AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-135

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:

* Ready, Set, GO! AMSAT is Ready for Dayton Hamvention
* AMSAT at Smithsonian Space Day 2011
* Second Call for Speakers for AMSAT UK Colloquium 2011
* 2011 AMSAT Field Day Competition
* ISRO Request For VO-52 HAMSAT User Feedback and Comments
* ARISSat-1 Update
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
* New High For Space Tourism: Lunar Tour


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-135.01
Ready, Set, GO! AMSAT is Ready for Dayton Hamvention

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 135.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
May 15, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-135.01

The 2011 Dayton Hamvention will be held this year from May 20-22,
2011 and AMSAT will be there. The AMSAT theme for 2011 is "Providing
Education Through Amateur Satellites". We will have multiple exhibits
of the new AMSAT satellites on display.

You'll find AMSAT at the same spot (Booths 444-449) in the Ball Arena,
right across from the ARRL area and just inside the door from the Sat-
ellite Demonstration area. Plan to visit all of the AMSAT activities!

AMSAT has planned a number of great activities during the Hamvention.
Here is a sample of the events and activities planned for the entire
weekend. Links to all of these activities can be found on the AMSAT
web page: http://www.amsat.org.

This list has been updated since last week's bulletin!

+ Meet astronaut Doug Wheelock, KF5BOC Friday 1:30-2:30, Saturday,
3:00-4:00 at the AMSAT booth.

+ ARISSat-1 operational prototype will be on display.
o Tune your HT to 145.950 MHz to hear a preview of the FM downlink.
o Watch the demonstration of the ARISSatTLM software receive and
display the CW beacon and BPSK telemetry using G6LVB's FUNcube
Dongle.

+ Howard Long, G6LVB will be at the AMSAT booth periodically to talk
about his FUNcube Dongle (FCD) project. This small (1" x 3") USB
software defined radio will receive from 64 - 1700 MHz.

+ CAMSAT delegates will be at AMSAT booth. The CAMSAT delegation con-
sists of Alan, BA1DU; Ken, BH4REQ; Jin, BA4TA; and Michael, BD5RV/4.

+ The ARRL Expo, next door to AMSAT, will have the backup OSCAR-1
satellite on display, resurrected by W1AW Station Manager Joe
Carcia, and ARRL Lab Test Engineer Bob Allison, WB1GCM. The CW
transmitter is tuned to 145.080 MHz. It will transmit at Part 15
levels with only 10 microwatts of power across a 50 ohm dummy load.
A satellite transceiver will be positioned next to the unit that
will be used to receive the CW signal. You will hear it transmit
"HI HI," just as it did 50 years ago.

+ The fifth annual AMSAT/TAPR Banquet will be Friday night May 20.
Just a reminder that the cutoff date for the AMSAT-TAPR dinner at
Dayton is Monday May 16th. You can register at the AMSAT Store web-
site: http://www.amsat-na.com/store/item.php?id0158 We will NOT
be selling tickets at the booth. Our new Banquet speaker will be
Bob Bruninga, WB4APR speaking on "Power from Space and in your
Shack". David Rowe, VK5DGR is unable to attend. Read about Bob's
presentation on the AMSAT at Dayton webpages at:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/hamve...11/Banquet.php

+ AMSAT Thursday Night Get-together at Tickets Pub & Eatery.

+ Dave Jordan, AA4KN will speak about ARISS at the Teachers Forum
at 1000 on Friday in Room 3. The title of his talk "Space Communi-
cations from the Classroom-ARISS and AMSAT". Dave will describe
as how to apply for an ARISS contact at your school and find out
how amateur radio satellites can be accessed and used for class-
room projects."

+ The AMSAT Forum will be on Saturday May 21 1115-1330 in Forum Room
5 on Saturday. Moderated by Alan Biddle, WA4SCA you will have a
chance to hear and see the latest news of amateur radio in space.

o AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW will present an AMSAT
Status Report
o Alan Kung, BA1DU, CEO of AMSAT-China, will discuss the activities
of AMSAT-China.
o Project Manager for ARISSat-1, Gould Smith, WA4SXM, will talk about
its operation aboard the ISS, and the planned deployment and opera-
tions this summer.
o Tony Monteiro, AA2TX, will discuss the design and status of
Project-FOX.
o Alex Harvilchuck, N3NP, will present NextGen CubeSat
Program Update.

+ NASA Astronaut Doug Wheelock, KF5BOC is scheduled to speak from
1315-1415 on Saturday in Forum Room 3. Doug is attending Hamvention
as guest of ARRL and AMSAT. According to the Forum listing, "Doug
will share his experiences about space flight and using Amateur
Radio in space."

+ Lou McFadin, W5DID is scheduled to speak at the "Introduction to
Digital-ATV" Forum, scheduled on Saturday from 1530-1700 in Forum
Room 2. The title of his talk is "DATV Space Station Project".

+ Satellite demonstrations will take place outside the Ball Arena
entrance Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Be sure and come by the booth and renew your membership and receive
an AMSAT multiblade screwdriver as a premium!

The AMSAT leadership team will be at Hamvention and invite you to
take advantage of this opportunity to interact with both board mem-
bers and senior officers. If you have issues or concerns that you
wish to express here is your chance to do so.

[ANS thanks AMSAT HQ for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-135.02
AMSAT at Smithsonian Space Day 2011

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 135.02
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
May 15, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-135.02

Dave Taylor, W8AAS reported a very successful AMSAT presence at Space
Day 2011 held at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum on the
Mall in Washington DC on May 7. According to the ARISS status report,
the average crowd in the Museum on this Saturday in May is about
30,000.

Featured displays included prototype picosats, cubesats, space hard-
ware including laser reflectors for the kids to try out. A crowd of
250 people watched the ARISS contact as six youngsters asked questions.
Each one had three questions to ask and we got through all of them with
time to thank Cady Coleman, KC5ZTH, give her a round of applause, and
hear her response. Mark Steiner, K3MS handled the ARISS uplink/downlink
from NASA Goddard amateur radio station K6DUE.

Prior to the contact, former Payload Specialist Greg Linteris spoke to
the crowd. Greg had trained with Cady for one of his flights. He was
also on one of the last SAREX missions (STS-94).

This year a group from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and
Technology brought a working prototype of their Cubesat. They demon-
strated with the prototype how one can uplink a text message and their
Cubesat converts the text message to speech and transmits the speech on
the downlink. They are manifested on a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch for early
next year. Orbital Sciences has been providing them with assistance for
the project.

At Space Day a new version of the AMSAT-OSCAR slide show was run. A link
to a PDF version of the slide show has been added to the AMSAT web page.
(see http://www.amsat.org).

Thanks to all who helped out:
Dave Taylor, W8AAS
Perry Klein, W3PK
Dick Daniels, W4PUJ
Mark Kanawati, N4TPY
Samudra Haque, N3RDX
Don Sylvain, WA3WOD from the Smithsonian Amateur Radio Club NN3SI
Mark Steiner, K3MS from NASA Goddard K6DUE
Bob McCown, N3IYI from NASA Goddard K6DUE

Photos will be published in the AMSAT Journal.

[ANS thanks Perry Klein, W3PK and Dave Taylor W8AAS for the above
information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-135.03
Second Call for Speakers for AMSAT UK Colloquium 2011

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 135.03
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
May 15, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-135.03

This is the second call for speakers for the AMSAT-UK Colloquium
2011 which will be held at the Holiday Inn, Guildford, UK (same
venue as in 2010) from *Sat 30 Jul to Sun 31 July 2011*

AMSAT-UK invite speakers, about amateur radio, space and associated
activities, for this event.

Offers of talks should be sent *ONLY* to G4DPZ, via the following
routes:

e-mail: david.johnson AT blackpepper.co.uk

SnailMail: QTHR from http://www.QRZ.com

Likewise if anyone knows of a good speaker, please send contact and
other information to G4DPZ.

[ANS thanks Dave, G4DPZ for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-135.04
2011 AMSAT Field Day Competition

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 135.04
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
May 15, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-135.04

AMSAT Director of Awards, Bruce Paige, KK5DO says, "It's that time
of year again: Summer and Field Day!"

Each year the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) sponsors Field
Day as an emergency preparedness exercise. The event takes place
during a 24-hour period on the fourth weekend of June. For 2011
the event takes place during a 27-hour period from 1800 UTC on
Saturday June 25, 2011 through 2100 UTC on Sunday June 26, 2011.
Those who set up prior to 1800 UTC on June 25 can operate only
24 hours.

The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) promotes its own
version of Field Day for operation via the amateur satellites,
held concurrently with the ARRL event.

Bruce advises, "If you are considering ONLY the FM voice satellites
like AMSAT-OSCAR 16, AMRAD-OSCAR-27, SaudiSat-Oscar-50, or AMSAT-
OSCAR-51 for your AMSAT Field Day focus. Don't, unless you are simply
hoping to make one contact for the ARRL rules bonus points."

The congestion on FM LEO satellites was so intense in prior years
that we must continue to limit their use to one-QSO-per-FM-satel-
lite. This includes the International Space Station. You will be
allowed one QSO if the ISS is operating Voice. You will also be
allowed one digital QSO with the ISS or any other digital, non-
store-and-forward, packet satellite (if operational).

Please refer to these links for the full document of the AMSAT Field
Day rules:
http://www.amsat.org/ (link on AMSAT.org front page to PDF file)
And, an alternative site is:
http://www.amsatnet.com/2011fd.doc (MS-Word Doc File)
http://www.amsatnet.com/2011fd.pdf (PDF File)

These documents also cover the message exchange format, scoring
requirements, reporting requirements, station classes, etc.

[ANS thanks AMSAT Director of Awards, Bruce Paige, KK5DO for the
above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-135.05
ISRO Request For VO-52 HAMSAT User Feedback and Comments

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 135.05
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
May 15, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-135.05

The VO-52 HAMSAT community has received a request from the Indian
Space Research Organisation (ISRO), in Bangalore for user reports
on the satellite's performance. Shri. T. Parimalarangan, HAMSAT
Operations Director, ISRO Tracking, Ranging and Command Centre
(ISTRAC) asks that feedback be sent via e-mail directly to him at:
. Mani, VU2WMY, Secretary & Station-In-Charge
at the Upagrah Amateur Radio Club VU2URC at the ISRO Satellite Centre
requests a copy to be sent to him at: .

ISTRAC/ISRO is interested in gathering VO-52 data with responses
to these questions:

1. Qualitative/quantitative performance report. (Signal strength
telemetry observations, availability).

2. Observation on the quality of services from the launch to
present (trend of the onboard behaviour as seen from the
ground).

3. Comparison with other amateur radio satellites.

4. Positive/negative aspects of HAMSAT.

The data will be used to generate a HAMSAT Performance Report on
the 6th anniversary since launch. ISRO values direct feedback from
the user community.

[ANS thanks Mani, VU2WMY for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-135.06
ARISSat-1 Update

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 135.06
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
May 15, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-135.06

The ARISSat-1 satellite was intended to be activated in April as
part of the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's famous flight.
However, no ground stations reported hearing the satellite. To
follow up, the ARISSat-1 team had a teleconference with represent-
atives of RSC-Energia (Russia) and NASA to request a clarification
of the events and discuss what happened.

According to RSC-Energia, the battery in ARISSat-1 was only charged
once on the ground and was then used for a variety of tests and dur-
ing the February activation event. It was not recharged prior to the
April Yuri Gagarin activity since it can only be charged a limited
number of times on the ISS.

The cosmonauts reported that they activated the satellite and con-
firmed that they heard the signal on the ham radio equipment on board
the ISS. Since the battery was nearly depleted of its original charge,
they switched the satellite off after six hours of operation in order
to prevent over-discharging the battery. The battery was then removed
from the satellite and stored separately as per their normal battery
handling procedures. For more information on this battery, please see
the JAN/FEB 2011 AMSAT Journal.

RSC-Energia reported that their plan is to recharge the battery about
three weeks prior to the EVA deployment. This will give the cosmonauts
time to reinstall the battery and test the satellite to make sure it is
working properly. The EVA deployment is planned for late July of this
year.

[ANS thanks AMSAT Vice-President of Engineering, Tony Monteiro, AA2TX
for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-135.07
Satellite Shorts From All Over

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 135.07
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
May 15, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-135.07

+ Congratulations to Paolo Nespoli IZØJPA! Paolo now has the
record for the number of contacts during a single flight at
42. He is part of Expedition 26/27).

+ AMSAT-UK is now active on Twitter as @AMSAT_UK. Keep up to
date with all the AMSAT-UK news and updates.

+ MILESTONE! On Saturday May 7, Bob Herrell, AJ5C, acheived his
5,000th amateur radio satellite contact when he worked Kerry,
WC7V on the FO-29 satellite using SSB. Bob posted a video at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?vÿ6gM7K7Kv0. The Southgate ARC
news site also carried the story:
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/may...0_sat_qsos.htm
Bob, congratulations on a remarkable acheivement.

+ SA AMSAT said that its Space Symposium 2011 will go full steam
ahead on Saturday 21 May. The auditorium at Radiokop will be the
venue and the SARL National Amateur Radio Centre being used for
refreshment breaks and lunch. The new arrangement has substantially
reduced the registration fee to R75 for SARL and SA AMSAT members
if booked before 15 May 2011. Students and scholars will enter
free if a student card or scholar ID is submitted at the time of
Registration. The conference will be opened by the CEO of the South
African National Space Agency, Sandile Malinga. John Willescroft,
ZS6EF, will demonstrate the development of a totally new concept
which allows a solar panel to be released from SAiSAT once in
Space. For full details, registration forms and programme, visit:
http://www.amsatsa.org.za

+ Spaceflightnow.com has posted a movie capturing the Atlas 5 rocket's
launch over the weekend that successfully deployed the first in a
new generation of missile warning satellites for the U.S. military.
Watch on-line at: http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av022/video.html

+ OY, FAROE ISLANDS. Operators Hans/PA0VHA, Steef/PA2A and Wim/PA2AM
will be active as OY/homecall from Skaelingur, Streymoy Island, in
the Faroes (EU-018), between May 22nd and June 3rd. Activity will
be on all bands using CW and RTTY. Also, look for activity on 6 and
4 meters, and PA2AM will also be on AO-51 satellite. Streymoy Island
has a population of 11 and some sheep! QSL via their home callsigns.
ADDED NOTE: This team also plans activity from Market Reef later this
year. (Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin)

+ The next Hudson Valley Satcom Nets "HV Satcom" Net ia scheduled for
May 26, at 8PM EDT (UTC-4) on the 146.970 MHz repeater, (Pl 100),
and also on Echolink node N2EYH-L. More info: http://www.hvsatcom.org
(Stu, WA2BSS)

+ Technical papers are solicited for presentation at the 30th Annual
ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference to be held September
16-18, 2011 in Baltimore, Maryland. These papers will also be pub-
lished in the Conference Proceedings (you do NOT need to attend the
conference to have your paper included in the Proceedings). The sub-
mission deadline is July 31, 2011. Please send papers to:
Maty Weinberg, ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111 or you can make
your submission via e-mail to: .

+ Squrl may be a useful tool for storing your on-line videos. Its pri-
mary function is to help visitors collect interesting videos online
for later "consumption". First-time visitors will need to complete a
short registration, and they can get started saving videos from a
range of sources. Visitors can also organize playlists, and then
email them to friends and colleagues. This version is compatible
with all operating systems. See: http://www.squrl.com/

+ AMSAT's Keeper of the Keps, Ray Hoad, WA5QGD says he has updated
the name designation in the AMSAT KEPs for FAST1 as FO-69 and FAST2
as FO-70. This matches the OSCAR designators assigned to these
satellites earlier this year.

[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-135.08
New High For Space Tourism: Lunar Tour

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 135.08
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
May 15, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-135.08

This week MoonDaily.com posted a story, "Space Adventures proposes
modified Soyuz TMA for Lunar tourists" which follows below:

U.S. Space Adventures, the only company currently offering tourist
orbital spaceflights, has offered to equip the Russian Soyuz TMA
spaceship with additional living space for eight-day commercial
flights around the moon, the company said late on Thursday.

The firm announced on April 28 that it would offer moon orbit tourist
trips, albeit with a price tag of around $150 million per seat.

"After consultation with Rocket Space Corporation Energia (the Soyuz
TMA design authority), modifications to the Soyuz TMA configuration
have been agreed upon. The most important is the addition of a sec-
ond habitation module to the Soyuz TMA lunar complex," Space Adven-
tures said.

A moon tour mission would include separate launches of a Soyuz and
the upper stage, their docking in a low Earth orbit, a flight to
the moon with the upper stage engine, the separation of Soyuz from
the upper stage rocket, an orbit around the moon, return to Earth
and landing.

Space Adventures is currently selecting candidates for the next
space tour together with the Russian Federal Space Agency.

The company quoted Vice Chairman Richard Garriott as saying it
had sold one of the two seats for the flight and anticipated that
the launch would occur in 2015.

The CEO of Russia's Gagarin Research and Test Cosmonaut Training
Center Sergei Krikalyov has said the center was ready to train a
professional cosmonaut and a space tourist for the future flight.

This story is on the MoonDaily.com web site, see:
http://tinyurl.com/3zn8xhl

[ANS thanks MoonDaily.com 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. And with that,
please keep in mind the ham who was a physics professor. His lectures
could be quite animated and exciting. He would jump off of the desk
or fling frisbees to illustrate his point. One day in class he was
spinning on an office chair holding weights in each hand when he lost
his balance and tumbled into the first row. He apologized to his class
for going off on a tangent.

73,
This week's ANS Editor,
JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM