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:
* 38th Annual AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General
Meeting Announced
* Update from the AMSAT President
* ARISS Video of
SpaceX CRS-20 Launch Carrying IORS
* Minor Update to FoxTelem Released
*
Use the NO-84 PSK31 Transponder Now!
* ARISS News
* Hamfests, Conventions,
Maker Faires, and Other Events
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
* Satellite
Shorts from All Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-075.01
ANS-075 AMSAT News
Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 075.01
From
AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD.
DATE March 15, 2020
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID:
$ANS-075.01
38th Annual AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting
Announced
AMSAT is pleased to announce that the 38th Annual AMSAT Space
Sym-
posium and Annual General Meeting will be held on Friday, October
16th
- Sunday, October 18th at the Crowne Plaza Suites: MSP Airport -
Mall
of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.
The Crowne Plaza Suites is
conveniently located adjacent to the Amer-
ican Blvd station on the Metro
Blue Line, providing easy access to the
Minneapolis-Saint Paul International
Airport, downtown Minneapolis,
and the Mall of America.
The AMSAT
Board of Directors will meet on Wednesday, October 14th and
Thursday, October
15th at the hotel.
Further details, including hotel reservation
information, tours, and
other events will be shared in the coming
months.
[ANS thanks the 2020 AMSAT Symposium Committee for the above
infor-
mation]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Update
from the AMSAT President
The past six weeks since becoming AMSAT
President has flown by with
great speed. Thankfully I’m not travelling at
27,000 km/hour like our
popular satellite AO-91. Speaking with many of our
volunteers and
members, I’ve felt the level of excitement and enthusiasm for
the
great launch opportunities ahead.
As mentioned in ANS-047, one of
my tasks was to speak with the
Directors and convene a meeting to conduct
AMSAT corporate business.
Tuesday, March 3, AMSAT held an informal working
session for the Board
of Directors. We are moving forward with a called Board
of Directors
meeting scheduled on Tuesday, March 17. The next meeting will
allow
Directors to put forward motions for new business, hear a
status
update from our officers, and set future trajectory.
The
amateur radio community has felt the impact of COVID-19
(Coronavirus) with
the cancellation of some regional events. Even as
this health emergency has
been raised to World Health Organization
(WHO)’s highest level, its
Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
remains hopeful that COVID-19 can
be curtailed. AMSAT is closely
monitoring the upcoming 2020 Hamvention being
held over 60 days away
in Xenia, Ohio. The Dayton Amateur Radio Association
(DARA) has
publicly stated they are following guidance from the State of Ohio
and
Greene County. Barring further information from DARA, AMSAT
will
continue to make plans for our representation at the 2020
Hamvention.
AMSAT officers are also working on contingency plans if
Hamvention is
canceled. These plans include virtual presentations and other
real-
time online activities during Hamvention weekend.
Our next
edition of the AMSAT Journal will be going through the
editing review process
soon. It will contain more detailed information
about the health of AMSAT,
its mission status, and share exciting news
for 2020. If you’re not a member
receiving the Journal, please
consider joining at our website www.amsat.org.
73,
Clayton
W5PFG
AMSAT
President
[ANS thanks AMSAT President Clayton Coleman, W5PFG, for the
above
in-
formation]
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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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ARISS
Video of SpaceX CRS-20 Launch Carrying IORS
On Friday, March 6, 2020 at
11:50 EST, SpaceX CRS-20 was successfully
launched from Pad 40 at Kennedy
Space Center. This was also a signif-
icant launch for ARISS since this cargo
mission was carrying our
Interoperable Radio System to the International
Space Station.
This system will greatly enhance our capabilities on board
Station
involving our school contacts with the crew and both our current
and
planned future educational experiments. A special thanks to all
who
have donated and continue to donate to our ARISS Next-Generation
Hard-
ware Upgrade Fundrazr at our website www.ariss.org. You are making it
all
happen!!
I was able to attend the launch along with several other ARISS
volun-
teers and have created a short video of the experience from our
view-
ing location at the Banana Creek ViewPoint. Please note that you
will
hear two moderators on the video. One is actually at our
site,
announcing the launch. Another audio feed is coming from the PA
system
there and is delayed 30 seconds from real time, so try not to get
too
confused as you listen in.
Hope you enjoy the video.
Dave,
AA4KN, ARISS PR
The video can be found at https://tinyurl.com/ANS-075-ARISS
[ANS
thanks Dave Jordan, AA4KN, ARISS Public Relations for the
above
information]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Minor
Update to FoxTelem Released
FoxTelem has been updated to version 1.08z5
and the latest version is
here:
http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/windows/
http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/linux/
http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/mac/
This
is not a mandatory upgrade. It fixes some minor bugs that caused
crashes and
corrects the calculation of the bit SNR for the Dot Pro-
duct BPSK
detector.
If you use the Dot Product detector and you care about the
measured
bit signal to noise ratio, then you want to upgrade. Note that if
you
use Find Signal in IQ mode then the bit SNR level is used to
determine
if the signal is found. Because the level has changed you will need
to
adjust the threshold value. Email Chris Thompson at g0kla at
arrl.net
if you need more information.
Please let me know if you see
any issues, or log them on GitHub here:
https://github.com/ac2cz/FoxTelem/issues
[ANS
thanks Chris Thompson, AC2CZ/G0KLA, AMSAT FoxTelem Developer for
the above
information]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Use
the NO-84 PSK31 Transponder Now!
Amid reports that NO-84's battery is
weakening, Bob Bruninga, WB4APR,
shared the following message:
Before
PSAT (NO-84) dies, don’t miss out on trying out its HF 28.120
PSK31 uplink
transponder (435.350 MHz FM downlink). Apparently its
battery is weakening
and cannot make it through some eclipses. And
the orbit only has 2 years
left (Battery probably wont last that
long).
But in the sun, it should
work fine. PSK31 Xponder is always enabled,
all it needs is to see PSK31 on
the Ten-meter uplink.
It will also send down an SSTV image (in the same
waterfall) once
every 2 minutes if the sun power is good.
[ANS thanks
Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, for the above
information]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
ARISS
News
Turkey Space Camp, Izmir, Turkey, telebridge via W5RRR
The ISS
callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS
The scheduled astronaut is Drew
Morgan KI5AAA
Contact is go for Option #4: Thu 2020-03-19 08:59:54 UTC 37
deg
The ARISS webpage is at https://www.ariss.org/
Note that there are
links to other ARISS websites from this site.
[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana,
AJ9N, of the ARISS Operations Team, 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
AMSAT Ambassadors provide
presentations, demonstrate communicating
through amateur satellites, and host
information tables at club
meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and
other events.
Note: Due to the COVID-19 situation, please check these
events' web-
sites for up-to-date status information.
Current
schedule:
March 21, 2020, Scottsdale Amateur Radio Club Hamfest,
Scottsdale, AZ
March 28, 2020, Tucson Spring Hamfest, Tucson, AZ
April 4,
2020 River Bend Wireless and Mechanical Society Presentation
Faribault,
MN
April 18, 2020 Brainerd Area Amateur Radio Club Hamfest, Brainerd,
MN
May 2, 2020 Arrowhead Radio Amateurs Club Hamfest, Superior, WI
May 2,
2020, Cochise Amateur Radio Assoc. Hamfest, Sierra Vista, AZ
May 8-9, 2020
Prescott Hamfest, Prescott, AZ
May 15-17, Hamvention, Xenia, OH
June
12-13, 2020, Ham-Con, Plano, TX
The following events scheduled to have an
AMSAT presence have been
CANCELED:
March 21, 2020, Midwinter Madness
Hamfest, Buffalo, MN
March 29, 2020, Vienna Wireless Winterfest, Annandale,
VA
[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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Upcoming
Satellite Operations
- Big Bend National Park (DL88) March 16-17,
2020
Ron AD0DX and Doug N6UA 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 and
https://twitter.com/dtabor
- Red
River Gorge, KY (EM87) March 19-24, 2020
Michael, N4DCW will be in Red River
Gorge, Kentucy, March 19th
through 24th. Watch Michael’s Twitter feed for
more info
https://twitter.com/MWimages
-
Midwinter Madness Rove: (EN24, EN25, EN34) March 20-21, 2020
Mitch, AD0HJ,
will roving three central Minnesota grids just prior to
the Midwinter Madness
Hobby Electronics Show in Buffalo, MN on March
21st, 2020. Look for him to
activate grids EN24/EN25/EN35 on the eve-
ning of March 20th through the
evening of March 21st, 2020. Check
Mitch’s Twitter feed for updates on his
planned satellite pass sche-
dule: https://twitter.com/AD0HJ
- River
Bend Wireless Rove (EN22, EN33, EN34, EN42, EN43, EN44) April
2-4,
2020
Mitch AD0HJ is looking to add six more grids to his rover basket
just
before the April 4th AMSAT presentation/demonstration at the
River
Bend Wireless and Mechanical Society in Faribault, MN. Mitch will
be
activating the EN43/EN44 grid line on April 2nd, the EN32/EN42
grid
line on April 3rd, and the EN33/EN34 grid line on April 4th,
2020.
Watch Mitch’s Twitter feed as the dates approach for a detailed
sche-
dule. https://twitter.com/AD0HJ
- From the
Mountains to the Bay (CM88,89,98,99 DM09,19,29 DN00,01,02,10,
11,20,21) April
12-21, 2020
RJ, WY7AA, is hitting the asphalt again, roving from Wyoming to
Vaca-
ville, CA. He’s attending a class from April 15-19, so most of
the
roving will be outside of this time. Grids to be covered
include:
CM88,89,98,99 DM09,19,29 DN00,01,02,10,11,20,21. Specific pass
details
will be posted on WY7AA QRZ page and Twitter
(https://twitter.com/WY7AA) as the trip
approaches.
[ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT VP-User Services
for the
above
information]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Satellite
Shorts From All Over
+ A Doppler.sqf file posted on the AMSAT-UK website
listed FM freq-
uencies for several satellites carrying linear transponders.
Operators
are reminded that FM is not to be used on linear transponders.
(ANS
thanks AMSAT-UK for this information)
+ On March 10th, March 10,
2020, the AMSAT-SM group was formed in
connection with the closure of the
AMSAT-SM organization. The process
of creating AMSAT-SM for the future began
after the 2019 annual meet-
ing and now we are ready to continue with
AMSAT-SM in a new and simp-
ler way. All activities that were part of the old
AMSAT-SM are now
transferred to the new group. The website will be updated in
March
with new steering guidelines and other relevant information.
Welcome
with us into the future. AMSAT-SM is Amateur Radio via
Satellite!
(ANS thanks SM0TGU from AMSAT-SM for this information)
+
ARRL has announced a new book entitled "Amateur Radio Satellites
for
Beginners" by Steve Ford, WB8IMY. It can be purchased at
http://www.arrl.org/shop/Amateur-Radio-Satellites-for-Beginners/
(ANS
thanks the ARRL for this information)
+ The CAS-4B beacon is
again sending telemetry after sending only a
continuous tone for the past few
weeks. (ANS thanks John Papay, K8YSE,
for this
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,
Paul Stoetzer, N8HM
n8hm at
amsat dot org
_______________________________________________
Via the ANS
mailing list courtesy of AMSAT-NA
https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans
