The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a
free, weekly news and infor-
mation 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
commun-
icating 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:
* AMSAT Member KC9ZJX Receives 2020 Martin Luther King Jr.
Award
* Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for January 2, 2020
* Space
Fence nearing operational acceptance by U.S. Air Force
* VUCC
Awards-Endorsements for January 2020
* Winter Field Day to Include Limited
Satellite Operations
* Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other
Events
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
* Satellite Shorts From All
Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-005.01
ANS-005 AMSAT News Service Weekly
Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 005.01
From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON,
MD.
DATE 2020 Jan 05
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID:
$ANS-005.01
AMSAT Member KC9ZJX Receives 2020 Martin Luther King Jr.
Award
Congratulations to AMSAT member Dhruv Rebba, KC9ZJX, winner of
the
Bloomington and Normal (Illinois) Human Relations Commissions
2020
Martin Luther King Jr. award. The commission chooses people who
re-
flect the ideology of the late Dr. King.
Rebba is a sophomore at
Normal Community High School. He is a volun-
teer and/or member of YMCA/YWCA,
Illinois 4-H, Multicultural Leader-
ship Program (MCLP), National Computer
Science Honor Society, and
First Robotics. He is also Amateur Radio
Newsline's 2019 Young Ham
Of The Year. Rebba gave the youth presentation at
AMSAT 36th Annual
Symposium Huntsville, Alabama in 2018 where is also
received AMSAT's
Presidential Award.
The announcement is posted
on-line at:
https://www.wglt.org/post/bloomington-normal-mlk-awards-announced
[ANS
thanks WGLT.org, NPR Radio from Illinois State University,
for the above
information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Changes
to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for January 2, 2020
Correction to the
addition of FloripaSat 1 to last week's TLE distri-
bution:
FloripaSat
1 is NORAD CAT ID 44885.
Also the first part of the TLE distribution was
left off the
orb19360.2l.amsat file sent last week. The second file
sent
orb19361.2l.amsat contained the full list of satellites.
We are
still awaiting the identification of CAS-6. Or... Use the keps
for FloripaSat
1 (NORAD CAT ID 44885) for CAS-6 per suggestion of Joe
Fitzgerald, KM1P.
This, of course, assumes that CAS-6 is in fact
transmitting???
[ANS
thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, for the
above
information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Space
Fence nearing operational acceptance by U.S. Air Force
According to
NASA’s most recent Orbital Debris Quarterly News, NASA
calculates about 17.6
million pounds of objects are in earth orbit.
That number will only grow as
more commercial space projects launch
massive constellations with thousands
of smallsats, presenting a huge
problem for both U.S. government and
commercial organizations.
That’s where the U.S. Air Force’s Space Fence
will play a crucial role.
Using advanced solid-state S-band radar technology,
the Space Fence
radar located on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, it
will play
a critical role in the everyday lives of Americans who are
becoming
more dependent on space-based technologies for everything from
weather
forecasting, banking, global communications to GPS
navigation.
Today, these critical services are being threatened by
hundreds of
thousands of objects and space debris orbiting the Earth.
Frequent col-
lisions and deterioration of assets, such as defunct satellites
and
rocket boosters, have increased the amount of space debris and
raised
the risk of future collisions in space.
The Air Force Space
Surveillance Network currently tracks about 25,000
objects. When Space Fence
comes online, the catalog will experience
significant growth and when fully
operational, Space Fence will be the
world’s largest and most advanced radar
system, providing unprecedented
space situational awareness.
Beyond
cataloging objects, Space Fence will detect closely-spaced ob-
jects,
breakups, maneuvers, launches and conjunction assessments from
LEO through
GEO.
Space Fence is currently in a trial period and expected to become
fully
operational in 2020.
[ANS thanks Milsat Magazine 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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VUCC
Awards-Endorsements for January 2020
Here are the endorsements and new
VUCC Satellite Awards issued by the
ARRL for the period December 3, 2019
through January 1, 2020.
Congratulations to all those who made the list this
month!
DEC JAN
AA5PK 1064 1074
AA8CH 620
641
N3GS 601 624
WD9EWK(DM43)585 597
NS3L 526
551
W5CBF 179 533
K9UO 500 528
AA9LC 416
514
W7QL 451 478
PS8ET 303 326
G0ABI 306
320
WB7VUF 206 319
AA4QE 204 305
KC9VGG 200
228
KC9UQR 172 196
N9FN 103 194
W4AQT 153
179
W5CBF(EM21) New 179
W0NBC 152 176
KJ4M 102
170
W9VNE New 169
VE1VOX 126 155
W4DFU 116
151
AI9IN 125 150
WD9EWK(DM41)127 148
WD9EWK(DM23)104
137
N7AME 127 128
WA9JBQ 104 125
VU2LBW 100
114
KC8AMH New 101
N3CAL New 100
YO2CMI New
100
If you find errors or omissions, please contact W5RKN at
w5krn.com.
This list was developed by comparing the ARRL .pdf listings for
the
two months. It's a visual comparison so omissions are possible.
Apolo-
gies if your call was not mentioned. Thanks to all those who are
rov-
ing to grids that are rarely on the birds. They are doing most of
the
work!
[ANS thanks Ron Parsons, W5RKN, for the above
information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Winter
Field Day to Include Limited Satellite Operations
Winter Field Day runs
for 24 hours during the last full weekend in Jan-
uary each year from 1900
UTC (2pm EST) Saturday to 1900 UTC (2pm EST)
Sunday. For 2020 the dates are
January 25th and 26th. Station set-up
may commence no earlier than 1900 UTC
(2pm EST) on the Friday before.
Station setup may consume no more than 12
hours total.
All Amateur bands, HF, VHF, & UHF except 12, 17, 30 and
60 meters. Any
mode that can faithfully transmit the exchange intact without
a conver-
sion table... CW, SSB, AM, FM, DStar, C4FM, DMR, Packet, PSK,
SSTV,
RTTY, Olivia, Satellite, etc... (note FT8 is
excluded).
Satellite contacts do not count as a new mode/band multiplier.
Satel-
lite contacts are limited to ONE ONLY per entry so as to not tie
up
satellite frequencies with stations calling CQ WFD.
Three operating
categories are available:
Indoor: Operation from inside a remote, insulated,
heated, and weather-
protected structure where an Amateur station is normally
not available.
Outdoor: Operation from a location partly or fully exposed to
the ele-
ments and at least 30 feet away from your normal station location
and
not using any part of a previously erected antenna system or
station.
Home: Operation from inside a home or inside another structure
attach-
ed to a home that could or would be the usual location of an
Amateur
station.
For additional information, see: https://www.winterfieldday.com/
[ANS
thanks the Winter Field Day Association 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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Hamfests,
Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
Want to see AMSAT in action
or learn more about amateur radio in space?
AMSAT Ambassadors provide
presentations, demonstrate communicating
through amateur satellites, and host
information tables at club meet-
ings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires,
and other events.
Current schedule:
January 6, 2020 West Valley
Amateur Radio Club, Sun City, AZ
January 11, 2020 Thunderbird ARC Hamfest,
Glendale, AZ
January 17-18, 2020 Cowtown Hamfest, Fort Worth, TX
February 7-9, 2020 Hamcation, Orlando, FL
March 6, 2020 Irving Hamfest,
Irving, TX
May 15-17, 2020 Hamvention, Xenia, OH
June 12-13, 2020
Ham-Con, Plano, TX
A copy of the AMSAT hamfest brochure is available for
download at:
https://tinyurl.com/yx7lc7m8
This
color brochure is designed to be printed double-sided and folded
into a
tri-fold handout.
To include your upcoming AMSAT presentation and/or
demonstration,
please send an email to ambassadors (at) amsat (dot)
org.
For additional information on the AMSAT Ambassador Program,
see:
https://www.amsat.org/ambassador/
[ANS
thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, Director, AMSAT Ambassadors for
the above
information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Upcoming
Satellite Operations
Due to weather concerns, the W5M/MM satellite
expedition to EL58 is
being postponed to Sunday Jan 5th. For updates,
follow on Twitter
at https://twitter.com/ad0dx
Lucas
Gusher Special Event (EM20) January 11-12, 2020
The Beaumont Amateur
Radio Club will be operating using the call-
sign K5S on various HF bands
including as many CAS-4A, CAS-4B,
AO-91, AO-92 passes that we can. SO-50
and XW-2A also possible.
More information about K5S can be found on
qrz.com.
Labrador (GO11 +) January 19-27, 2020
Chris VE3FU, Dave
VE9CB, and Frank VO1HP will be active as VO2AC
in the 2020 CQ160 CW
contest, January 24-26, from Point Armour
Lighthouse, in Labrador. If
time permits before the contest, they
may be active on FM satellites from
GO11 as VO2AC or VO2AAA.
Depending on weather and timing of passes, you
might catch them on
FM satellites as they make their way from FO93 to
GO-11, passing
through FO92, GO02, GO13, GO12, and GO22 along the way,
but no
promises. They will also make the reverse trek on January
27.
Big Bend National Park (DL88) March 16-17, 2020
Ron AD0DX,
Doug N6UA, and Josh W3ARD will operate from Big Bend
National Park to put
grid DL88 on the air. Details will be added
here, as they come
available, but you are more than welcome to
keep an eye on their
individual Twitter feeds:
https://twitter.com/ad0dx, https://twitter.com/dtabor, and
https://twitter.com/W3ARDstroke5
Please
submit any additions or corrections to ke4al (at) amsat.org
[ANS thanks
Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT VP User Services 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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Satellite
Shorts From All Over
+ TAPR PSR Digital Journal Winter 2020 Edition
Available at:
http://tapr.org/psr/psr143.pdf
(ANS thanks TAPR for the above information)
+ The January/February 2020
SARC Communicator newsletter is available
at: http://bit.ly/SARC20JanFeb This edition
has 75 pages of projects,
news, views, and reviews from the SW corner of
Canada. Find out
about the northernmost amateur radio station: "VY0ERC:
What is life
like at the farthest north Amateur Radio Club in Canada?"
starting
on page 14.
(ANS thanks Surrey Amateur Radio Communications
for the above info)
+ A CBC Hamilton news feature on John David, VA3JHD,
and his work with
the Canadian Forces Affiliate Radio Systems (CFARS),
briefly mentions
amateur satellites. See the article at: https://tinyurl.com/rmbpfxa
(ANS
thanks CBC Hamilton for the above information)
+ Work is going "smoothly"
on the Chandrayaan-3 mission to put a rover
probe on the moon's surface,
Indian Space Research Organisation
chairman K. Sivan told a press
conference. India is seeking to become
only the fourth nation after Russia,
the United States and China to
put a mission on the moon's surface and
boost its credentials as a
low-cost space power. The country's
Chandrayaan-2 module crashed on
the moon's surface in September.
(ANS
thanks spacedaily.com for the above information)
+ China has just
released the first batch of #ChangE4 science data! The
first ever mission
to land on the the far side of the Moon. This is
actually a really cool and
user friendly website. To access in En-
glish visit: http://moon.bao.ac.cn/index_en.jsp
+
E-members of AMSAT-UK can now download the December 2019 edition of
OSCAR
News, issue 228. For details, see:
https://amsat-uk.org/2019/12/31/december-2019-oscar-news/
Also, a video on a recent moonbounce and satellite expedition to
Botswana
may be found on the AMSAT-UK website:
https://amsat-uk.org/2019/12/27/a21eme-moonbounce-qo100/
(ANS thank AMSAT-UK and Trevor Essex, M5AKA, for the above informa-
tion)
+ Congratulations to Chris Taron, NK1K, on the achievement of DXCC
via
LEO satellite! This is a remarkable achievement matched by few.
(ANS thanks Twitter @NK1K for the above information)
+ Congratulations to
WA7FWF on uploading 1 million Fox Telemetry
frames to the server. For more
information on capturing telemetry
from the Fox satellites, see:
https://www.amsat.org/foxtelem-software-for-windows-mac-linux/
(ANS thanks Mark Hammond, N8MH, AMSAT Board Member, 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 and Remember to help keep amateur radio in
space,
This week's ANS Editor,
K0JM at amsat dot
org
_______________________________________________
Via the ANS mailing
list courtesy of AMSAT-NA
https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans
