AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-353

The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor-
mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite
Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space
including 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.

The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur
Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to:
ans-editor at amsat.org.

In this edition:

* Gould Smith, WA4SXM appointed Director-Field Operations
* AO-73/FUNcube Holiday Transponder Operation
* HM85 Christmas Weekend Operation
* 18 Years of SSTV and Human Spaceflight
* WB8ELK Balloon Completes Second Lap Around the World
* 18th Annual Long Island Section Convention


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-353.01
ANS-353 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 353.01
From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD.
DATE December 18, 2016
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-353.01

Gould Smith, WA4SXM appointed Director-Field Operations

AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW has appointed G. Gould Smith, WA4SXM as
Director-Field Operations. The public announcement was made during the
Field
Operations Forum held in conjunction with the 34th AMSAT Space Symposium
held on
board Carnival Liberty on 12 Nov 2016.

Field Operations consists of AMSAT volunteers who serve as Area
Coordinators in
their local areas. As “Ambassadors of AMSAT�, they give AMSAT
presentations at
local club meetings or at hamfests, manage an AMSAT table/booth at a
hamfest, or
support local satellite operations as ‘elmers’ to new satellite operators.

Gould previously served as Director-Field Operations from 2004-2008 prior to
becoming VP-User Services from 2008-2013. Gould is also the author of
several
books published by AMSAT starting in 1990 with “Getting Started With Amateur
Satellites� the current AMSAT publication that carries his name. Due to
medical
issues, Gould was forced to resign from the Board of Directors and as
VP-User
Services in 2014 to focus on his medical concerns. Two years later, Gould’s
medical recovery is now such that he’s once again in position to support
AMSAT.

In conjunction with this transition, Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK now serves as
“Lead Area Coordinator�, essentially functioning as Gould’s Executive
Officer.
Together, Gould and Patrick will work to enhance the Field Organization.

“Having Gould back in an AMSAT leadership role is welcome news� notes AMSAT
President Barry Baines, WD4ASW. “Gould is passionate about amateur radio in
space and wants to encourage amateurs to become involved with satellite
operations. The Field Organization will benefit from Gould’s focus on
providing
support to our Area Coordinators and developing materials that will
assist our
volunteers to speak on AMSAT’s behalf at club presentations and hamfests.�

Initially, Gould has been spending some time getting back up to speed on the
current status of the Field Organization and establishing a line of
communication with the Field Ops Team. Gould notes, “As a long time AMSAT
volunteer I am excited to be re-engaging with the organization since my
health
has improved significantly. The Field Operations position is one that I have
experience with and am looking forward to leading with the help of Patrick,
WD9EWK. I have looked at the current Area Coordinator list and their
activities
and know most of the members. One of the first things I will be doing is
getting
to know the newer coordinators and determining how best we can serve
AMSAT, it's
members and prospective members. Please let me know of any ideas or
suggestions
to improve he Field Operations team.�

[ANS thanks AMSAT President Barry Baines, WD4ASW, for the above information]


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AO-73/FUNcube Holiday Transponder Operation

The AO-73/FUNcube plan for the Holidays is to switch to continuous
transponder
mode on Wed 22 Dec pm UTC, and revert back to auto transponder switching on
Sunday 8 Jan 2017 ppm UTC.

Have FUN with the transponder.

[ANS thanks Jim, G3WGM, for the above information]


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HM85 Christmas Weekend Operation

Pedro, CU2ZG, reports that Christmas HM58 operation will take place from
December 23rd to December 25th. Pedro will be SSB equipped and plans to
operate on the following satellites: AO-7, FO-29, SO-50, AO-73, EO-79,
XW-2A/B/C/D/F, and AO-85.

Logs will be uploaded as CU2ZG.

[ANS thanks Pedro, CU2ZG, for the above information]


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18 Years of SSTV and Human Spaceflight

December 12, 2016, marked the 18th anniversary of the activation of the
MIR SSTV
Amateur Radio developed System which was transported and put aboard the MIR
Space Station. The MIR SSTV System sent pictures over a period of about 2
years and 4 months to the delight of Amateur Radio Operators and others
worldwide. (Mir was deorbited in March, 2001) For those interested in this
historical event and background, the publication Amateur Television
Quarterly
(ATVQ), Spring 2015 issue has an article, “How Did the MIR SSTV System come
into Existence�? Back issue copies of ATVQ containing this article are
available via . See also web address: www.ATVQuarterly.com.

A small sampling of perhaps thousands of received pictures may be found
in web
sites:

http://www.marexmg.org/marexmirweb/f...imagepage1.htm

http://www.qsl.net/dg7ro/afu/mirsstv.htm

Background information and initial efforts on developing the MIR System and
early efforts to provide SSTV for the ISS may be reviewed at:

http://www.marexmg.org/fileshtml/sponsorspeople.htm

The ISS is now transmitting a similar series of SSTV Transmissions to
that of
MIR:

https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/iss-sstv

[ANS thanks Farrell, W8ZCF, for the above information]


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WB8ELK Balloon Completes Second Lap Around the World

After flying for over 41,000 miles, the WB8ELK HF WSPR Skytracker
balloon has
completed its second lap after crossing over into Indiana on 12 Dec
2016. For
those of you capable of listening to 20m WSPR mode, it transmits at the
4-minute
and 6-minute marks every 10 minutes on 14.09560 MHz USB during daylight
hours.

[ANS thanks Bill WB8ELK and the BALLOON_SKED group on yahoogroups for
the above
information]


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18th Annual Long Island Section Convention

Ham Radio University (HRU) is scheduled for January 8th, 2017, there
will be 30
forums with Tom Gallagher, CEO, of ARRL as the keynote speaker.

Peter, W2JV, will be doing a forum at 10 AM on ‘Getting Started with the
Amateur
Satellites�, AMSAT will have a table in the club room to answer your
questions.
There will be demonstrations on the air as time and weather permits, on
both the
FM and linear transponder satellites. Look for W2JV, or others on the air.

[ANS thanks Peter, W2JV, 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
ku4os at amsat dot org


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