AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-321

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:
* IARU Region 1 Conference Satellite Topics
* AMSAT Awards
* ESA's Vega Launching To An Unusual Orbit
* VHF/UHF/microwave pioneer Reg Galle, VK5QR, SK
* ARISS Status - 10 November 2008

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-321.01
IARU Region 1 Conference Satellite Topics

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 321.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
November 16, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-321.01

The IARU Region 1 Conference in Cavtat starts this weekend, see
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/nov..._r1_cavtat.htm

There are a number of Satellite related papers being discussed
in C5 VHF/UHF/uW:
144 MHz increased satellite service
3400 MHz amateur satellite allocation
Microwave spectrum requirements
A new vision for 23 cm
Amateur satellites handbook chapter
Microwave spectrum requirements
VHF spectrum requirements

An REF response to the C5 VHF/UHF/uW papers can be seen at
http://thf.ref-union.org/c5_iaru_r1/...at_commentaire
s.p
df

[ANS Trevor, M5AKA, for the above information]
/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-321.02
AMSAT Awards

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 321.02
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
November 16, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-321.02

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.

Boris Lanca, 9A2GA
Douglas Anoman, KC9MLN
Steve Rish, K8SAR

The following has earned the AMSAT Satellite Communications Achievement
Award.

Jose Manuel Escribano Hinojosa #475

Jose also earned the AMSAT South Africa Satellite Communications
Achievement Award #US127.

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

Bruce Paige, KK5DO
AMSAT Director Contests and Awards

[ANS thanks Bruce, KK5DO, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-321.03
ESA's Vega Launching To An Unusual Orbit

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 321.03
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
November 16, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-321.03

Following the selection of 9 cubesats to be launched on the maiden
flight
of
the Vega launcher, ESA have now announced that the cubesats will be
deployed
into a very interesting orbit measuring 350km x 1450km with an
inclination
of
71 degrees.

From the ESA website

"The nine CubeSats will be deployed from three different deployment
systems
mounted on the support structure of the main payload, LARES (LAser
RElativity
Satellite), into an orbit of 350 km by 1450 km at an inclination of 71
degrees. The launch opportunity is offered by ESA to the selected
CubeSats
free of charge"

Further details are at:
http://www.esa.int/esaED/SEMAYTRTKMF_index_0.html

[ANS thanks David, G0MRF, for the above information]
/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-321.04
VHF/UHF/microwave pioneer Reg Galle, VK5QR, SK

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 321.04
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
November 16, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-321.04

All those interested in long distance VHF/UHF/microwave propagation will
regret the death of Reg Galle VK5QR on 12 September 2008.

Reg was a leading pioneer of the use of these amateur radio bands.

On 31 December 1951, Reg made a 144 MHz Australian record distance of
2122
Km
with a contact with the late Rolo Everingham VK6BO in Perth (just short
of
the
then world record of 2253 Km). He then continued to seek
answers to questions regarding the propagation of the higher bands.

Reg became the Adelaide end of record breaking distances on 432, 1296,
2304 and 3456 MHz across the Great Australian Bight with Wally Green
VK6WG in Albany.

Reg and Wally, as true amateurs with no professional engineering
backgrounds, built equipment for these UHF/microwave bands and were
nearly 2 000 Km apart so that there were no "local" tests with each
other. There were no precedents in Australia, and few in the world, for
trying to make contacts over this distance.

In 1977, they bridged the 1296 MHz path on 25 January for a world record
distance of 1885 Km.

The following year, on 17 February 1978, Reg and Wally made their first
contact on the 2304 MHz band. Reg used SSB that was processed in a
divide by 6 circuit and mixed to 28 MHz. The 28 MHz signal, with
processed SSB, was then transverted to 384 MHz and then tripled and
doubled to 2304 MHz. This multiplication by 6 restored the original
SSB! To give you a feel of the type of gear in use 30 years ago, Wally
Green VK6WG used a modified World War II SCR522 which, from a 7 MHz
crystal, produced 128 MHz. This was then multiplied to 384 MHz with a
BAY96 varactor tripler to 1152 MHz in a modified Microwave Modules
MMV1296 and then doubled in by a 2C39 which drew 90mA at 600V.

In 1986, Reg and Wally completed their first 3456 MHz contact using CW.
This distance of 1885 Km and that on 2304 MHz remain the Australian
record distances.

Both Wally and Reg built equipment for the 5.7 GHz band and made tests
on that band without success although Reg claimed that they could have
had a contact had Wally not been in the midst of making apricot jam on
that day!

Reg gradually lost interest in pushing the boundaries further and has
been in poor health in recent years. His death followed several
strokes. The most recent one returned him to hospital just over a week
ago but he insisted that he wanted to go home despite living alone and
with no close relatives in Adelaide. His niece watched over him and he
was able to fulfil his wish of dying at home in his own bed! Reg was 96
years old!

Farewell to a tremendous pioneer on the higher bands!

[ANS thanks Wally, VK6KZ, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-321.05
ARISS Status - 10 November 2008

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 321.05
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
November 16, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-321.05

1. Spanish Students Speak to ISS via Radio

Students attending IES Trassierra in Córdoba, Spain spoke with
astronaut
Mike
Fincke, KE5AIT, via an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
(ARISS)
contact on Monday, November 3. Twenty students asked one question each
of
the
astronaut. Approximately 150 students, teachers and guests attended the
event
including the Cordoba City mayor and the Head
Master of Education and Culture of
Cordoba. Media coverage included 4 local and regional television
stations, 2
local and regional radio stations and 3 newspapers. Photos, an audio
recording
and a video recording may be found at:
http://www.ariss-eu.org/2008_11_08.htm

An article (in Spanish) has been posted to El Dia de Cordoba:
http://www.eldiadecordoba.es/article.../como/vive/ast
ron
auta
..html


2. Successful Australian Contact

In preparation for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
(ARISS)
contact, students attending St. Thomas’ Primary School in Brisbane,
Queensland,
Australia helped build an antenna. They spoke with Richard Garriott,
W5KWQ,
during his ISS mission and received Slow Scan Television (SSTV) images
as
well.
They also viewed Mike Fincke’s ISS video tour taken during Expedition
9. On
Tuesday, November 4, the students spoke with Fincke, KE5AIT, as
approximately
400 students looked on. Fincke answered all
twenty questions posed to him by the
20 students. The event received extensive local and national media
coverage
including 2 newspapers, an online magazine, 2 television stations and 5
radio
stations. The audio and a partial video of the event are available on
the
school’s Web site:
http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/jandnclark/?reload

An interview is available on the ABC site:
http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2...?site=brisbane


The City South News posted an article on the contact. See:
http://city-south-news.whereilive.co...-space-link-fo
r-l
ocal
-students/


3. India University Contact Successful

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact
between
Dibrugarh University in Assam, India and astronaut Mike Fincke, KE5AIT,
took
place on Friday, November 7 via telebridge station W6SRJ in California.
Ten
students were able to ask eleven questions of Fincke as an audience of
700
gathered for the event. Mike spoke briefly in the Indian language.
Media
coverage included newspapers and television. Contact audio was fed into
two
EchoLink servers and into the Internet Radio Linking Project (IRLP)
Discovery
Reflector 9010. There were 5 known connections from England, Japan and
South
Korea on the EchoLink servers with uncounted listeners on one repeater
and
two
link nodes.


4. Successful ARISS Simulated Contacts

On Thursday, November 6, Chris Hadfield, KC5RNJ/VA3OOG, and Cady
Coleman,
KC5ZTH, took part in Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
(ARISS)
simulated contacts. The astronauts spoke with two groups of students
from
Manordale Public School in Ottawa, Ontario,
Canada. These training sessions were
terrestrial-based amateur radio contacts using ARISS-equivalent
equipment.
Hadfield and Coleman are currently assigned as back-up Expedition 19
crew
members.


5. ARRL Articles on Garriott Mission

On Thursday, November 6, the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) ran an
article
on Richard Garriott’s mission. “Richard Garriott, W5KWQ, Back on
Terra
Firma,”
may be found at:
http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2008/11/06/10437/?nc=1

The ARRL Letter also ran the story. See:
http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/08/1107/


6. Interview on SuitSat

ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) member Steve
Bible,
N7HPR, gave an interview on the concept and development of SuitSat-1.
His
interview has been posted to the Design News, Engineering Concept
Conduit
Web
page. See: http://www.engineeringconceptconduit.com/


7. Astronaut Makes General Contacts

Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, made several contacts with
the ham radio community over the
November 8 weekend. Using the Amateur Radio on the International Space
Station
(ARISS) equipment, Fincke talked with stations in Australia, Thailand,
South
America and North America.


8. ARISS SSTV Web Site Status

The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Slow Scan
Television (SSTV) Web site set up for Richard Garriott’s flight was a
big
success. Over 2200 images from SpaceCam, MMSSTV and the VC-H1 were
received
by
amateur radio operators worldwide and were uploaded to the site. The
site
received nearly 4 million hits! See the SSTV images:
http://ariss-sstv.ssl.berkeley.edu/SSTV/ and the SSTV blog:
http://ariss-sstv.blogspot.com/

[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