AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-216
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
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Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see:
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In
this edition:
* CAS-7B Designated BIT Progress-OSCAR 102 (BO-102)
*
AMSAT and ARISS Designing Amateur Radio System for Lunar Gateway
* ARISS SSTV
Owen Garriott Event Underway
* AMSAT Member Named Young Ham of the Year
*
AMSAT member Wins Alabama Outstanding Youth Ham Award
* ARISS Next Gen System
Completes Critical Flight Certification Tests
* Upcoming ARISS Contact
Schedule
* VUCC Awards-Endorsements for July 2019
* LightSail 2
Successfully Demonstrates Flight by Light
* Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE
Distribution for August 1, 2019
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
*
Satellite Shorts From All Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-216.01
ANS-216
AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin
216.01
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DATE YYY
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AMATEURS
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CAS-7B Designated BIT Progress-OSCAR 102
(BO-102)
On July 25, 2019, the CAS-7B (BP-1B) microsatellite was launched
on a
Hyperbola-1 launch vehicle from the Jiuquan Space Center,
China.
CAS-7B (BP-1B) was developed by the Chinese Amateur Satellite
Group
(CAMSAT), and in cooperation with the Beijing Institute of
Technology
(BIT). CAMSAT completed the project planning, design, build,
and
testing, and manages the on-orbit operation of the satellite.
BIT
provided the satellite environmental testing, launch support,
and
financial support. Many students from BIT were involved with
the
project, learning about satellite technology and amateur radio.
The
satellite carries a CW telemetry beacon and FM repeater that has
been
active since launch.
At the request of CAMSAT and the BIT team,
AMSAT hereby designates
CAS-7B (BP-1B) as BIT Progress-OSCAR 102 (BO-102). We
congratulate the
owners and operators of BO-102, thank them for their
contribution to
the amateur satellite community, and wish them continued
success on
this and future projects.
[ANS thanks Drew Glasbrenner,
KO4MA, AMSAT VP Operations and OSCAR
Number Administrator, for the above
information]
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AMSAT
and ARISS Designing Amateur Radio System for Lunar Gateway
As announced
at the AMSAT Forun at the Dayton Hamvention, AMSAT and
ARISS are working on
the design of a ham radio system for NASA's Lunar
Gateway. The Gateway will
be a small spaceship in orbit around the
Moon that will provide access to
more of the lunar surface than ever
before with living quarters for
astronauts, a lab for science and re-
search, ports for visiting spacecraft,
and more. First sections of the
Gateway are scheduled for launch in
2022.
To make this happen we are leveraging the work and expertise of
the
world-wide AMSAT organizations and the international ARISS
community
in this endeavor. We have an international team working this and
are
meeting 2x a month to mature the concept. In May we presented
our
solid concept to NASA and got great, positive feedback. This
was
followed up a few weeks later at the ARISS-I meeting at the
Canadian
Space Agency (CSA) in Montreal where we received great feedback
from
the CSA Gateway Program Manager after he saw our
presentation.
The AREx (Amateur Radio Exploration) team have done some
really good
work. The challenge for amateurs will be on the order of a 30
dB
signal path loss as compared to LEO. But the link margins on our
de-
sign seem to close.
AMSAT NA, UK & DL and ARISS-together--are
working this phenomenal ham
radio challenge. Come to the AMSAT-NA Symposium
in DC to hear more.
[ANS thanks Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, AMSAT V.P. for Human
Spaceflight
Programs, for the above
information]
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The 50th Anniversary AMSAT Space Symposium will be held
October 18-20
in Arlington, VA. For details, see:
https://www.amsat.org/amsat-symposium/
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ARISS
SSTV Owen Garriott Event Underway
ARISS celebrates the life and
accomplishments of astronaut,
scientist and ham radio pioneer Owen Garriott
with a commemorative
SSTV event featuring images from Garriott's work with
ham radio during
his missions in space.
The event began on August 1 at
09:40 UTC and is scheduled to end at
18:15 UTC on August 4. There are
currently twelve separate images
being sent at 145.800 MHz FM in the SSTV
mode PD-120. As always,
activities are subject to change dictated by the
crew's schedule.
Once received, images can be posted and viewed by the
public at
http://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/index.php
and users can
receive a special SSTV ARISS Award for posting images.
See
https://ariss.pzk.org.pl/sstv/ for
details.
Also for simplicity, a new information tab for SSTV events has
been
added to the ARISS website, under the General Contacts pulldown
menu
at www.ariss.org. The latest updates
can also be found at the ARISS
Facebook site Amateur Radio On The
International Space Station (ARISS)
and on Twitter @
ARISS_status.
[ANS thanks ARISS and Frank Karnauskas, N1UW, for the
above
information]
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AMSAT
Member Named Young Ham of the Year
Dhruv Rebba, KC9ZJX, of Normal,
Illinois, has been selected as the
2019 Bill Pasternak WA6ITF Memorial
Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham
of the Year. Dhruv, 15, is the son of Hari
Rebba, VU2SPZ, and Shailaja
Panyam. He is entering his sophomore year at the
Normal Community High
School this fall.
He is a member of the Central
Illinois Radio Club. Dhruv earned his
Technician Class license in 2013 when
he was only 9 years old. He
followed it up by passing the test for a General
Class license a year
later. Dhruv says his interest in amateur radio was
sparked by a 2013
visit to the Dayton Hamvention(R) with his father, a
long-time amateur
radio operator from India who settled in the
U.S.
"He was going to the Hamvention and so I wanted to tag along,"
Dhruv
recalls. "There I got to see all the cool stuff like the
Morse-Code
keyers and all the radios and everything and I decided to start
study-
ing for my Technician class."
After getting his license, Dhruv
became involved in Field Days and
public service events with the Central
Illinois Radio Club, including
the "We Care Twin Cities Marathon" and the
"Hop on for Hope Bike Ride/
Walk." Dhruv says he found a way to combine his
interest in space and
engineering with his new hobby. He joined AMSAT (Radio
Amateur Satel-
lite Corporation) and pursued his dream of a school contact
with an
astronaut aboard the International Space Station.
In October
2017, he served as the lead control operator for an Amateur
Radio on the
International Space Station (ARISS) contact with students
at his school - the
Chiddix Junior High School in Normal, IL - with
astronaut Joe Acaba, KE5DAR.
In late July of this year, Dhruv helped
to facilitate another ARISS contact
with international Scouts attend-
ing the World Jamboree in West Virginia and
monitored the contact from
his home.
ARISS presentations at Dayton and
Huntsville, his selection as an
ARISS mentor and networking with those
putting together the ARISS con-
tact for the World Jamboree led to his role
in the July 2019 contact.
In 2018, Dhruv was selected for the Dave Kalter
Memorial Youth DX
Adventure. He traveled to Curacao Island in July 2018 where
the PJ2Y
team made a record 6,262 contacts with 135 countries over five
days.
Dhruv says he enjoyed operating his favorite mode, SSB. Dhruv
has
earned many accolades for his amateur radio pursuits including
the
"Young Ham Lends A Hand" award at the 2019 Dayton Hamvention
Youth
Forum; "Presidential Award" from AMSAT; and the "Young
Achievers
Award" from the Radio Club of America.
He also has traveled
to India to promote amateur radio awareness and
spoke at the ZPH School, NP
Kunta, India in January 2018. He discussed
the importance of wireless
communications and their role during disas-
ters. Dhruv started the
"Universal Help Foundation" to help underpriv-
ileged students on a global
scale. Among his first projects was a digi-
tal project at a girls' high
school in NP Kunta, India this past Jan-
uary. Dhruv also has an interest
in robotics and has worked as a
mentor helping elementary school students
build robots. This past
April, Dhruv's "MetalCow Robotics" team finished
fourth overall in the
international competition sponsored by NASA in
Detroit.
Dhruv says a visit to the AMSAT booth at the 2019 Dayton
Hamvention
prompted him to sign on for the "Amateur Radio Exploration on
the
Moon" project. "We're designing an amateur radio system to be on
the
Gateway Space Station and the Moon," he says. Dhruv will be
recog-
nized during the Huntsville Hamfest on Aug. 17 in the Von Braun
Center,
Huntsville AL.
The Young Ham of the Year was inaugurated by
William Pasternak, WA6ITF,
in 1986. Upon his passing in 2015, Bill's name was
added to the award
as a memorial to his commitment to recognizing the
accomplishments of
young people to the amateur radio service. Amateur Radio
Newsline, CQ
Magazine and Yaesu USA are primary sponsors of the award, along
with
Heil Sound Ltd. and Radiowavz Antenna Company.
[ANS thanks CQ
Communications, Inc. for the above
information]
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AMSAT
member Wins Alabama Outstanding Youth Ham Award
The 2019 Alabama
Outstanding Youth Ham Award goes to Marissa Robledo,
W4AQT. This particular
Amateur Radio operator gazes at and studies the
skies almost daily. She has a
deep interest in satellite communication
and loves sharing that interest with
others. Her passion is evident in
awards she has received, forums where she
has presented, along with
the activities in which she
participates.
Marissa is a twelve year old General class license-holder
who lives in
Montgomery, AL and is devoted to consistently learning and
growing in
the great hobby of Amateur Radio. She exhibits enthusiasm,
knowledge,
and rapid growth in many areas of Amateur Radio.
The formal
presentation of this award will take place at the 2019
Huntsville Hamfest on
August 17th, 2019 at 12:30 p.m.
[ANS thanks Bryant Rascoll, KG5HVO,
Alabama Section Youth Coordinator,
for the above
information]
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ARISS
Next Gen System Completes Critical Flight Certification Tests
The
Interoperable Radio System (IORS), ARISS’ next generation radio
system
successfully completed a battery of stressful tests required as
part of the
final certification of the hardware for launch to and
operation on the
International Space Station.
During the week of July 8, the IORS,
consisting of the JVC Kenwood
D-710GA Radio and the AMSAT developed
Multi-Voltage Power Supply, suc-
cessfully completed a series of
Electro-magnetic Interference (EMI)/
Electro-Magnetic Compatibility (EMC)
tests to ensure that the ARISS
hardware will not interfere with the ISS
systems or other payloads.
Testing continued into the following week, where
the IORS successfully
passed power quality and acoustics testing. These tests
verified that
the ARISS IORS will not introduce harmful signals back into the
ISS
power system and is quiet enough to meet ISS acoustic
requirements.
ARISS Hardware Team members Lou McFadin, W5DID and Kerry Banke,
N6IZW
were at the NASA Johnson Space Center supporting this two week
battery
of tests in concert with the NASA test and certification
team.
Kerry Banke states, “Since the IORS is being qualified to operate
on
120VDC, 28VDC and Russian 28VDC as well as transmitting on VHF or
UHF,
a lot of test combinations were required to cover all cases. Each
in-
put voltage type was also tested at low, medium and high line
voltage.
Moreover, additional permutations were required to test the IORS
under
no load, medium load and full load at each voltage level. So it
should
not be surprising why the tests took two weeks to
complete.”
Successful completion of these tests represents a key
milestone in
preparing the IORS for launch. ARISS can now begin final
assembly of
the flight safety certification in preparation for launch. ARISS
is
working towards launch ready status by the end of the year.
[ANS
thanks ARISS for the above
information]
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AMSAT and ARISS are currently supporting a FundRazr campaign
to raise
$150,000 for critical radio infrastructure upgrades
on ISS. The upgrades
are necessary to enable students to
continue to talk to astronauts in
space via Amateur Radio.
We have reached a great milestone with $33,250
raised
or about 17% towards our goal. This would not have
been
possible without your outstanding generosity!!
For more information and to DONATE TODAY visit:
https://fundrazr.com/arissnextgen?ref=ab_e7Htwa_ab_47IcJ9
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Upcoming
ARISS Contact Schedule
Quick list of scheduled contacts and events as of
2019-07-30 03:00 UTC:
Kyoto Tachibana Junior & Senior High School,
Kyoto, Japan, direct via
8N3KT. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be
NA1SS. The sched-
uled astronaut is Nick Hague KG5TMV. Contact is go for: Thu
2019-08-08
at 10:36:37 UTC 56 degrees maximum elevation
[ANS thanks
ARISS for the above
information]
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VUCC
Awards-Endorsements for July 2019
Here are the endorsements and new VUCC
Satellite Awards issued by the
ARRL for the period July 1, 2019 through
August 1, 2019. Congratula-
tions to all those who made the list this
month!
CALL Jul 01Aug
AA8CH 550 584
WD9EWK 567
575
NS3L 475 505
AE5B ??? 442
K9UO 400 425
W5TD 381 384
KE8FZT 325 350
K5IX 300 325
PS8ET 211
275
WW8W 201 228
AB1OC 184 215
KJ4EU 151 206
AA4QE 102 204
N7EGY 169 200
ND0C 153 200
PR8KW New
200
LW2DAF 125 130
KC9VGG 102 127
KC9UQR New
113
XE2YWH New 102
K5ZM New 101
N4QX New 100
If
you find errors or omissions. please contact W5RKN. 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
omitted.
Thanks to all those who are roving to grids that are rarely on
the
birds. They are doing most of the work!
[ANS thanks Ron Parsons,
W5RKN, for the above
information]
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LightSail
2 Successfully Demonstrates Flight by Light
The Planetary Society's
crowdfunded LightSail 2 spacecraft is success-
fully raising its orbit solely
on the power of sunlight.
Since unfurling the spacecraft's silver solar
sail last week, mission
managers have been optimizing the way the spacecraft
orients itself
during solar sailing. After a few tweaks, LightSail 2 began
raising
its orbit around the Earth. In the past 4 days, the spacecraft
has
raised its orbital high point, or apogee, by about 2 kilometers.
The
mission team has confirmed the apogee increase can only be
attributed
to solar sailing, meaning LightSail 2 has successfully completed
its
primary goal of demonstrating flight by light for CubeSats.
On
Monday, July 29, LightSail 2 sent home a new full-resolution image
captured
by its camera during solar sail deployment. The perspective
is opposite to
last week’s full-resolution image and shows the sail
more fully deployed.
LightSail 2's aluminized Mylar sail shines
against the blackness of space,
with the Sun peeking through near a
sail boom.
LightSail 2 uses the
callsign WM9XPA and transmits its beacon on
437.025 MHz, AX.25, FSK, 9600
bps. Beacon parameters and more informa-
tion on the spacecraft may be found
at: https://tinyurl.com/y5r6758v
[ANS
thanks The Planetary Society for the above
information]
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Purchase AMSAT gear on our Zazzle storefront.
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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Changes
to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for August 1, 2019
The following Amateur
Radio satellite has decayed from orbit and has
been removed from this week's
TLE distribution.
TANYUSHA 1 - NORAD CAT ID 42911 - Decayed 07/30/2019
(per Space-Track)
The following Amateur Radio satellites have been added
to this week's
TLE distribution.
PSAT 2 - NORAD CAT ID 44354 (per
Space-Track)
BRICsat 2 - NORAD CAT ID 44355 (per Space-Track)
Oculus-ASR
- NORAD CAT ID 44356 (per Space-Track)
CP9 - NORAD CAT ID 44360 (per
Space-Track)
Move-IIb - NORAD CAT ID 44398 (per Nico Janssen,
PA0DLO)
SONATE - NORAD CAT ID 44400 (per Nico Janssen, PA0DLO)
The
following Amateur Radio satellites have a name change in this
week's TLE
distribution.
CAS-7B (now been designated as BIT Progress-OSCAR 102 or
BO-102) has
now been assigned NORAD CAT ID 44443. Note that this is the
current
best guess CAT ID for BO-102. Also the TLE drag number for BO-102
has
been rapidly increasing and is now at 0.01093482. BO-102 is
expected
to decay from orbit in about eight days.
Object A (NORAD CAT
ID 44339) is now identified as Prox-1.
[ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD,
AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager for the
above
information]
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Upcoming
Satellite Operations
+CY9 St. Paul Island (FN97) – July 31 to August 8,
2019
CY9C will be on St. Paul Island July 31st through August 8th. This
is
an all bands/mode dxpedition, with EME and Sats as well. More
info
available at http://cy9c.com/index.html.
+Florida
Keys (EL95) August 4-11, 2019
Philippe, EA4NF will be operating from EL95
(Key Largo and Brickell
Key) as KC3NSG, from August 4 to 11, 2019. FM and
Linears. QSL via
LoTW. Keep an eye on Philippe’s Twitter feed for further
updates:
https://twitter.com/EA4NF_SAT
+Washington
Invasion (CN96/96 & DN06/07/17/17) – August 9-10, 2019
Casey, KI7UNJ,
will be heading North to invade the State of
Washington, August 9th and 10th.
Keep an eye on Casey’s Twitter feed
for specific pass announcements: https://twitter.com/KI7UNJ
+St
Pierre et Miquelon (GN16) – August 10-18, 2019
A DXpedition is planned to St
Pierre et Miquelon, August 10th through
the 18th. The team will operate as
T05M will from Ile aux Marins on 6-
160m, but there is a possibility of some
FM Satellites. Keep an eye on
their website for updates: http://fp2019.net/
+Santa Rosa Island, CA
(CM93) – August 12-14, 2019
Ron, AD0DX, is heading back to Santa Rosa Island,
August 12th -14th.
When not distracted by the feathered-birds, Ron will be on
FM and
linear satellites as W6R. Keep an eye on Ron’s Twitter feed
for
updates at the dates get closer. https://twitter.com/ad0dx
+Goose
Bay, Labrador (FO93) August 12-14, 2019
Chris, VE3FU, will be visiting family
/ friends and maintenance of
his HF remote station in FO93, but he should be
on the FM sats as
VO2AC. Chris will try to post here before each pass, so
keep an eye
on his Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/ChrisVE3FU
+6Y
- Jamaica (FK18) August 12-19, 2019
Philippe, EA4NF will be operating from
JAMAICA (IOTA NA-097 – Grid
FK18) in Satellite with the special call 6Y4NF
from August 12 to 19,
2019. QRV Satellite in FM and SSB. QSL via LoTW.
Keep an eye on
Philippe’s Twitter feed for further updates :
https://twitter.com/EA4NF_SAT.
Please
submit any additions or corrections to ke4al (at) amsat.org
Remember to check
out W3ZM On the Road for additional upcoming
activations! https://www.amsat.org/events/was-w3zm/
[ANS
thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, for the above
information.]
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Satellite
Shorts From All Over
+ The Space Communicator Club of Las Flores, Calif.
provide a public
website for monitoring Satellite APRS Packets received in
the most
recent 24 hour period: http://spaceCommunicator.club/aprs
(ANS thanks Robert MacHale, KE6BLR, for the above information)
+ The
Federal Communications Commission voted on August 1 to create a
new
licensing category for small satellite companies that will
dramatically
reduce launch fees. Full story at:
https://tinyurl.com/y4k588ko
(ANS
thanks Texas Public Radio for the above information)
+ SpaceX's robotic
Dragon cargo capsule arrived at the International
Space Station on July 27,
setting a new record for SpaceX's reusable
spacecraft. The Dragon, which
launched July 25 from Florida's Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station atop a
two-stage Falcon 9 rocket, was on
its third mission to space.
(ANS
thanks Space.com for the above information)
+ W3XO, the call sign held by
former AMSAT President Bill Tynan (SK)
has been issued to the Hill Country
Amateur Radio Club of Kerrville,
Texas, as a memorial. Bill was a leading
member and past president
of that club, as well as of AMSAT.
(ANS
thanks Ray Soifer, W2RS, for the above information)
+ Ballots for the
2019 AMSAT Board of Directors election have been
mailed. Candidate
statements may be found at
https://www.amsat.org/2019-board-statements/
+
Hackaday, an online journal for technical experimenters, published
an
article about the history of the AO-7 satellite on August 2. It
can be read
at: https://tinyurl.com/yyy5oapn
(ANS
thanks hackaday.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 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 Remember to help keep amateur radio in
space,
This week's ANS Editor,
K0JM 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
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