———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Chris Bradley <kg5jup@gmail.com>
Date: 2018-01-14 18:12 GMT+08:00
Subject: [ans] ANS-014 AMSAT Weekly News Service Bulletins
To: ans@amsat.org

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-014.01

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:

* Z-Sat Frequency Coordination Submitted to IARU
* Handy Fox 1D Links
* Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2018-01-12
* Nova Maker Faire
* AMSAT North America has issued a statement formally designating
Fox-1D as AO-92
* AMSAT Office Closed Monday January 15
* Satellite Shorts From All Over

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-014.01
ANS-014.01 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 309.01
From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD.
November 5, 2017
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-014.01

Z-Sat Frequency Coordination Submitted to IARU

AMSAT-UK reported that the IARU has received a frequency coordination
request from the Komaki Amateur Radio SATCOM Club in Japan for Z-Sat
50kg microsat with two missions:

(1) Mission: BBS service Exchanging messages between amateurs
all over the world in amateur service. Any amateur can use
the space station like a BBS by uploading and downloading
messages. The specific steps includes: An amateur radio
station transmits messages to the space station for indiv-
idual/public and these messages are stored in the space
station. Another amateur radio station transmits a specific
message to the space station and the space station transmits
a reply message whether any message to him exists or not.
If exists, the amateur radio station can receive the message
by transmitting a specific message to the space station.
Frequency band: – UPLINK : 435-438 MHz
DOWNLINK : 145-146 MHz
(Note: The usage of the BBS is shown in the following URL.
same as ChubuSat-2 except frequencies
https://www.frontier.phys.nagoya-
u.ac.jp/en/chubusat/chubusat_satellite2.html
(2) Mission: The Earth observation Imaging particular site with
the infrared camera.
Frequency band: – UPLINK : S-band – DOWNLINK : S-band
No launch defined but planning a sun synchronous LEO.
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/formal_detail.php?serialnum=580

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK and the IARU for the above information]
———————————————————————

Handy Fox 1D Links

Fox-1D Launch Live Blog
https://www.amsat.org/fox-1d-launch-live-blog/

Fox Telemetry Leaderboard (With links to FoxTelem)
http://www.amsat.org/tlm/

AMSAT Live OSCAR Satellite Status Page (Report Fox-1D reception here)
http://amsat.org/status/

Getting Ready for Fox-1D PDF
https://www.amsat.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Getting-
Ready-for-Fox-1D.pdf

Updates will be found on AMSAT’s Twitter
account (@AMSAT). Note that you do not need to be a Twitter user to
view AMSAT’s tweets.
https://twitter.com/AMSAT

The latest Keps can be found in AMSAT’s Keps distribution.
Any tracking software using the AMSAT Keps distribution should
identify new object “99934” after refreshing your Keps.
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ftp/keps/current/nasabare.txt

[ANS would like to thank Paul Stoetzer, N8HM for the above
information]

———————————————————————

Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2018-01-12

Quick list of scheduled contacts and  events:

Prva srednja informaticka škola, Zagreb, Croatia,  telebridge via
VK6MJ
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be  NA1SS
The scheduled astronaut is Scott Tingle KG5NZA
Contact is a go for:  Thu 2018-01-18 08:46:52 UTC 34  deg

ARISS  is always glad to receive listener reports for the above
contacts.
ARISS  thanks everyone in advance for their assistance.  Feel free
to send
your  reports to aj9n@amsat.org or aj9n@aol.com.

Listen for the ISS on  the downlink of 145.8Ø  MHz.

All  ARISS contacts are made via the Kenwood radio unless otherwise
noted.

Several  of you have sent me emails asking about the RAC ARISS
website and
not being  able to get in.  That has now been changed to
http://www.ariss.org/

Note that there are links to other ARISS  websites from this  site.

Looking  for something new to do?  How about receiving DATV from the
ISS?

If interested, then please go to the ARISS-EU website for  complete
details.  Look for the buttons indicating Ham  Video.

http://www.ariss-eu.org/

If you need some  assistance, ARISS mentor Kerry N6IZW, might be
able to
provide some  insight.  Contact Kerry at  kbanke@sbcglobal.net
ARISS  congratulations the following mentors who have now mentored
over 100

schools:

Francesco IKØWGF with 132
Satoshi 7M3TJZ with  127
Gaston ON4WF with 123
Sergey RV3DR with  100

The  webpages listed below were all reviewed for accuracy.  Out of
date
webpages were removed and new ones have been added.  If there are
additional
ARISS websites I need to know about, please let me  know.

Note, all times are approximate.  It is recommended that you  do
your own
orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before  the
listed
time.
All dates and times listed follow International  Standard ISO 8601
date and
time format  YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS

The  complete schedule page has been updated as of 2018-01-12 00:00
UTC.
(***)
Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and
questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and
instructions for any contact that may be streamed live.

http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.txt

Total  number of ARISS ISS to earth school events is 1201.
Each school counts as 1  event.
Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 1150.
Each  contact may have multiple schools sharing the same time slot.
Total number of  ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 47.

A complete year by year  breakdown of the contacts may be found in the
file.
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf

Please  feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are
needed.

The  following US states and entities have never had an ARISS contact:
Arkansas,  Delaware, South Dakota, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam,
Northern
Marianas  Islands, and the Virgin  Islands.

QSL  information may be found at:
http://www.ariss.org/qsl-cards.html

ISS callsigns:  DPØISS, IRØISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS,  RSØISS

The  successful school list has been updated as of 2018-01-04 09:00
UTC.

http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf

Frequency   chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes
showing
Doppler   correction  as of 2005-07-29 04:00  UTC
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_cor
rection
.rtf

Listing  of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30
UTC.
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf

Check  out the Zoho reports of the ARISS  contacts

https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415

Exp.  53 on orbit
Mark Vande Hei KG5GNP
Alexander Misurkin
Joe Acaba  KE5DAR

Exp. 54 on orbit
Scott Tingle KG5NZA
Norishige  Kanai
Alexander  Skvortsov

[ANS would like to thank Charlie Sufana, AJ9N for the above
information]

———————————————————————

Nova Maker Faire is coming up March 18th. This year, the venue will
be the
GMU campus. Attendance last year was over 4000.

Last year’s AMSAT presence at the faire was a big hit. I hope you
guys can
exhibit again.

The organizers would like a placeholder application filled in by Jan
14.
Let me know if you need help with registering.

https://nova.makerfaire.com/cfm/

[ANS would like to thank AMSAT.org Office (Martha) for the above
information]

———————————————————————

Fox-1D was successfully launched at 03:59 UTC on the PSLV-C40 mission
from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India. UA9UIZ received
and uploaded the first telemetry to AMSAT servers at 05:28 UTC.
Initial telemetry values appear nominal.

The first set of post-launch Keplerian elements are reproduced below:

Fox-1D
1 99934U 1801D    18012.18036412  .00000000  00000-0  00000-0 0    15
2 99934  97.6514  74.0671 0008545 308.1824 275.3575 15.22876478    16

[ANS would like to thank Paul Stoetzer, N8HM for the above
information]

———————————————————————

AMSAT North America has issued a statement formally designating
Fox-1D as AO-92:

Fox-1D, a 1U CubeSat, is the third of AMSAT’s five Fox-1 CubeSats
to reach orbit, being preceded by AO-85 (Fox-1A) and AO-91 (RadFxSat/
Fox-1B). Fox-1D carries the Fox-1 U/v FM transponder, with an uplink
of 435.350 MHz (67.0 Hz CTCSS) and a downlink of 145.880 MHz. In addi-
tion, Fox-1D carries several university experiments, including a MEMS
gyro from Pennsylvania State University-Erie, a camera from Virginia
Tech, and the University of Iowa’s HERCI (High Energy Radiation Cube-
Sat Instrument) radiation mapping experiment. Fox-1D also carries
the AMSAT L-Band Downshifter experiment which enables the FM trans-
ponder to be switched to utilize an uplink of 1267.350 MHz (67.0 Hz
CTCSS).

Fox-1D was sent aloft as a secondary payload on the Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO)’s PSLV-XL rocket as part of the PSLV-C40
mission. Fox-1D was one of thirty-one satellites successfully deploy-
ed on this launch.

Since Fox-1D has met all of the qualifications necessary to receive
an OSCAR number, I, by the authority vested in me by the AMSAT
President,
do hereby confer on this satellite the designation AMSAT-OSCAR 92 or
AO-92. I join amateur radio operators in the U.S. and around the
world
in wishing AO-92 a long and successful life in both its amateur and
scientific missions.

I, along with the rest of the amateur community, congratulate all
of the volunteers who worked so diligently to construct, test and
prepare for launch the newest amateur radio satellite.

William A. (Bill) Tynan, W3XO
AMSAT-NA OSCAR Number Administrator

[ANS would like to thank JoAnne, K9JKM for the above
information]

———————————————————————

AMSAT Office Closed Monday January 15

The AMSAT Office will be closed on Monday, January 15th in
observance of
Martin Luther King Jr Day.

[ANS would like to thank AMSAT.ORG (Martha) for the above
information]

———————————————————————

Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ ARRL is picking up on Fox-1D news.
http://www.arrl.org/news/view/fox-1d-satellite-set-to-launch-this-
week-china-to-launch-five-new-cubesats

[ANS Joanne K9JKM, for the above information]

———————————————————————

+ AMSAT’s next Fox-1 satellite, Fox-1D, is scheduled for launch on
January 12, 2018 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota,
India.
Fox-1D will launch as part of the PSLV-C40 mission on board a Polar
Satellite Launch Vehicle with Cartosat, an imaging satellite for the
Indian government, and 30 other payloads.”

[ANS Jerry Buxton, N0JY for the above information]

———————————————————————

+ KK5DO reports we just issued Rover Award #005 to KG5GJT. Congrats
and keep on roving. Find details of the AMSAT Rover Award at:
https://www.amsat.org/amsat-rover-award/

[ANS Joanne K9JKM, 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,
Chris Bradley, AA5EM
aa5em at amsat dot org
_______________________________________________
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership.
Opinions expressed
are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official
views of AMSAT-NA.
Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite
program!
Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
_______________________________________________
Via the ANS mailing list courtesy of AMSAT-NA
http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: JoAnne K9JKM <k9jkm@comcast.net>
Date: 2018-01-07 8:25 GMT+08:00
Subject: [ans] ANS-007 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
To: ans@amsat.org

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-007

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.

You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service
Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see:
http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans

In this edition:

* GOLF-TEE $15,000 Matching Funds President’s Challenge
* Launch Watch – India’s ISRO PSLV-C40 Mission With Fox-1D Aboard
* Your Telemetry Data is Needed to Assist With Fox-1D Commissioning
* French PicSat With V/U FM Transponder Also Aboard PSLV-C40 Launch
* AMSAT Announces the Rover Award
* AMSAT Second Annual CW Activity Day Wrap Up
* AMSAT-UK Reporting on a Chinese Launch With Five 6U Cubesats
* Volunteer Opportunity – Openings for News Service Rotating Editor
* AMSAT South Africa and SARL Hosting January 20 SDR Workshop
* New Grid Master Awarded
* NASA on the Air Events to Highlight Key Space Milestones
* Satellite Shorts From All Over

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-007.01
ANS-007 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 007.01
From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD.
DATE January 7, 2018
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-007.01

GOLF-TEE $15,000 Matching Funds President’s Challenge

In October 2017 AMSAT announced the GOLF (Greater Orbit, Larger Foot-
print) program. The first project of the GOLF program is a technology
demonstrator named GOLF-TEE (Technology Evaluation Environment). The
design is a 3U CubeSat with deployable solar panels, ADAC (attitude
determination and control), Software Defined Radio (SDR) Transponder,
and a Vanderbilt University Low Energy Proton (LEP) experiment. Now
is the time to begin work on the GOLF-TEE Project.

At the end of 2017, AMSAT has generous offers from two AMSAT Past
Presidents for matching funds up to $15,000 for those that contribute
to the GOLF-TEE campaign at:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=STK27W4G9RMLC
(Shortened URL without linewrap:
http://tinyurl.com/ANS-007-PayPal-GOLF-Donation ) between now and Feb-
ruary 15th. Make your donation twice as valuable by taking advantage
of this opportunity and contributing, and help AMSAT fund the launch
of the next series of satellites of the GOLF program. There are also
donate buttons for GOLF-TEE on the AMSAT website. Planning is for a
launch in 2019.

Donations of $100 and $1,000 or more will be eligible for a special
AMSAT GOLF premium. (Both premiums are currently being designed, so
please be patient awaiting delivery.)

AMSAT is a 501-(c)-(3) not-for-profit educational and scientific
organization of amateur radio operators whose purpose is to design,
construct, launch, and operate satellites in space and to provide
the support needed to encourage amateurs to utilize these resources.
Please consider a tax-deductible contribution to AMSAT to help under-
write the development and launch expenses of our GOLF satellite program.

Donors wishing to provide additional matching funds please contact
Joe Spier, K6WAO at k6wao@amsat.org.

(ANS thanks AMSAT-NA for the above information)

———————————————————————

Launch Watch – India’s ISRO PSLV-C40 Mission With Fox-1D Aboard

The PSLV-C40 flight from India has been rescheduled from December 30
to January 10 seems to have settled on a firmer schedule. According
to the Launch Schedule posted by SpaceflightNow.com current planning
indicates (at ANS press time):

January, 11/12, 2018 PSLV • Cartosat 2F & NovaSAR-S
Launch time: 0358 GMT on 12th (10:58 p.m. EST on 11th)
Launch site: Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota, India
https://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, flying on the PSLV-C40 mission,
will launch India’s Cartosat 2ER high-resolution Earth observation
satellite and the NovaSAR-S radar remote sensing satellite for Surrey
Satellite Technology Ltd. of the United Kingdom. A collection of
approximately 30 smaller secondary payloads from Indian and inter-
national companies and institutions will also be on the launch.

AMSAT Fox-1D will be aboard this flight. Additional information
can be followed for launch updates at:
https://spaceflight101.com/events/pslv-c40-cartosat-2er/
http://tinyurl.com/ANS-007-SpaceFlight-PSLVC40
http://tinyurl.com/ANS-007-SpaceDaily-PSLV

[ANS thanks SpaceFlightNow.com for the above information]

———————————————————————

Your Telemetry Data is Needed to Assist With Fox-1D Commissioning

AMSAT will release Keplerian elements for Fox-1D as soon as the data
becomes available via the AMSAT Web Site.

Participation in telemetry collection by as many stations in as many
parts of the world as possible is essential as AMSAT Engineering looks
for successful startup and indications of the general health and
function of the satellite as it begins to acclimate to space.

If you are capturing telemetry with FoxTelem please be sure that
“Upload to Server” is checked in your settings, and that your “Ground
Station Params” are filled in as well. You can help AMSAT and everyone
waiting to get on the air with Fox-1D tremendously by capturing the
telemetry.

If AMSAT Engineering is seeing nominal values from the telemetry you
gather, the satellite will be commanded from Beacon Mode to Safe Mode
on the first good pass over the United States. In Safe Mode, the
satellite transmits a full two frames of telemetry (one Current frame
followed by, and alternating each ID cycle, a High or a Low frame).
Veronica now has time to make the whole ID announcement in Safe Mode.

The on-orbit checkout procedure for Fox-1D is similar to Fox-1A/AO-85
and RadFxSat. It could be completed in as little as a few days if
users cooperate. It is very important, and good amateur operating
practice, to refrain from using the transponder uplink so the on-orbit
tests can be performed, including when the satellite is switched into
Transponder Mode for testing.

AMSAT will make it broadly known when the tests are complete and the
transponder is available for all to use. If you hear someone on the
transponder, please do not assume that it is open for general use –
check AMSAT’s website, Facebook, and Twitter before transmitting to be
sure you do not interfere with testing.

AMSAT asks all satellite operators to contribute just a little bit of
your time by gathering telemetry, not using the transponder uplink, to
help complete the last few days of getting RadFxSat operating for the
amateur radio community.

Lots of hams put thousands of volunteer hours of their time into
making RadFxSat happen. Just like any ham radio project you might
undertake, AMSAT builds satellites. AMSAT volunteers do it because
they like to, and when they are done, AMSAT freely shares their
project with hams everywhere as is the spirit of amateur radio.

Thank you very much and see you on the bird!

In addition to the Fox-1 U/v FM transponder, Fox-1D contains a
number of exciting experiments, including a camera built by stu-
dents at Virginia Tech, the University of Iowa’s HERCI (High Energy
Radiation CubeSat Instrument), and AMSAT’s L-Band Downshifter which
will give amateur radio operators an opportunity to experiment with
a different uplink band. Stay tuned for more information about the
launch and early operations of the satellite.

RADIO PROGRAMMING CHART

Fox-1D Doppler Shift Correction

Memory 1 (AOS)     – TX 435.340 MHz (67.0 Hz Tone), RX 145.880 MHz
Memory 2 (Rise)    – TX 435.345 MHz (67.0 Hz Tone), RX 145.880 MHz
Memory 3 (TCA)     – TX 435.350 MHz (67.0 Hz Tone), RX 145.880 MHz
Memory 4 (Descend) – TX 435.355 MHz (67.0 Hz Tone), RX 145.880 MHz
Memory 5 (LOS)     – TX 435.360 MHz (67.0 Hz Tone), RX 145.880 MHz

The L-band experiment will use 1267.350 MHz uplink with 145.880 MHz
downlink.

Frequencies are subject to change post-launch.

[ANS thanks AMSAT Vice-President Engineering, Jerry Buxton, NØJY, for the
above information]

———————————————————————

French PicSat With V/U FM Transponder Also Aboard PSLV-C40 Launch

Cubesat PicSat is currently in India waiting for launch in January.
PicSat is a nano-satellite aimed at observing the transit of the
young exoplanet Beta Pictoris b in front of its bright and equally
young star Beta Pictoris, and at demonstrating an innovative tech-
nological concept to use optical fibres for astronomical observa-
tions from Space.

The cubesat contains an embedded FM transponder. It will be avail-
able when possible during the mission. Description of telemetry
and related information are available on
https://picsat.obspm.fr/data/telemetries?locale=en.

Frequency information:
Uplink FM     145.910 MHz
Downlink FM   435.525 MHz

Short videos on project is available on
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbVE3QEJO74NbJ-tHtThHpg

The project team has set up a dedicated web site with lot of
information including for hamradio:
https://picsat.obspm.fr/

[ANS thanks Christophe Mercier, AMSAT-F President for the
above information]

———————————————————————

AMSAT Announces the Rover Award

On January 1, 2018, Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests
and Awards announced the Rover Award. This award is granted to
stations who achieve a combined 25 points using any combination
of the defined criteria posted at:
https://www.amsat.org/amsat-rover-award/

Points can be earned for each grid square activated outside of your
home grid square using the FM, linear, and digital satellites. While
FM contacts count for 1 point each multiplier points are available
for contacts via the linear and digital satellites.

Additional points are available for photographs, publicity, social
media promotion, and AMSAT Journal articles. The options are numerous
so please refer to the Rover Award Website for all of the details.

Bruce is also asking for your help to design a certificate that helps
show what a rover is. He would like some photos of  a rover station,
rover antennas, anything that would be really neat on  the certificate.

Now that everyone knows what the award is and has had a bit of time to
look it over, we need your help. I would like to design a certificate
that helps show what a rover is. Therefore, I would like some photos of
a rover station, rover antennas, anything that would be really neat on
the certificate. (the photos cannot show anyone’s callsign, cannot show
anyone in the picture that makes them identifiable.) Send your photos
to bruce via kk5do@amsat.org

Bruce will take submissions for until January 19. After this date he
will post the pictures on the AMSAT website for members to choose the
two, three, or four pictures  and after the two weeks, we
will place the pix on the AMSAT website and let the AMSAT members choose
the two, three or four pictures that they think reflect the best of
roving.

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

———————————————————————

AMSAT Second Annual CW Activity Day Wrap Up

Ray, W2RS, wrote, “Many thanks to all who participated in AMSAT’s
second annual CW Activity Day on OSCAR, held in memory of Pat Gowen,
G3IOR. We didn’t ask for logs to be submitted, so we obviously have
no figures, but activity seemed up significantly from last year. I
worked two all-time new stations (new for me, that is) on FO-29,
as well as some old friends. CU on CW in 2018, and of course in
AMSAT’s third annual CW Activity Day, same time next year.”

[ANS thanks Ray, W2RS for the above information]

———————————————————————

AMSAT-UK Reporting on a Chinese Launch With Five 6U Cubesats

A launch from China’s Jiuquan Space Center on a CZ-11 on January 17
will fly Hunan Amateur Radio Society’s constellation of five similar
6U CubeSat spacecraft intended to:

1.Carry out synchronous ionospheric transmission detection
experiments based on multi-satellite and multi-band with
the same GPS time base.

2.Carry out amateur HF/VHF/UHF re-transmitting experiments
in any narrow-band mode.

3.Carry out communications experiments between inter-satellite
amateur loads, LIFI high-speed digital downlink and CW lamp
signal communication experiments.

4. Planned downlinks on 437.5 MHz using 9k6 GMSK and on 2.4 GHz
and 5.8 GHz using 5Mbps OFDM.

The IARU says these frequencies have been coordinated:

Cubesat                            Uplink/Downlink
——- —————————————————————-
TY2   435.350 MHz / 2403.000 MHz / 5833.000 MHz down / 5653.000 MHz up
TY3   435.875 MHz / 2406.000 MHz / 5836.000 MHz down / 5656.000 MHz up
TY4   435.925 MHz / 2409.000 MHz / 5839.000 MHz down / 5659.000 MHz up
TY5   436.025 MHz / 2412.000 MHz / 5842.000 MHz down / 5665.000 MHz up
TY6   436.100 MHz / 2415.000 MHz / 5845.000 MHz down / 5667.000 MHz up

Additional information can be found at:
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=556
https://www.chinaspaceflight.com/satellite/Changsha-Tianyi/TY-2-3-4-5.html

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

———————————————————————

Volunteer Opportunity – Openings for News Service Rotating Editor

If you’re open to volunteering to help AMSAT this is your chance!
We have openings for a few volunteers willing to help as an AMSAT
News Service editor.

Our editors work on a rotating schedule with each taking turns as
the current week’s news editor. Using input received from members,
the amateur radio community, officers, plus our other editors your
job is to assemble the AMSAT News Service bulletin for your week.
(Template is provided to help you format the message.)

If you can help contact our Senior News Service Editor, Lee McLamb,
KT4TZ via his e-mail: kt4tz@amsat.org

[ANS thanks the AMSAT News Service for the above information]

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AMSAT South Africa and SARL Hosting January 20 SDR Workshop

SARL and AMSAT SA will be holding another SDR workshop at the National
Amateur Radio Centre from 09:00 – 13:00 CAT on Saturday 20 January
2018. The objective of the workshop is to review the application of
SDR dongles and the various software packages made available at pre-
vious workshops. Anton Janovsky ZR6AIC will be on hand to assist with
any technical difficulties.

There will be a discussion of the HF Noise monitoring system and the
setting up of a server to store the data. AMSAT SA will present a brief
update on Kletskous.

The cost of the workshop is R50 for SARL and AMSAT SA members and R100
for non-members. Light refreshments will be served. For details and
registration visit www.amsatsa.org.za

[ANS thanks SARL weekly news in English 2018-1-6 for the above information]

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New Grid Master Awarded

Rick, WA4NVM and Damon, WA4HFN have teamed up to promote the
use of amateur satellites and support AMSAT North America with
a series of awards for satellite operators.

On January 1 Damon announced, “Congrats to Fernando, NP4JV for
earning Grid Master Award #7”. The Grid Master Award is given for
confirmed satellite contacts with all 488 U.S. Grids.

Previous Grid Master award winners include:
#1 John     K8YSE    5/16/2014
#2 Doug     KD8CAO  12/15/2014
#3 Rick     WA4NVM   4/26/2015
#4 Glenn    AA5PK    8/22/2017
#5 Clayton  W5PFG    9/14/2017
#6 Al       XE2AT    11/03/2017

In addition to the Grid Master award Rick and Damon also sponsor
these satellite operating awards:

+ Got Grids Award – for 1 satellite contact in each of the
10 maiden head grids blocks in the US

+ 5 in EM55 Award – for 5 satellite contacts with operators
in EM55

+ These awards are available at no cost but Rick and Damon request
you make a donation to AMSAT-NA.

For more information visit their web site:
http://www.squirtthebirds.com

[ANS thanks Damon, WA4HFN for the above information]

———————————————————————

NASA on the Air Events to Highlight Key Space Milestones

by Bob Granath – Dec. 1, 2017
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida
http://tinyurl.com/ANS-344-NASAEvent

NASA is known for communicating with astronauts on missions to
space, but regular citizens can radio NASA centers across the
country. From the end of this year through the next, NASA will
mark several key milestones. Amateur radio clubs at agency
centers across the nation plan to celebrate these occasions with
several “NASA on the Air” events.

“We enjoy sharing NASA’s story as part of the fun of making
contact with fellow ham radio operators across the nation and
around the world,” said Kevin Zari, who is activities officer for
the Amateur Radio Club at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
“We occasionally communicate with people who think that because
we’re not flying the space shuttle anymore, NASA has almost gone
out of business. We tell them about activities such as the Inter-
national Space Station and the Space Launch System, and they
appreciate the update.”

Amateur, or ham, radio operators use a frequency spectrum for
communicating noncommercial and private messages. One of the
most important uses of ham radio operations is providing emer-
gency messaging following disasters, such as the recent Hurricane
Maria that destroyed most avenues of communication in Puerto Rico.

“The amateur radio clubs at NASA centers are made up of civil
servants, contractors and tenants who participate on their own
time,” said Zari, who has been at Kennedy since 1990 and is chief
technology officer in the Mission and Support Office of Exploration
Research and Technology Programs. “We all have a common goal to
show our support for NASA and highlight some of the agency’s
amazing accomplishments.”

Zari added that he hopes, if time permits, International Space Station
astronauts can participate using ham radio equipment aboard the orbit-
ing laboratory 225 miles above the Earth, made possible by the Amateur
Radio on International Space Station (ARISS) Program. Amateur radio
has even been part of NASA space flights since Shuttle Amateur Radio
operations started in 1983.

The plan is to talk about these anniversaries and their place in the
history of NASA, explains Rob Suggs, who is the secretary of the
amateur radio club at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville,
Alabama.

“We also want people to know what we are doing now and what’s coming
up in the near future,” he said. “This includes the Commercial Crew
Program, as well as plans to send astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit
with the Space Launch System and Orion.”

“We plan to publicize the “NASA on the Air” events in amateur radio
magazines, on our Facebook site and web page,” said Suggs who has
worked for NASA since 1994 and is the Space Environments Team lead
at Marshall.

Zari added that they plan to use the hashtag #NOTA when announcing
events on Twitter (@NASAradioClubs).

While NASA amateur radio stations are commemorating historic mile-
stones, Zari explains they also are making it into a contest.

“Ham radio enthusiasts usually exchange QSL cards,” he said. “When
you make contact with someone, you exchange a postcard noting the
contact was made. For this yearlong event, some clubs at NASA
centers are offering commemorative QSL cards and a special certi-
ficate indicating how many centers a participant contacted on
various frequency bands.”

QSL cards serve as written confirmation of communication between
amateur radio stations. QSL derived its name from the Q, or question,
code message: “QSL?” It simply means, “Do you confirm receipt of
my transmission?”

According to Suggs, points will be awarded to each center’s amateur
radio club based on the number of contacts made during the yearlong
event. Participants can enhance their award by using one of the
existing capabilities of amateur radio on the space station such
as packet (digital operations) or listening in to an astronaut
giving answers to school children during one of the scheduled school
contacts. No special activity is planned from the station and only
one activity from the space station is needed to qualify.

“We plan to have a web-based system for participants to check
their points total and download a printable certificate at the
end of the event,” he said. “Points will be awarded for each
center’s contacts.”

Learn more about the “NASA on the Air” events at:
http://nasaontheair.wordpress.com

‘NASA on the Air’ Events – Milestones coming up between
Dec. 11, 2017 and Dec. 27, 2018, will include:

+ 45th anniversary of Apollo 17, Dec. 12-19, 1972
+ 60th anniversary of the establishment of NASA, Oct. 1, 1958
+ 20th anniversary of the launch of the first U.S. element of the
International Space Station during STS-88, commanded by Kennedy’s
Director Bob Cabana, Dec. 4-16, 1998
+ 50th anniversary of Apollo 8, the flight of Frank Borman, Jim
Lovell and Bill Anders to orbit the Moon, Dec. 21-27, 1968

[ANS thanks NASA for the above information]

———————————————————————

Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ AMSAT’s Michelle Thompson, W5NYV was interviewed on the January 1
podcast of Ham Radio Workbench to discuss the AMSAT Phase 4B pro-
gram and her role in leading the Ground Station team. Listen to
the podcast at: http://hamradio360.com/index.php/podcast-player/
(Michelle’s interview starts at approximately 1:00:00 point – you
can enjoy the entire 2 hour podcast or fast forward to the
interview).

+ Felix, EA4GQS says the January 2018 AMSAR-EA newsletter is
available for download from: https://t.co/uJ3O4mNWsB

+ Alex, OZ9AEC, reports that Gpredict 2.2 has been released.
https://community.libre.space/t/gpredict-2-2-released/1577 to
read about the latest improvements and find links to source code
and instruction manuals.

+ The Jet Propulsion Lab has published an educational project which
may be of interest to hams also pursuing amateur astronomy. Have
you ever wondered when the next full moon will be? How about the
first quarter moon? Now you can have all the dates and times for
all the moon phases for the year at your fingertips by building
your own Moon Phases Calendar and Calculator:
http://tinyurl.com/ANS-007-NASA-MoonPhases

+ A 9-ton Chinese space lab will fall out of the sky soon — and
if you predict exactly when, you can win some swag. The Aerospace
Corp.’s Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies (CORDS) is
sponsoring a guessing game about the death day of China’s uncrewed
Tiangong-1 spacecraft, which is currently forecast to plunge
uncontrolled into Earth’s atmosphere in mid-March, plus or minus
two weeks. If you pick the correct day — or if you’re closer than
anyone else — you’ll win some Aerospace Corp. booty. To play, go
to the CORDS site in the article posted at:
http://tinyurl.com/ANS-007-ChickenLittleContest

+ The UK’s Goonhilly radio telescope will be featured on a Great
British Railway Journeys program on BBC2. Brian, G4NNS operating
his station to “talk to the moon” and hear his echos coming back
will be shown on Friday, January 12, 2018 at 1830 UTC. The pro-
gramming schedule is posted at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00xgqxy/broadcasts/upcoming

———————————————————————

/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 and Happy New Year,
This week’s ANS Editor,
JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM
k9jkm at amsat dot org

_______________________________________________
Via the ANS mailing list courtesy of AMSAT-NA
http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans