AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-094

The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information
service of AMSAT, 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:

You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins
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In this edition:

* 2021 AMSAT Field Day
* VUCC Awards-Endorsements for April 1 2021
* WOUB Spotlight: Broadcast Operations Supervisor Terry Douds, N8KI
* NASA TV to Air First US Commercial Crew Port Relocation on ISS
* Perseverance rover begins steps to deploy Mars helicopter
* Launch Watch: Upcoming in April
* Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for April 1, 2021
* ARISS News
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
* Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
* Satellite Shorts From All Over


ANS-094 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 094.01
To: All RADIO AMATEURS
From: Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation
712 H Street NE Suite 1653
Washington, DC 20002

DATE 2021 April 04

2021 AMSAT Field Day

It’s that time of year again; summer and Field Day! Each year the Americ
an
Radio Relay League (ARRL) sponsors Field Day as a “picnic, a campout,
practice for emergencies, an informal contest and, most of all, FUN!” The
event takes place during a 23-hour period on the fourth weekend of June.
For 2021 the event takes place during a 27-hour period from 1800 UTC on
Saturday June 26, 2021 through 2100 UTC on Sunday June 27, 2021. Those who
set up prior to 1800 UTC on June 26 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.

This year should be as easy as last year since we have more than 10
transponders and repeaters available. Users should check the AMSAT status
page at http://www.amsat.org/status/ and the pages at
https://www.amsat.org/two-way-satellites/ for what is available in the weeks
leading up to field day. To reduce the amount of time to research each
satellite, see the current FM satellite table at:
https://www.amsat.org/fm-satellite-frequency-summary/
and the current linear satellite table at:
https://www.amsat.org/linear-satelli...uency-summary/

Additional information is found at: https://www.amsat.org/field-day/

[ANS thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awards and Paul
Stoetzer, N8HM, ANS editor for the above information]

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VUCC Awards-Endorsements for April 1 2021

Here are the endorsements and new VUCC Satellite Awards issued by the ARRL
for the period March 1, 2021 through April 1, 2021. Congratulations to all
those who made the list this month!

CALL Mar Mar

N9EAT 784 843
NS3L 650 681
W7QL 510 563
KJ4EU 471 506
VA3NNA 300 504
K0JM 403 500
N1PEB (EL98) 255 500
MI6GTY 460 461
KB9STR 353 431
KC9UQR 400 427
KS1G 360 413
WA4HFN 102 413
K5TA 302 400
W8LR 353 400
VE4MM 279 304
WB7QXU 252 303
VU2LBW 260 300
W4ALF 200 300
K4RGK 214 278
NA1ME 200 225
KN2K 155 200
N7ZO 116 200
XE2YWH 137 187
LW2DAF 166 182
NK1K New 179
DL6KBG 125 150
N8MR New 115
N2CJ 100 103
AF5D New 102
W7KRS New 101
AC9DX New 100
W3FGP New 100

If you find errors or omissions. please contact me off-list at
and I'll revise the announcement. This list was
developed by comparing the ARRL .pdf listings for the two months. It's a
visual comparison so omissions are possible. Apologies if your call was not
mentioned. Thanks to all those who are roving to grids that are rarely on
the birds. They are doing most of the work! - Ron W5RKN


[ANS thanks Ron Parsons, W5RKN for the above information]

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Join the 2021 President's Club!
Score your 2" 4-Color Accent Commemorative Coin.
This gold finished coin comes with
Full Color Certificate and Embroidered "Remove Before Flight" Key Tag
Donate today at
https://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/
You won't want to miss it!
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WOUB Broadcast Operations Supervisor Terry Douds, N8KI, AMSAT-NA member is
honored.

ATHENS, OH – During Broadcast Operations Supervisor Terry Douds nearly 16
years working at WOUB Public Media, there have been many changes in regard
to technology and how the station runs. But, Douds has rolled with the
changes and couldn’t be more proud of the work he is doing.

“I was originally hired as a broadcast technician and was promoted to
broadcast operations supervisor in 2008,” said Douds. “At that time, the
Engineering Department oversaw Master Control. We worked 24/7 to insure that
WOUB stayed on the air. Later that part of operations shifted to the Traffic
Department, so now we’re doing ‘regular’ engineering tasks, such as d
esign
of systems, installation of new equipment, and overseeing what we call
‘In-House Engineering’; another team within Engineering handles field w
ork
and our transmitter sites.”

“A big part of the training for me for this job came from amateur radio. I
became a ‘Ham Operator’ in November 1968, when I was in 7th grade,” s
aid
Douds. “I later became active in amateur satellite work, another part of
amateur radio where we designed satellites and have them launched into
space.” More at: https://bit.ly/3rKpBxI

[ANS thanks Mark Johns, K0JM, AMSAT News Service Editor and WOUB.org for the
above information]

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NASA TV to Air First US Commercial Crew Port Relocation on Space Station

NASA's SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts aboard the International Space Station will
mark another first for commercial spaceflight Monday, April 5, when the four
astronauts will relocate the Crew Dragon spacecraft to prepare for the
arrival of new crew members in late April and the upcoming delivery of new
solar arrays this summer.

Live coverage will begin at 1000z on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the
agency's website.

NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, KF5LJG, Victor Glover, KI5BKC, and Shannon
Walker, KD5DXB, along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
astronaut Soichi Noguchi, KD5TVP, will undock Crew Dragon Resilience from
the forward port of the station's Harmony module at 1029z and dock to the
space-facing port at 1115z.

The relocation will free Harmony's forward port for the docking of Crew
Dragon Endeavour, set to carry four crew members to the station on NASA's
SpaceX Crew-2 mission. NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough, KE5HOD, and Megan
McArthur, JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, KE5DNI, and ESA (European Space
Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet, KG5FYG, are scheduled to launch to the
station Thursday, April 22, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space
Center in Florida.

[ANS thanks NASA for the above information.]

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Perseverance rover begins steps to deploy Mars helicopter

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter is being lowered from the belly of the
Perseverance rover this week as ground teams run through a choreographed
long-distance command sequence to safely release the $80 million rotorcraft
onto the surface of Mars.

The slow, step-by-step deployment is projected to take around six days,
assuming everything goes as planned. The first command uplinked from
engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory was to release a launch lock
that kept the Ingenuity helicopter firmly attached to the belly of the
Perseverance rover during the journey to Mars. Additional information may be
found at: https://bit.ly/3dv06vv

[ANS thanks Stephen Clark of SpaceFlightNow.com for the above information]

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Need new satellite antennas? Purchase Arrows, Alaskan Arrows,
and M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store. When you purchase through
AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards
Keeping Amateur Radio in Space.
https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/

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Launch Watch: Upcoming in April

There will be several notable launches this month. Unfortunately there are
no new amateur satellites in the immediate offing. A Falcon 9/Starlink #23
launch is scheduled for April 7 from Cape Canaveral. April 9, The new
command crew for the ISS will be launched from Baikonur to start Mission 65.
On April 22, SpaceX/NASA commercial Crew Flight #2 is scheduled for launch
on the reused Falcon 9 from the Crew-1 mission and the Crew Dragon capsule
from the Endeavor Demo-2 mission. The Crew-1 astronauts will return shortly
thereafter.

[ANS thanks SpaceX, NASA, and ROSCOMOS for the above information]

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AMSAT's GOLF Program is about getting back to higher orbits, and it all
begins with GOLF-TEE – a technology demonstrator for deployable solar
panels, propulsion, and attitude control. Come along for the ride. The
journey will be worth it!

https://tinyurl.com/ANS-GOLF

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Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for April 1, 2021

The following satellites have been added to this week's AMSAT-NA TLE
Distribution:

Maya-2 - NORAD Cat ID 47929.
OPUSAT-II - NORAD Cat ID 47930.
CubeSX-Sirius-HSE - NORAD Cat ID 47951
Thanks to Nico Janssen, PA0DLO for the identification of these satellites.


The following satellites have been removed from this week's AMSAT-NA TLE
Distribution:

OBJECT B - NORAD Cat ID 47310
OBJECT D - NORAD Cat ID 47312
OBJECT E - NORAD Cat ID 47313
OBJECT G - NORAD Cat ID 47315
OBJECT J - NORAD Cat ID 47317
OBJECT K - NORAD Cat ID 47318
OBJECT M - NORAD Cat ID 47320
OBJECT N - NORAD Cat ID 47345
The above objects are non-amateur radio satellites associated with a launch
carrying amateur radio satellites. As the amateur radio satellites have been
identified from that launch, these objects are no longer of interest.

[ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, for the above
information]

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Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition?
Get your AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff
from our Zazzle store!
25% of the purchase price of each product goes
towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space
https://www.zazzle.com/amsat_gear

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ARISS NEWS: Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of April 4, 2021

The School of Information Technology & Mathematical Sciences, Southern
Hemisphere Space Studies Program 2021, Mawson Lakes, SA, Australia,
telebridge via NA7V
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS. The downlink frequency
is presently scheduled to be 145.800 MHz. The latest information on the
operation mode can be found at
https://www.ariss.org/current-status...-stations.html. The scheduled
astronaut is Shannon Walker KD5DXB Contact is go for: Tue 2021-04-06
11:27:49 UTC 34 deg via IK1SLD. Watch for livestream at
https://tinyurl.com/ISSLINKUP2021

Kaluga Regional schools, Kaluga, Russia direct via TBD. The ISS callsign is
presently scheduled to be RSØISS. The downlink frequency is presently
scheduled to be 145.800 MHz. The latest information on the operation mode
can be found at https://www.ariss.org/current-status...-stations.html
The scheduled astronaut is Sergey Kud-Sverchkov. Watch for Tue 2021-04-06
13:10 UTC

St. Petersburg, Russia direct via TBD. The ISS callsign is presently
scheduled to be RSØISS. The downlink frequency is presently scheduled to
be
145.800 MHz. The latest information on the operation mode can be found at
https://www.ariss.org/current-status...-stations.html. The scheduled
astronaut is Sergey Ryzhikov. Watch for Wed 2021-04-07 12:20 UTC

[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team mentors
for the above information]

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AMSAT, along with our ARISS partners, is developing an amateur
radio package, including two-way communication capability, to
be carried on-board Gateway in lunar orbit.

Support AMSAT's projects today at https://www.amsat.org/donate/

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Upcoming Satellite Operations

Quick Hits:
DN58 – look for #NO7G on SSB sats over the next week (3/25 – 4/4)
AA5PK: Thinking a trip to EM01 Saturday (4/3) is in order.
N3CRT: Activating ***Delaware*** via satellite -FM and Linear- at Fort Mott
State Park FM29fo this Saturday April 3rd 12z-20z and possibly later.
WL7T: Had to cancel Maine. Too expensive to change flights this close to
departure. EL58 is rescheduled for April 11. Will be driving from EM26 to
EL59, so might be stopping along the way for a few contacts starting a day
or two before April 11.

Major Roves:

CM93 Possibility: N6DNM Very long shot, but might want to put it on your
calendar for May 15th, if you can figure out where it is and for #SOTA
folks, that would be W6/SC-336, Santa Rosa Island, activated only once
before.

Please submit any additions or corrections to Ke0pbr (at) gmail.com
Updated 03/31/2021

[ANS thanks Paul Overn, KE0PBR, AMSAT rover page manager for the above
information]

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Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events

From Larry Manaev, RN3AG: "We invite your members to take part in the Yuri
Gagarin International DX Contest 2021. Date: from 21.00 UTC on April 10 till
21.00 UTC on April 11, 2021. Modes: CW only.
Satellite categories:
SAT - Single operator - Satellite QSOs.
SAT-GS - Single operator - Geostationary Satellite QSOs (QO-100).
Contest rules: http://gc.qst.ru/en/section/32"

AMSAT Ambassador, Tom Zimmerman W9TTY, will be exhibiting at the DeKalb
Hamfest, Sandwich, Illinois on May 2, 2021. This hamfest SW of Chicago will
feature a presentation for hams curious about Amateur Radio in Space and how
to work the easy sats. Info on Kishwaukee Amateur Radio Club Webpage
www.kare-club.org

AMSAT Ambassador Clint Bradford K6CLS is planning a presentation on 06/15 to
a club in East Massachusetts.

Think a 90-minute lively, informative, and fun “How to Work the Easy
Satellites” Zoom presentation would be appropriate for your convention or
club? Always includes are overviews of the ARRL, AMSAT, and ARISS … and
pre-presentation questions are solicited and welcome. Send Clint an email or
call!
Clint Bradford K6LCS, http://www.work-sat.com. Tel:909-999-SATS (7287)

[ANS thanks Paul Overn, KE0PBR, AMSAT Events page manager, Larry Manaev,
RN3AG, and Clint Bradford, K6CLS AMSAT Ambassador for the above information]

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Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ AMSAT Vice President - Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, appeared on the
April 1, 2021 episode of Ham Talk Live to discuss the latest status of AMSAT
satellite development. A replay of the episode can be heard at
https://www.spreaker.com/user/hamtal...tellite-engine
ering-

[ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information]

+ Frank Garofalo, WA2NDV sends a thank you note to all who participated in
the Last Man Standing special event. He says "I had the pleasure to work 111
contacts as W6S over the course of the week. If you made at least one
contact you can download a certificate in around 4 weeks time. Just check
the QRZ page for information. The official numbers are not yet in but there
were approximately 60 thousand contacts made across all frequencies and
modes." He continues: "I was also very careful not to interfere with any
rover operations during the event."

[ANS thanks Frank Garofalo, WA2NDV for the above information]

+ SpaceX’s latest high-altitude Starship test flight ends in another
explosion. SpaceX’s latest Starship test flight apparently ended with
another explosion Tuesday in South Texas, but dense fog obscured clear views
of the launch and failed landing. The Federal Aviation Administration said
late Tuesday it is working with SpaceX to determine if light debris reported
in a nearby town came from the Starship test rocket.

[ANS thanks Stephen Clark of SpaceFlightNow.com for the above information]

+Biden administration renews mandate for National Space Council. President
Biden will renew the National Space Council, a space policy group revived by
the Trump White House after 25 years of dormancy, to assist in “generating
national space policies, strategies, and synchronizing America’s space
activities,” an administration spokesman said Monday. A spokesman for the
National Security Council said the Biden administration is renewing the
National Space Council “at a time of unprecedented activity and opportuni
ty
generated by America’s activities in space.”

[ANS thanks Stephen Clark of SpaceFlightNow.com for the above information]

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/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 Store.

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 student rate for a
maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status. Contact info [at]
amsat.org for additional student membership information.

73 and Remember to help keep amateur radio in space,
This week's ANS Editor, Jack Spitznagel, KD4IZ
kd4iz at frawg dot org



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