AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-286
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:
* 2019 37th AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General
Meeting
* 2019 37th AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting
Schedule
* September/October 2019 Apogee View
* W3ZM - 50 States in Our
50th Year
* ITU Magazine Reports on IARU Agenda Items for WRC-19
*
Upcoming Satellite Operations
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
SB
SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-286.01
ANS-286 AMSAT News Service Weekly
Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 272.01
From AMSAT HQ
KENSINGTON, MD.
DATE October 13, 2019
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID:
$ANS-286.01
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2019
37th AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting
Please join us for
the 2019 AMSAT 50th Anniversary Symposium, to be
held in the Washington, DC
Metro Area on October 18, 19, and 20,
2019. While the deadline for banquet
and tour tickets has passed,
walk-in registrations for the Symposium and
Annual General Meeting are
welcome.
The Symposium venue will be the
Hilton Arlington, located in the
heart of the Ballston neighborhood of
Arlington, VA. The Hilton
Arlington is located at 950 North Stafford Street,
Arlington,
Virginia, 22203, USA TEL: +1-703-528-6000 and the reservation code
is
AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation).
Connected to the
Ballston Metro Station, the hotel offers easy and
effortless access to
Washington DC's top tourist destinations like
the National Mall, Smithsonian
Museums and historic monuments. The
hotel is six miles from Reagan National
Airport and the National Mall.
There are plenty of restaurants
nearby.
The Symposium will feature OSCAR Park - a display of satellites
from
throughout the history of amateur radio in space -
paper
presentations, and a banquet with speakers celebrating AMSAT's
long
history, and other events. The AMSAT Board of Directors Meeting
will
be held on October 16th and 17th at the same hotel. Two guided
tours
are available. On Sunday, October 20th a bus tour to the
Smithsonian
Air & Space Museum is available for $30 (max 35 people) and
on
Monday, October 21st, AMSAT President Joe Spier will lead a day tour
to
the National Mall via the Metro.
So please plan on attending the 50th
Anniversary Symposium - you
will be glad you did and keep checking the AMSAT
website for further
updates and information.
The 2019 AMSAT Space
Symposium and Annual Meeting features:
+ Space Symposium with Amateur
Satellite Presentations
+ Operating Techniques, News, & Plans from the
Amateur Satellite World
+ Board of Directors Meeting open to AMSAT members
(October 16-17)
+ Opportunities to Meet Board Members and Officers
+ AMSAT
Annual General Membership Meeting
+ Annual Banquet, Speakers and Door Prizes
!!
The latest news and information is always posted at:
https://www.amsat.org/amsat-symposium/
[ANS
thanks the 2019 AMSAT Symposium Team for the above
information]
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2019
37th AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting Schedule
A
preliminary schedule for the 37th AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual
General
Meeting has been posted to the AMSAT website. Check back for
updates,
including the speaker schedule.
https://www.amsat.org/symposium-schedule/
[ANS
thanks the 2019 AMSAT Symposium Team for the above
information]
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September/October
2019 Apogee View
I am pleased to be writing this edition of “Apogee View”
in Joe’s
place as a special guest columnist. For those of you who don’t
know
me, I am somewhat new to amateur radio satellites and AMSAT. My
first
experience with amateur satellites was listening to the
ARISSat-1
voice beacon and decoding its SSTV images in August 2011.
In
September 2012, I made my first satellite QSOs (on AO-27) and
joined
AMSAT. In 2015, I was elected Secretary by the AMSAT Board
of
Directors; and, in 2017, I was elected Executive Vice President. I
also
have served as both an alternate and a regular member of the
board.
As
I write this in late September, getting ready for the upcoming
Symposium,
summer refuses to yield to the cooler air of fall here in
Washington, D.C. I
hope the weather will be more comfortable for the
Symposium in nearby
Arlington, VA, in a few weeks.
In mid-September, we received the
fantastic news that Amateur Radio
Digital Communications (ARDC) awarded a
very generous grant to ARISS
for the InterOperable Radio System (IORS) and
related infrastructure.
ARDC is the owner and manager of the Internet network
known as the
AMPRNet. In June 2019, ARDC initiated a philanthropic endeavor
to
provide monetary grants to organizations, groups, projects,
and
scholarships which have significant potential to advance the state
of
the art of Amateur Radio and digital communications in general.
While
ARISS still needs additional donations to fund the IORS fully,
this
grant significantly helps the endeavor. ARISS plans to have the
IORS
ready for launch by the end of the year. AMSAT thanks ARDC for
their
substantial contribution to this effort.
ARISS is a key
component of AMSAT’s vision. As printed inside the
front cover of each issue
of The AMSAT Journal, “Our Vision is to
deploy satellite systems with the
goal of providing wide-area and
continuous coverage,” as we “continue active
participation in human
space missions and support a stream of LEO satellites
developed in
cooperation with the educational community and other amateur
satellite
groups.” AMSAT teams are hard at work on each clause of that
vision
statement.
The GOLF program is making good progress with
development of the
GOLF-TEE satellite. GOLF-TEE is a crucial element of our
path back to
high orbits and fulfilling the first clause of AMSAT’s vision
to
provide wide-area and continuous coverage satellite systems.
Systems
aboard GOLF-TEE include active attitude determination and
control
(ADAC), a radiation-tolerant internal housekeeping unit (RT-IHU),
and
a Fox-1E type VHF/UHF linear transponder. GOLF-TEE also will include
a
software defined radio (SDR) with a high-speed X band (10 GHz)
data
downlink which may also provide a simultaneous X band downlink of
the
V/u transponder passband, effectively providing V/x capability for
use
and evaluation. All of these technologies are crucial for missions
to
HEO and GEO, and additional information will appear in future issues
of
The AMSAT Journal.
Our participation in human space missions also is
expanding. As
announced at the AMSAT Forum at the Dayton Hamvention,
international
AMSAT and ARISS organizations have formed a group known as
AREx
(Amateur Radio Exploration). Work currently is underway 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 research, ports for
visiting
spacecraft, and more. The first sections of the Gateway are
scheduled
for launch in 2022. The plans call for various uses of L (1.2 GHz),
S
(2.4 GHz), C (5 GHz), and X (10 GHz) bands for
repeater-type
communications, both analog and digital, through Gateway,
image
transmissions from both inside and outside the Gateway,
possible
access to experiments aboard Gateway, and two-way communications
with
astronauts while Gateway is crewed. The challenges for
amateurs
involve the substantial increase in free space path loss compared
to
satellites in low earth orbit. We are very excited about
AMSAT’s
participation in this project. More details will be presented at
the
2019 AMSAT Space Symposium and articles will certainly follow
in
future editions of The AMSAT Journal.
Finally, we continue to
support a stream of LEO satellites. RadFxSat-2
/ Fox-1E is ready for launch
no earlier than December 1, 2019 on the
ELaNa XX mission. That mission will
launch on the first commercial
flight of Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne air
launch to orbit system. Stay
tuned to ANS for further updates on the launch
date.
The linear transponder and telemetry system carried aboard Fox-1E
was
designed for use in different CubeSats by merely adding an
interface
adapter for connection to the host bus. Noting the prevalence
of
CubeSats built and launched by universities and other
organizations,
AMSAT adopted a goal of “amateur radio in every CubeSat.”
Interested
CubeSat programs wanting to fly an amateur radio payload may
partner
with AMSAT to carry one of these modules on their spacecraft.
By
providing amateur radio capability, the CubeSat program gets
a
worldwide ground station network to receive their telemetry
and
experiment data while the amateur radio community gets a
transponder
to use in orbit.
The first of these partnerships is with
the Husky Satellite Lab at the
University of Washington. Their 3U CubeSat,
HuskySat-1, is scheduled
to launch on the ELaNa XXV mission from Wallops
Island, VA, no earlier
than November 2. Northrup Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft
will carry
HuskySat-1 on a mission to the International Space Station.
After
completing its mission at the ISS, Cygnus will continue to a
higher
orbit of approximately 500 km to deploy HuskySat-1. After a
30-day
mission to complete tests of its experimental payloads, a
pulsed
plasma thruster, and a K band (24 GHz) communications system,
the
satellite will be turned over to AMSAT, and the linear
transponder
will be made available to the amateur radio community. In
addition,
AMSAT Vice President of Engineering, Jerry Buxton, N0JY, and
Vice
President of Operations, Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, have been hard
at
work identifying and working with several CubeSat groups interested
in
carrying this system. We hope to be able to make additional
announcements
soon.
The 2019 AMSAT Board of Directors election recently concluded.
I
congratulate the winners and look forward to working with the
newly-
elected board to further our vital mission to Keep Amateur Radio
in
Space. By the time this Journal arrives, the 2019 Board of
Directors
meeting and 50th Anniversary AMSAT Space Symposium will
have
concluded. It promises to be an exciting weekend exploring
both
AMSAT’s five-decade history and the work we are doing for the
future.
While there will no doubt be many challenges in the future, I
am
confident in the organization’s ability to overcome them. We will
Keep
Amateur Radio in Space. I look forward to attending the AMSAT
Centennial
Symposium in the fall of 2069 at the age of 84. Hopefully,
by then we will be
discussing our plans for amateur radio on the
first crewed interstellar
mission.
[ANS thanks Executive Vice President Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, for
the
above
information]
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W3ZM
- 50 States in Our 50th Year
In 1969, a group of amateur radio operators,
with dreams of space,
formed the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT).
To commemorate
this golden milestone, AMSAT decided what better way to
celebrate 50
years of Keeping Amateur Radio in Space, then to get AMSAT’s
W3ZM call
sign to operate from all 50 states and the District of Columbia as
a
leadup to the 2019 AMSAT 50th Anniversary Space Symposium and
General
Meeting, to be held in Arlington, VA, October 18 – 20,
2019.
AMSAT put out a call to its members to get on the air and
activate
their states, using AMSAT’s W3ZM call sign, as well as to cover
those
states without an active AMSAT operator. Activations of United
States
Territories (i.e. Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U. S.
Virgin
Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands)
were
also encouraged.
Puerto Rico kicked it off on June 20th and was
first on the air, and
then, one by one, the U.S.A. map started filling in.
Members, some
without their family’s knowledge, brought satellite gear with
them on
vacation to help fill in the harder ones.
By the start of
October, three weeks before Symposium, 47 states and
Puerto Rico were in the
log. West Virginia came in October 2nd,
Maryland and Delaware on October 6th,
and finally Washington, D.C.,
the birthplace of AMSAT, on October 10th.
Coincidently, Washington
D. C. was activated outside of the apartment
building where one of the
first meetings to form the organization was
held.
To say the response was overwhelming would be an understatement
and
proved why AMSAT’s greatest strength comes from its members. To all
of
the W3ZM/p activators and participants, AMSAT THANKS YOU. You made
this a fun
and exciting celebration of AMSAT’s 50th Anniversary of
Keeping Amateur Radio
in Space!
[ANS thanks Vice President for User Services Robert Bankston,
KE4AL,
for the above
information]
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The digital download version of the 2019 edition of
Getting Started with
Amateur Satellites is now available as a
DRM-free PDF from the AMSAT
Store. Get yours today!
https://tinyurl.com/ANS-237-Getting-Started
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ITU
Magazine Reports on IARU Agenda Items for WRC-19
David Sumner, K1ZZ,
Secretary, International Amateur Radio Union
(IARU) authored an article in
the special WRC-19 issue of #ITU News
magazine,"Views of the International
Amateur Radio Union on WRC-19
agenda items".
Among many overall IARU
objectives for WRC-19 one directly affects
amateur satellite
operation:
Agenda item 1.7 - spectrum for non-GSO satellites
The
IARU supports satisfying the spectrum
requirements for non.GSO satellites
with short
duration missions within the existing allocations
for the
space operation service or the
frequency ranges identified in invites ITU.R
3 of
Resolution 659 (WRC.15), unless the satellites are
amateur
satellites as defined in Radio Regulations
(RR) Nos. 1.56 and 1.57. The
band 144-146 MHz is
especially important to amateurs as it is
currently
the only worldwide primary amateur and amateur-satel-
lite
allocation between 29.7 MHz and 24 GHz. It is
heavily used in all three
Regions for all forms of
amateur communications including disaster
response.
Sumner's article begins on page 72 of the magazine which can
be
accessed as a 20 MB PDF file at: https://t.co/acLwy4W5Jo?amp=1
[ANS
thanks the IARU 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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Upcoming
Satellite Operations
[Ed. note - Twitter URLs can be accessed with your
web browser
even if you do not have a personal Twitter
account.]
Satellite Shorts:
+EM25,EM35 - WI4T - Oct 15 & 16,
holiday style
+DN04 - KI7UNJ - Oct 21, 1653z to 1910z, FM only
*
Central California (CM95, CM96, DM05, DM06) – October 19, 2019
David AD7DB
will re-visit the four grids near Kettleman City CA.
AO-91, AO-92, SO-50 will
be used, with eastern passes a priority.
Maybe PO-101 if it’s on, and AO-85
if it’s not too finicky.
Contacts will be put on LOTW following the
trip.
Updates on Twitter https://twitter.com/ad7db
* Hawaii
(BK19, BK28, BK29, BL20) December 21-28, 2019
Alex, N7AGF, is heading back to
Hawaii over Christmas. This will be a
holiday-style activation, with special
emphasis on the grid that got
away – BK28. Keep an eye on Alex’s Twitter feed
for further
announcements: https://twitter.com/N7AGF
Please
submit any additions or corrections to ke4al (at) amsat.org
[ANS Thanks
Robert Bankston, KE4AL, for the above
information]
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The Fox-In-A-Box Raspberry Pi SD card for setting up a
Raspberry Pi-based
telemetry station for the Fox-1 satellites
now supports the
Raspberry Pi 4.
Get yours today on the AMSAT Store!
https://amsat.org/product/fox-in-a-box-raspberry-pi-sd-card/
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Satellite
Shorts From All Over
+ Mike Diehl, W8LID, recently developed a web-based
tool for easy
generation of new lines for SatPC32's Doppler.sqf file. AMSAT
is
pleased to host this new tool on our website at
https://www.amsat.org/doppler-sqf-line-generator/
+
NASA has announced that the Orbital CRS-12 mission is now scheduled
for
launch from Wallops Island, VA no earlier than November 2nd.
HuskySat-1,
carrying an AMSAT V/u linear transponder, will launch on
this
mission.
+ Happy 4th Birthday, AO-85! At 12:49:30 UTC on October 8, 2015,
the
first Fox-1 satellite, Fox-1A was launched on an Atlas V rocket
with
the NROL-55 mission from Vandenberg Air Force Base. Designated
AO-85
on-orbit, the satellite remains operational while in sunlight
despite
battery degradation due to the high temperatures experienced in
its
orbit.
+ A new distance record has been claimed on the IO-86 FM
transponder:
5,324 km between PU4JOE in GH91ad and 9G5AR in IJ95vn.
+
SDRPlay has announced an easy setup for using an SDRPlay with
GNU Radio on
Windows. https://t.co/RxDDzcBu8f
+
Space Daily has an article about Virgin Orbit. Virgin Orbit will
carry
RadFxSat-2 / Fox-1E on its LauncherOne vehicle.
https://tinyurl.com/ANS-286-SD
+
Chris Thompson, AC2CZ/G0KLA, announced a minor update to his KLA
Track
satellite tracking program. The update improves rendering of
the display. KLA
Track can be downloaded at
https://www.g0kla.com/klatrack/index.php
+
The Dutch Amateur Radio Union awarded their first Worked Dutch
Kingdom
Certificate for satellite QSOs on October 10th to Paul
Stoetzer, N8HM. This
certificate is available for making QSOs with
each of the six DXCC entities
within the Dutch Kingdom. For more
information, see https://www.daru.nu/index.php/nl/awards
+At
least two new operators achieved Satellite WAS this past week.
K5IX and
KB6LTY each worked W3ZM/3 in Delaware on Oct 6 for state #50.
[ANS thanks
everyone 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,
Paul Stoetzer, N8HM
n8hm at
amsat dot org
_______________________________________________
Via the ANS
mailing list courtesy of AMSAT-NA
https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans
