AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-188

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:


************************************************** *************
*** 2008 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting ***
*** October 24-26 in Atlanta, Georgia ***
*** http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2008/index.php ***
************************************************** *************

In this edition:

* P3E Update From Friedrichshafen Ham Radio 2008
* AMSAT Field Day Logs Are Due by July 14
* New Earth Photos Received From Cute-1.7
* AMSAT 2008 Space Symposium Call For Papers
* ARISS Status Report for the Week of June 30, 2008

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-188.01
P3E Update From Friedrichshafen Ham Radio 2008

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 188.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
July 6, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-188.01

AMSAT-DL provided P3E updates at the HAM RADIO 2008 Convention - the
international amateur radio exhibition held June 27-29 in Friedrich-
shafen near Lake Constance in Germany.

This year HAM RADIO was focused on the topic "Satellites and Space
Activities in Hamradio", giving AMSAT-DL, in cooperation with DARC,
an opportunity to offer a special show highlighting amateur radio in
space. This included flight hardware at the AMSAT-DL booth.

Peter Gülzow, DB2OS, AMSAT-DL gave a presentation discussing the
current status of activities for the construction and launch of the
new satellite AMSAT P3-E. The P3E team reported that the mechanical
work on the satellite has been completed but it doesn't yet have the
Internal Housekeeping Unit (IHU). There has been good progress on the
transponder payloads with the 435 to 145 MHz software defined linear
transponder (SDX) being demonstrated at the event by Howard, G6LVB.

Peter reported that the cost quoted by Arianespace for the launch of
P3E is beyond the budget of AMSAT-DL, however, AMSAT-F has offered
its support in any further negotiations. The possibility of using
launch sites operated by India, Russia or Japan is being investigated.

Dr. Achim Vollhardt, DH2VA, AMSAT-DL spoke on the status of the inter-
planetary Mars mission AMSAT P5-A. P3E is closely linked to the P5E
Mars Orbiter also being built by AMSAT-DL. This will be the first pri-
vate venture spacecraft to go to Mars and will use the 2.4 GHz and 10
GHz
Amateur Satellite Service frequency allocations.

The exhibition also included live reception of interplanetary space
probes by Freddy de Guchteneire, ON6UG. Professor Dr. Karl Meinzer,
DJ4ZC gave the opening address. Thilo Kootz, DL9KCE moderated a panel
discussion, "Amateur radio satellite - Where have they gone?", with
key participation by AMSAT-DL officers.

The new SDX (Software Defined Transponder) for P3E, was available for
live experimentation at the booth and throughout the fairgrounds
during the exhibition.

[ANS thanks Peter Gülzow, DB2OS, AMSAT-DL, and the news service at
the Southgate Amateur Radio Club for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-188.02
AMSAT Field Day Logs Are Due by July 14

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 188.02
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
July 6, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-188.02

AMSAT Director of Contests and Awards Bruce Paige, KK5DO, says,
"Now that Field Day is over for 2008, there is one more thing that
you have to take care of. You still need to submit your contacts
for scoring under the AMSAT rules."

You can download the rules from:
http://www.amsatnet.com/2008fd.pdf -or-
http://www.amsatnet.com/2008fd.doc

Bruce reminds participants that the Satellite Summary Sheet should
be used for submission of the AMSAT Field Day competition and be re-
ceived by KK5DO (email or postal mail) by 11:59 P.M. CDT, Monday,
July 14, 2008. The preferred method for submitting your log is via
e-mail to or .

You may also use the postal service but give plenty of time for your
results to arrive by the submission date. Add photographs or other
interesting information so that can be used an article for the Journal.

You will receive an email back (within one or two days) from Bruce
when he receives your email submission. If you do not receive a con-
firmation message, try sending it again or send it to his other e-mail
address.

If you are mailing your submission, the address is:
Bruce Paige, KK5DO
Director of Awards and Contests
PO Box 310
Alief, TX 77411-0310

[ANS thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-188.03
New Earth Photos Received From Cute-1.7

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 188.03
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
July 6, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-188.03

Mineo Wakita, JE9PEL reported this week that more pictures have been
received from the CMOS camera aboard the Cute-1.7 + APD II satellite.
The pictures may be viewed on-line at:
http://lss.mes.titech.ac.jp/ssp/cute1.7/blog/01-04.jpg
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/cut17ap2.htm

The CMOS camera aboard Cute-1.7 + APD II is controlled by a PDA which
also performs the JPEG format conversion and compression prior to
transmission via FM packet on the satellite's UHF downlink.

[ANS thanks Mineo Wakita, JE9PEL for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-188.04
AMSAT 2008 Space Symposium Call For Papers

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 188.04
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
July 6, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-188.04

2008 AMSAT North America Space Symposium
24-26 October 2008, Atlanta, Georgia Call for Papers:

This is the first call for papers for the 2008 AMSAT Space Symposium and
Annual Meeting to be held October 24-26, 2008 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Proposals for papers, symposium presentations, and poster presentations
are invited on any topic of interest to the amateur satellite program.
An emphasis for this year is an educational outreach to middle and high
school students. Another topic if interest is using amateur satellite
tracking systems to monitor deep space network objects.

In particular, papers on the following topics are solicited:

* Students & Education
* ARISS
* AO-51
* P3E
* Eagle
* Deep Space Network monitoring
* Any additional satellite-related topics.

We request a one-page abstract as soon as possible. Camera ready copy
on paper or in electronic form will be due by September 1, 2008 for
inclusion in the printed symposium proceedings. Papers received after
this date may not be included in the printed proceedings.

Abstracts and papers should be sent to

[ANS thanks the 2008 Space Symposium Committe for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-188.05
ARISS Status Report for the Week of June 30, 2008

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 188.05
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
July 6, 2008
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-188.05

1. School Contacts

Two simulated ARISS contacts were held on Thursday, July 3. These
training sessions are terrestrial-based amateur radio contacts using
ARISS-equivalent equipment.

The first simulated contact was with Frank De Winne, ON1DWN, and the
ESC (Euro Space Camp) in Belgium. Ottawa South United Soccer Club in
Canada will also take part in a simulated contact with astronaut Bob
Thirsk, W5/VA3CSA.

Round Rock Texas Scout Pack #304 and Blackland Prairie Elementary
School in Round Rock, Texas had an ARISS contact on Friday, July 4.
This event introduced scouts to the concepts required for their radio
merit badges, giving them a practical example of amateur radio in
action. It also provided an activity for the scientist badge. The
entire Pack (50-60 boys of various ranks) will be involved, as well
as select Blackland Prairie Elementary School staff and students.
Pack 304 will participate in a contest to determine the best questions
to ask the astronaut. Media (newspaper, radio, television) coverage
is planned and the governor will be invited.

An ARISS contact has been scheduled with the National Agriculture Museum

in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on Wednesday, July 9 at 15:14 UTC. Telebridge

station W6SRJ in Santa Rosa, California will assist with the contact.
The
museum is a large research facility in the City of Ottawa covering over

1000 years of major contributions to agricultural progress. A public
camp
is part of the overall operation of the farm.

2. Successful Russian Contact

Kursk State University students participated in an ARISS contact
during the Slavic Commonwealth Forum (formerly the International
Congress
of Slavic States conference) in Sochi, Russia (on the Black Sea). The
students spoke with Oleg Kononenko, RN3DX, on June 22.

3. Robinson Elementary School Contact Successful

On Wednesday, June 25, students from Robinson Elementary School in
Robinson, Texas experienced an ARISS contact via the telebridge station
WH6PN in Hawaii. Eleven students were able to ask one question each of
astronaut Greg Chamitoff, KD5PKZ, as an audience of nearly 300 looked
on.
After the contact, the bridge connection was kept up to answer the stu-
dents' remaining questions. The audio was available via IRLP.

4. Astronaut Training Status

Astronauts Joe Acaba, KE5DAR, and Ricky Arnold, KE5DAU, participated in
an ARISS basic operations training session on Thursday, June 26 at JSC.
Both crew members are assigned to the STS-119 mission, which will bring
Koichi Wakata to the ISS and return Sandy Magnus.

Nicole Stott, KE5GJN, Sandy Magnus, KE5FYE, and JAXA astronauts Koichi
Wakata, KC5ZTA, and Soichi Noguchi, KD5TVP, received training on the
ARISS ham radio equipment. Photos of the Energia training session are
available on the following Web site:
http://www.energia.ru/eng/news/news-...oto_06-20.html

5. Under the Hood Posts SuitSat Article and Video

SuitSat appears on the cover of the June issue of Under the Hood, a
supplemental issue of the EE Times. A link to the digital issue may
be found he http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/cmp/uth062308/

A video of ARISS member Steve Bible's talk on SuitSat given at the
Embedded Systems Conference (EMS) in April 2008 has also been posted
on the Under the Hood Web site. See:
http://cmptv.net/teardown/SuitSat

6. ARISS International Team Meeting Held

The ARISS monthly teleconference was held on Tuesday, June 17. Agenda
items covered included the upcoming Moscow meeting, Amateur Radio on
the Columbus module (ARCOL) and the status of SuitSat-2. Minutes have
been posted to the ARISS Web site.
See: http://www.rac.ca/ariss/arisstel2008-06-17.htm

7. ARISS Delegate Recognized at Ham Fair

ARISS delegate Gaston Bertels, ON4WF, was recognized at the Ham Fair
in Friedrichshafen, Germany for his many contributions to amateur radio
including his ARISS work, his efforts on the Columbus antennas, and his
selection for the CQ Hall of Fame. Ham Fair is the largest amateur radio

convention in Europe and was held over the weekend of June 27-29.

8. Amateur Radio Video Posted

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) held its annual Field Day over
the June 28-29 weekend. A Field Day video has been posted on YouTube.
It features the International Space Station and/or ARISS program several

times. To view this, see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=varHL752Odk

[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 additional benefits.
Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office.


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