Conference
was
held in Wellington, Kansas on August 24 - 28. An ARISS presentation was
given during the conference on August 27, covering the ARISS program and

the school application process.

[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
K9JKM at amsat dot org