AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-169

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:

ans-editor at amsat.org

In this edition:
* AMSAT 2012 Symposium Weekend Schedule Posted
* Candidates for the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors
* Viet Nam F-1 CubeSat Team Invites You to Send Your Name to Space
* 1st Interplanetary CubeSat Workshop Video and Presentations Available
* Credit Card Sized Raspberry Pi Computer Board Runs Ham Radio Software
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
* ARISS Status - 21 May 2012


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-169.01
ANS-169 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 169.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
June 17, 2012
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-169.01

AMSAT 2012 Symposium Weekend Schedule Posted

The 2012 AMSAT Annual Meeting and Space Symposium will be held in
Orlando, Florida on the weekend of October 26-28, 2012 at the Holi-
day Inn, Orlando Airport Hotel.

The Symposium weekend will featu

+ Space Symposium with Amateur Satellite Presentations
+ Operating Techniques, News, & Plans from the Amateur Satellite World
+ Board of Directors Meeting open to AMSAT members
+ Meet Board Members and Officers
+ Annual General Membership Meeting
+ Annual Banquet—Keynote Speaker and Door Prizes

To help you plan your trip to Orlando the 2012 Symposium Committee
has posted a high-level schedule of the weekend's events.

Preliminary 2012 Symposium Schedule

Thursday 25 October 2012
------------------------
AMSAT Board of Directors Meeting 8am - 9pm

Friday 26 October 2012
-----------------------
AMSAT Board of Directors Meeting 8am - Noon
Trips to SkyCraft 9am - Noon
AMSAT Symposium 1pm - 5pm

Saturday 27 October 2012
------------------------
Symposium 8am - 3pm
AMSAT General Meeting 3:30pm
AMSAT Banquet 6:30pm - 10pm

Sunday 28 October 2012
----------------------
7:30am AMSAT Area Coordinator's Breakfast
Local trip of Interest TBD

Monday 29 October 2012
----------------------
Special trip to Kennedy Space Center 8am-6pm
Contact Martha if interested

Watch the AMSAT Symposium Web Pages for the latest information:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2012/index.php

[ANS thanks the 2012 Symposium Committee for the above information]


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Candidates for the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors

There are six candidates running for the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors.
Three
of the candidates are current members of the Board whose term expires
this
year. Ballots will be mailed to the membership by July 15th, and must
be
received at the AMSAT-NA Silver Spring, MD office no later than the
close of
business on September 15th, 2012.

Tom Clark, K3IO *
Steve Coy, K8UD
Mark Hammond, N8MH
Lou McFadin, W5DID *
Gould Smith, WA4SXM *
Patrick E. Stoddard, WD9EWK

* Incumbent

[ANS thanks Alan, WA4SCA, for the above information]


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Viet Nam F-1 CubeSat Team Invites You to Send Your Name to Space

The latest news from the F-1 CubeSat Team, posted on their website
blog (http://fspace.edu.vn/) and on the AMSAT-UK web with additional
photos (http://www.uk.amsat.org/8215) reports that the satellite's
flight safety review is complete and the FSpace team together with
their partner NanoRacks LLC has satisfied the technical requirements
and standards set by the launch vehicle provider.

F-1 CubeSat is ready for its scheduled launch in July 21, 2012 from
Japan. If everything goes according to plan, the F-1 CubeSat will be
delivered to Japan by the end of June. Then along with four other
CubeSats (RAIKO, WE-WISH, FITSAT-1 and TechEdSat) F-1 will be loaded
onboard HTV-3 “Kounotori” transfer vehicle for integration with the
JAXA HII-B launch vehicle.

These CubeSats will remain aboard the ISS until September, 2012 when
Japanese astronaut and radio amateur Akihiko Hoshide KE5DNI should
deploy it into space from the ISS using the Kibo robot arm.

F-1 carries two Yaesu VX-3R transceivers using 145.980 and 437.485 MHz.

The FSpace team are offering the public a chance to send their name/
callsign and a message into space onboard the F-1 CubeSat. You will
also be presented with a certificate!
See this link: http://fspace.edu.vn/?page_id1

[ANS thanks the FSpace Team and AMSAT-UK for the above information]


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1st Interplanetary CubeSat Workshop Video and Presentations Available

Video and presentations from the 1st Interplanetary CubeSat Workshop,
held in and around MIT and Boston on May 29-30 are available for down-
loading. See: http://icubesat.wordpress.com/program/ Copies and videos
of all the presentations, posters and ancillary sessions can be found
by clicking on their titles.

Please note that this conference was an open conference and did not
wish to discuss information restricted by ITAR. U.S. citizens and
permanent residents were responsible for ensuring that technical data
presented was not restricted by ITAR and that ITAR controlled informa-
tion was not discussed with non-U.S. citizens.

[ANS thanks the iCubeSat Workshop for the above information]


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Credit Card Sized Raspberry Pi Computer Board Runs Ham Radio Software

AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NA member Dave Johnson, G4DPZ, has been using
the Raspberry Pi to run amateur radio satellite software.

The £22 ($35) Model B Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized ARM-based
computer board that plugs into a TV and a keyboard. Based around the
700 MHz ARM11 processor the board has 256 MB SDRAM, two USB ports,
Ethernet with composite and HDMI video outputs. Low-level peripher-
als are GPIO pins, SPI, I²C, I²S and UART.

It was developed in Cambridgeshire by a UK registered charity, the
Raspberry Pi Foundation, which exists to promote the study of com-
puter science and related topics, especially at school level, and
to put the fun back into learning computing.

Dave’s Raspberry Pi runs Debian Squeeze with Xwindows and is acces-
sed using VNC over his shack network.

The first amateur radio application he got running was the GPredict
satellite tracking software, thanks go to Alex Csete OZ9AEC for mak-
ing such a portable implementation. Dave found the sofware and up-
dates of the Keplerian Two Line Elements from the Internet worked
perfectly.

More information about the Raspberry Pi can be found at:
http://www.raspberrypi.org/

GPredict free real-time satellite tracking and orbit prediction
software can be found at: http://gpredict.oz9aec.net/

See also AMSAT-UK (http://www.uk.amsat.org/8019) for photos and
additional information about the Raspberry Pi.

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]


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Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ The 13 Colonies Special Event operation needs a satellite operator
from the state of Massachusetts. If you can help please contact the
coordinator Dave Webb, KB1PVH [kb1pvh at gmail.com]

+ Nick Pugh, K5QXJ posted a video recorded during an AubieSat-1 pass
after its recent on-orbit reconfiguration. See:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?vÿM1z7C6l-0

+ Plan Ahead! To celebrate Venezuelan Navy Day, members of the Grupo
DX Caracas will be active as YW5B from La Blanquilla Island between
July 11-16. Activity will be on 160-2 meters using CW, SSB, Satel-
lites,
FM and the Digital modes. (Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin No. 1065)

+ The next Hudson Valley Satcom net date is Thursday June 21, 8PM EDT
(UTC-4 UTC) on the 146.97 MHz MBARC Repeater (PL 100). The echolink
connection has been experiencing problems so you are invited to send
and e-mail to N2OXV at arrl.net to make sure that the N2EYH-L
EchoLink
node is available if you plan to join via this route. (Stu, WA2BSS)

+ A video of the AMSAT-UK FunCube Dongle receiving the HORYU-2 Satel-
lite is posted at: http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p€16. You will also
find links describing the satellite and a link to software for
telemetry decoding.

+ VE7BQH has just updated his 2m and 6m antenna comparison tables
and provided additional information on each antenna. The changes
are explained by him along with links to both text and spreadsheet
versions of the tables: http://www.bigskyspaces.com/w7gj/6mTable.htm

[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]


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ARISS Status - 11 June 2012

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report
June 11, 2012


1. Japanese Contact Successful

On Wednesday, June 6, students attending Kawatinagano Higashi Junior
High School in Kawatinagano, Osaka, Japan took part in an Amateur
Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with André
Kuipers, PI9ISS on ISS. At the beginning of the contact the school
was experiencing a power blackout, but recovered in time so that
all children were able to ask their questions. The event supplement-
ed lessons about space and the ISS.

2. Astronaut Training Status

Astronaut Jeannette Epps took and passed her amateur radio license
exam last week and was given the callsign KF5QNU. She is not assign-
ed to any future ISS expedition crews at this time.

[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 addi-
tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT
Office.

Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership
at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students
enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu-
dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status.
Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership
information.

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