ANS-015 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
 

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-015

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:
* Cambodia DXpedition Possibly Active Via Satellite
* The CHIBIS-M research satellite to launch to the ISS/MKC
* Hams in Space Team Will Be Presenting at the North Kansas City Hamfest
* Push for Dedicated CubeSat Research Radio Spectrum
* Check Your Keps: ISS Performs Debris Avoidance Maneuver
* Sounds From Space Website Looking for Additional Sounds
* ARISS Status Report - 9 January 2012


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-015.01
ANS-015 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 015.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 15, 2012
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-015.01

Cambodia DXpedition Possibly Active Via Satellite

The DARC DX Newsletter DXNL 1762 dated January 11, 2012 reports that
a Japanese group visiting Sihanoukville, Cambodia between January 14
to January 22 plans to operate on CW, SSB and digital modes on 160 M
to 6 M and maybe alss via satellites.

The oerators are Masumi,JA3AVO (XU7AVO), Takeo,JA3BZO (XU7AEN),
Tsuguya,JA3UJR (XU7UJR), Kunio,JA1CJA/JH3LSS (XU7CJA), Shozo,JA3HJI
(XU7HJI pending) and Tatsuo,JA3ARJ (XU7ARJ pending). QSLs via home-
calls.

[ANS thanks the DARC DX Newsletter DXNL 1762 for the above information]


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The CHIBIS-M research satellite to launch to the ISS/MKC

On 25/26 January the CHIBIS-M satellite is scheduled to by launch to
the ISS as part of the Progress mission.

This experiment provides a comprehensive study of physical processes
in atmospheric lightning discharges. Delivery of the microsatellite
in its working orbit at an altitude of 500 km will be done with a THC
"Progress M-13M" after the completion of the flight of the truck in
the station. According to the developers of the term of active exist-
ence of the spacecraft, "Chibis-M" will be at least one year.

It follows a long tradition of magnetosphere studies dating back to
Sputnik-3, which (you will recall) nearly beat Van Allen to the de-
tection of the eponymous Belts.

There will be a CW telemetry downlink of control/housekeeping data to
the Kolibri-2000 standard on a frequency around 435 MHz.

It appears the plan is to raise the Progress orbit after undocking,
followed by deploying the satellite.

Addtional information as available in Russian at the following URL:
http://chibis.cosmos.ru/index.php?id74

[ANS thanks Andy, G0SFJ, and Drew, KO4MA, for the above information]


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Hams in Space Team Will Be Presenting at the North Kansas City Hamfest

The North Kansas City Hamfest is just around the corner on Saturday.
January 21st!

One of the Guest Speakers at the Hamfest will be the Hams in Space
Amateur Radio Satellite Team from Kansas City. Their presentation
is scheduled for 10:00 AM.

Weather permitting; the team hopes to provide a live hands on demons-
tration of working an FM Amateur Radio Satellite in the parking lot
of the event site. The time of the hands on demo will be based on the
availability and timing of a satellite pass which will be determined
closer to the event date.

January 21, 2012
Third Annual North Kansas City HAMFEST
One block east of North Oak & I-29
Hillside Christian Church
900 NE Vivian Road
Kansas City, Missouri
Watch the Hamfest Web Site for Time and Date Details
http://www.northkchamfest.com

For more information about Hams in Space, go to http://hamsinspace.com
or http://kd0hkd.com/satellites

[ANS thanks Randy, KD0HKD, for the above information]


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Push for Dedicated CubeSat Research Radio Spectrum

SmallSat, CubeSat, and NanoSatellite developers are seeking spec-
trum allocation, outside of the 435 to 437 MHz amateur satellite
band dedicated to their specific bandwidth, data rate, and mission
requirements.

Wouter Jan Ubbels at the Dutch space development company, ISIS -
Innovative Solutions In Space B.V. plans a presentation on this
topic at the European CubeSat Workshop in Brussels later this
month.

ISIS notes that experimental, proof-of-concept demonstration mis-
sions find it increasingly more difficult to find spectrum in to-
days crowded bands. Obtaining commercial or research space fre-
quency allocations is beyond the budgetary capability of many of
these missions.

Some satellite developers may be able to adapt their communication
requirements in order to operate in the amateur radio spectrum. In
order to fully meet mission requirements on other projects a more
suitable spectrum is quickly becoming a potential long term show
stopper for the emerging nanosatellite market.

ISIS says they plan to attend the World Radio Conference, WRC, this
month as part of the Dutch national delegation to to make use of the
opportunity to informally sound the various opinions on this matter
and investigate potential possibilities for creating a future proof
solution ensuring the spectral needs of the community are met. This
is potentially in line with discussions already going on in ITU
study group WP7B. Potentially these plans for frequency allocation
will be included in a future WRC.

[ANS thanks Wouter Jan Ubbels and ISIS for the above information]


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Check Your Keps: ISS Performs Debris Avoidance Maneuver

UniverseToday reports that the ISS needed to perform a maneuver on
Friday, January 13 to avoid debris from the 2009 collision between
an inactive Russian Cosmos 2251 satellite and a commercial Iridium
satellite.

U.S. Space Command recommended the space station perform a debris
avoidance maneuver on Friday, January 13, 2012 to move out of harms'
way and dodge a possible collision with the piece of space junk,
said to be about 10 centimeters in diameter. The thrusters on the
Zvezda service module fired at 1610 UTC on Friday to raise the orbit
of the ISS.

Without the maneuver, the object would have made two close approach-
es to the station on consecutive orbits on Friday, passing within the
"pizza box" shaped region around the station, measuring 0.75 kilo-
meters above and below the station and 25 kilometers on each side
(2,460 feet above and below and 15.6 by 15.6 miles).

A higher orbit for the ISS means that AOS will occur at a slightly
later time than those predicted in existing Keplerian Elements.
Users are encourage to update their tracking elements to maintain
tracking accuracy.

[ANS thanks UniverseToday.com for the above information]


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Sounds From Space Website Looking for Additional Sounds

Matthias, DD1US, would like to draw your attention to a collection
of audio recordings, the "Sounds From Space" collection on his web-
site at http://www.dd1us.de. This features a collection which has
also a section dedicated to recordings of amateur radio satellite
signals.

Please have a look at it. The idea is to give older radio amateurs
the chance, to listen to signals of satellites which are already
gone and the might have worked in the past, and to younger people
interested in ham radio, to get them more excited in satellite com-
munication.

In spite of the fact that the collection now has close to 1000 re-
cordings he is still missing recordings from some amateur radio sat-
ellites. If anyone of you would be willing to contribute recordings
to these satellite he would highly appreciate it. He has and always
will give full credit to the source of the recordings. Please have
a look in your older tapes and recordings!

Here is a list of the most wanted missing satellites:

Amsat Oscar 8
RS-1
RS-2
ISKRA-1
RS-3
RS-4
RS-5
RS-6
RS-8
ISKRA-3
Fuji-OSCAR-12
UOSAT OSCAR 15
WEBER OSCAR 18
UOSAT OSCAR 22
POSAT OSCAR 28
TMSAT OSCAR 31
PANSAT OSCAR 34
UOSAT OSCAR 36
ASUSAT OSCAR 37
WEBER OSCAR 39
SAUDI OSCAR 42
STARSHINE OSCAR 43
MYSAT OSCAR 46
KAGAYAKI (SORUNSAT-1)
ANUSAT
BEVO-1
WASEDA-SAT2
StudSAT

[ANS thanks Matthias, DD1US and The Sounds From Space website for
the above information]


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ARISS Status Report - 9 January 2012

1. Poland Contact Successful

A successful Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS)
contact was held on Monday, January 2 between Zespól Szkól nr 2 in
Zuromin, Poland and Dan Burbank, KC5ZSX on the ISS. Students asked
questions to learn what an ordinary day on the ISS is like. Over 300
students and guests gathered for the event including several disting-
uished visitors: Head of Zuromin District, Mayor of Zuromin City,
Head of Education Department Municipal Office of the City of Zuromin,
Headmaster of junior grammar school in Biezun, Headmaster of Polish
secondary school in Zuromin, Headmaster of ZS nr 2 in Zuromin and
Headmaster of SSP in Kliczewo. Another 140 people watched streaming
video of the event on the internet. The contact highlighted the cur-
riculum at the school covering modeling, telecommunications and
robotics.


2. New Proposal Cycle for ARISS-US Contacts

NASA Teaching From Space (TFS) office is accepting proposals for
ARISS-U.S. contacts to be held in the July 15, 2012 - January 15, 2013
time frame. The deadline for submitting proposals is January 30, 2012.
The last informational session will be held on Wednesday, January 11
at 3 pm CST to answer any questions concerning the proposal process.
To attend the session or to have questions answered, contact TFS at
or call 281-244-1919.

For more information, see the TFS Web site:
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreduc.../students/aris
s.h
tml


[ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI, for the above information]

/EX


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73,
This week's ANS Editor,
Lee McLamb, KU4OS