The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a
free, weekly news and information 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:
* Reno, Nevada to Host 2017 AMSAT
Space Symposium Oct 27-29
* Diwata 2's payload includes amateur radio
*
AMSAT News From South Africa
* JAMSAT Symposium in Kyoto on 11-12 March,
Presenters Requested.
* Kenwood features ARISS in February 2017 Two Page QST
Ad
* AMSAT Phase 4 Weekly Engineering Report
* US Naval Academy HFsat
Receives IARU Frequency Coordination
* ARISS News
* Satellite Shorts From
All Over
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-022.01
ANS-022 AMSAT News Service
Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 022.01
From AMSAT HQ
KENSINGTON, MD.
January 22, 2017
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID:
$ANS-022.01
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reno, Nevada to Host 2017 AMSAT Space Symposium Oct
27-29
AMSAT NA announces that the 2017 AMSAT Space Symposium will be
held on Friday through Sunday, Oct 27, 28, 29, 2017 in Reno,
Nevada.
Location will be at the Silver Legacy Resort , 407 N
Virginia Street, in Downtown, Reno.
The Silver Legacy is a 4 star
Resort/Hotel/Casino which is an iconic 42-story hotel with its massive round
dome and spires centered in downtown. The Silver Legacy is typically lit
green at night and is
referred to by many as the "Emerald City" of Reno. In
support of the University of Nevada Wolf Pack, the Silver Legacy will
sometimes turn blue.
Some of the perks include
* Free parking for
attendees.
* Free transportation to and from the airport (10 minutes
shuttle ride).
* Complimentary WiFi.
* The Silver Legacy has 8
restaurants and 8 different retail shops.
* Large selection of additional
restaurants and casinos (El Dorado, Circus Circus, and the rest of downtown
Reno) are in close proximity and within walking distance.
* Multiple
alternate activities and attractions are in the Reno area.
Nevada Museum Of
Modern Art
National Automobile Museum
Fleischmann Planetarium (UNR
Campus)
National Bowling Stadium
* If you are staying longer in the Reno
area, there are several other points of interest close by, including
Virginia City and Lake Tahoe.
2017 AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual
Meeting
The annual AMSAT Space Symposium features:
* Space Symposium
with Amateur Satellite Presentations
* Operating Techniques, News, &
Plans from the Amateur Satellite World
* Board of Directors Meeting open
to AMSAT members
* Opportunities to Meet Board Members and Officers
*
AMSAT-NA Annual General Membership Meeting
* Auction, Annual Banquet, Keynote
Speaker and Door Prizes !!
Several members from The Sierra Nevada Amateur
Radio Society (SNARS) as well as many other local radio amateurs will be
participating in helping with this event.
Additional information about
the 2017 AMSAT Symposium will be posted on the AMSAT web site,
www.amsat.org as it becomes
available.
[ANS thanks Joe Spier, K6WAO, Frank Kostelac, N7ZEV, Linda
Kostelac, KC7IIT, and the AMSAT-NA Office for the above
information]
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Diwata
2's payload includes amateur radio
THE whole world is again set to
witness come 2018 a third-world country launching into space another
microsatellite -- this time with an amateur or ham radio included in the
payload.
An amateur radio is a communication technology that allows
its operators to talk or send messages to other people, especially
first responders, planners and government agencies whose own communications have been knocked out, in time of disasters and
emergencies.
Diwata 2 -- the Philippines' second microsatellite that is
currently being developed by the Department of Science and Technology
(DOST), the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman, Hokkaido
University, and Tohoku University in Japan -- has this technology, along with
a telescope and cameras.
Its predecessor, the Diwata 1, was launched
into orbit last April 2016 and has been sending pictures to DOST-Advanced
Science and Technology Institute (Asti); the latest photo posted on
PHL-Microsat Program's website shows the swollen Pinacanauan River, as well
as agricultural areas damaged by flood after Tropical Cyclone
Lawin (Haima) made landfall in Peñablanca, Cagayan on October 19,
2016.
The PHL-Microsat said that as of January 13, the "Diwata 1
has circled the world approximately 4,083 times, taking images not just of
the Philippines but also of other parts of the Earth."
"We will download
the images every time the Diwata 1 passes by the Philippines," said Dr. Joel
Joseph Marciano Jr., program leader of PHL-Microsat and acting director of
DOST-Asti, in an interview with SunStar.
As to the amateur radio
included in the payload of Diwata 2, Marciano said it is a very important
feature of the second microsatellite, especially that the country is prone to
natural disasters and calamities.
"So when the satellite passes over
in time of disaster, you can get a ham radio and send messages to another
person in other areas in the country, and even give updates on evacuation
using ham radio," he told fellows of the 20th Lopez Jaena Community
Journalism Workshop held in UP Diliman last November 2016.
The
Philippines has more than a thousand amateur radio operators nationwide. Most
of them are members of the Philippine Amateur Radio Association.
Aside
from the amateur radio, Diwata 2 has a Spaceborne Multispectral Imager (SMI)
with liquid crystal tunable filter (LCTF) for environmental monitoring; high
precision telescope (HPT) for
rapid post-disaster assessment; and enhanced
resolution cameras (instead of wide and middle field cameras used in Diwata
1).
"Medium and wide cameras will be replaced by enhanced
resolution cameras but there will still be the HPT and SMI with LCTF...
Three cameras, plus an amateur radio as part of the payload," Marciano
told SunStar.
He said 11 Filipino scholars are working on the Diwata
2.
"Mas dumami pa, because we now have 11 scholars. They are in
Japan, working with the two universities (Hokkaido and Tohoku),"
said Marciano.
There were only nine Filipino scholars who assembled
the Diwata 1.
"They are considered as scholars because they are under the
DOST scholarships, and building the microsatellites is part of
their studies," added Marciano.
He said that at present, they are
working on the engineering model. "We are now in the design phase. We are
working on the blocks. They are being done here locally and they will be
tested in Japan."
The DOST targets to launch the Diwata 2 in the first
half of 2018, but Marciano said the launching will also depend on the
availability of the launching facility.
"The target overall for the
completion of the flight model is in December 2017," he said.
Except
for the amateur radio and enhanced resolution cameras, Diwata 2 will hover
400 kilometers above the Earth's surface just like Diwata 1. It also weighs
50 kilograms, the size of a room air
conditioner.
"The characteristics
are the same. There will be chances na mag-abot sila doon, which is an
advantage to us since it will mean that we can generate more images from
them... The idea is they should be operated on the same constellation. They
have to communicate with other satellites to provide us better images," said
Marciano.
He explained that the country's microsatellites are
not geostationary satellites, which have an altitude of 39,000
kilometers and are more expensive.
"Diwata 2 only has 400 to 600
kilometers altitude," he said, adding that because it is a microsatellite, it
is only considered a secondary payload.
"Parang nakikiangkas lang tayo
sa paglaunch (We are just hitching a ride), because it is very expensive to
launch big satellites. You have to pay for the rocket," he told the Lopez
Jaena journalism workshop fellows.
He also said in November that the
challenge of Diwata satellites' orbit is they can only take images of a
certain location if they passes by it.
"Diwata 1 passes every day, but
it passes in different places, so there's a challenge of being in the right
place at the right time," said Marciano.
Asked about the possibility
of a launching failure, Dr. Marc Caesar Talampas, project leader in-charge of
the microsatellite BUS development, said in a follow-up interview: "They
undergo rigorous
testing before they will be launched into space. There is
vibration test, radiation testing, etc. We have to comply with all
the specifications."
"The failure is more on not responding, not on
the launching. But so far, based on our experience with Diwata 1, the
communication has been positive," added Marciano.
The government has
allotted P2 billion per year for DOST's space technology program. This is on
top of the P840 million that was already invested for the PHL-Microsat
program.
"There's an increase in the availability of funding for research
in space technology... In 2018, we will come up with a new
(budget) proposal,"Marciano said.
[ANS thanks LAUREEN MONDOÑEDO-YNOT
and SunStar Philippines for the above
information.]
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AMSAT
News From South Africa
** Turn your laptop into a 24 MHz to 1,7 GHz
receiver. AMSAT SA is holding a half-day SDR Workshop in association with the
South African Radio League at the NARC on 18 February 2017. This is a
hands-on workshop where participants will install a VHF/UHF RTL dongle
and
programme it to become a VHF/UHF receiver covering 24 MHz to 1,7
GHz. Anton Janovsky, ZR6AIC, and Cor Rademeyer, ZS6CR, will present
the Workshop. The Workshop fee includes the RTL dongle and a memory
stick with all the required software as well as light
refreshments. Register before 11 February 2017, all the details and
registration form are available on
www.amsatsa.org.za. Book early to
avoid disappointment.
** The 2017 AMSAT SA Space Conference will be
held on Saturday 20 May 2017 in Pretoria. This is the first call for paper
proposals. The theme of the conference is "Conquering Space as an
educational pastime." Proposals for papers should include a brief synopsis of
the proposed paper. The closing date for proposals is 31 January
2017. Authors will be notified of acceptance of their paper by 15
February 2017. More details on
www.amsatsa.org.za[ANS thanks the
SARL weekly news in English 2017-1-7 for the
above information]
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JAMSAT
Symposium in Kyoto on 11-12 March, Presenters Requested.
Mikio Mouri,
JA3GEP, JAMSAT announces "We are going to held our AGM and JAMSAT Symposium
in Kyoto next March.
"I hope to have some attendance from AMSAT-NA, even
via Skype. We hope to hear some update of activities in US."
The
meeting will be held at:
http://hotel-binario.jp/en/ The
Hotel Binario Saga Arashiyama is located in the beautiful
Arashiyama district of Kyoto and is perfect for sightseeing.
Date and
Time of Symposium:
14:30-17:30JST(05:30-08:30UTC) March
11(Sat)
09:00-13:00JST(00:00-04:00UTC) March 12(Sun)
If anyone has an
opportunity to join and present, please let Mikio know the appropriate time
of your availability. He will keep the time slot for your
presentation.
Mikio can be contacted via JBH02173 (at)
nifty.com]
[ANS thanks Mikio JA3GEP for the above
information.]
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Kenwood
features ARISS in February 2017 Two Page QST Ad
Kenwwood features ARISS
donations in its two page ad in the February 2017 QST. Check out the ad on
pages 27 and 28.
During February the ARRL is running a special slider in
their rotating banner, on their website home page, with an appeal for
ARISS donations.
Also, The QST Cover story for February teases "Texas
Students Take Amateur Radio to the Edge of Space"
The article "To the
Edge of Space and Back with Ham Radio" by Chase Mertz, KG5KKX is featured on
page 76.
Mertz highlights "Student engineers in the Eldorado
Space Program design, build, and program instrument packages, sending
them as high as 120,000 feet using a high altitude weather
balloon."
[ANS thanks ARRL for the above
information]
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AMSAT
Phase 4 Weekly Engineering Report
AMSAT Phase 4 Ground Radio prototype
with Ettus Research B210 by John Petrich W7FU can be viewed at:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oyAe21bWR4g&feature=youtu.be[ANS
thanks Michelle W5NYV for the above
information.]
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US
Naval Academy HFsat Receives IARU Frequency Coordination
The US Naval
Academy has received IARU satellite frequency coordination for HFsat, a 1.5 U
CubeSat with a 15 meter to 10 meter linear transponder with 30kHz bandwidth.
The CubeSat will also carry an APRS digipeater on 145.825MHz.
HFsat is
a project to demonstrate the viability of HF satellite communications as a
backup communications system using existing ubiquitous HF radios that are
usually a part of the communications suite on all small mobile platforms such
has ham radio mobiles and portable operations frequently used by Amateurs in
support of disaster and emergency response communications. The HFsat will
be gravity gradient stabilized by its long full size 10 meter
band
halfwave HF dipole antenna with tip masses.
A standardized
CubSsat VHF communications card based on the popular Byonics MTT4B all-in-one
APRS Tiny-Track4 module for telemetry, command and control is under
development at the US Naval Academy. Standardizing the communications board
makes it easy to add the HF Transponder mission into Naval Academy’s standard
CubeSat bus without an all new start. HFsat will continue the long tradition
of small amateur satellites designed by Aerospace students at the US Naval Academy. The students are working with Bill Ress, N6GHZ on the
HF transponder card.
HF Uplink: 21.40 MHz, 30 kHz wide multi user
bandwidth
HF downlink: 29.42 MHz, the 30 kHz wide downlink passband
VHF
APRS DigiPeater: 145.825 MHz FM 1200 baud AFSK packet
Find additional
information on-line at:
http://aprs.org/HFsat.html (US Naval
Academy)
http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru/ (search
for HFsat in the list of satellites that have been coordinated)
[ANS
thanks the US Naval Academy and the IARU for the
above information]
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ARISS
News
+ A Successful contact was made between High School "Léon Blum",
Le Creusot, France and Astronaut Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG using
Callsign NA1SS. The contact began Mon 2017-01-16 11:53:17 and lasted
about nine and a half minutes. Contact was Telebridge via K6DUE. ARISS
Mentor was Joseph F6ICS.
Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of
2017-01-19 06:30 UTC
Quick list of scheduled contacts and
events:
South Street School, Danbury CT, telebridge via VK4KHZ. The
ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS. The scheduled
astronaut is Shane Kimbrough KE5HOD. Contact is a go for: Fri 2017-01-27
19:50:18 UTC
Swiss Space Center – EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland, telebridge
via W6SRJ. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS.
The scheduled astronaut is Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG. Contact is a go
for: Thu 2017-01-26 11:06:29 UTC
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 145.800 MHz.
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.htmlISS
callsigns: DPØISS, IRØISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RSØISS
Check out the Zoho
reports of the ARISS contacts
https://reports.zoho.com/ZDBDataSheetView.cc?DBID=412218000000020415Exp.
49 on orbit: Shane Kimbrough KE5HOD, Andrei Borisenko, Sergey
Ryzhikov
Exp. 50 on orbit: Peggy Whitson, Thomas Pesquet
KG5FYG, Oleg Novitskiy
[ANS thanks ARISS, Charlie AJ9N and David AA4KN
for the
above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Satellite
Shorts From All Over
+ APRS Symbol Look Up Table
Kenneth
Finnegan, W6KWF has created an easy to use lookup table for APRS symbol
codes.
"I've made a lookup table which has the symbol code, the
primary symbol, and the secondary symbol all on top of each other as
opposed to the three adjacent tables on the aprs.org page:
http://tinyurl.com/ANS-022-APRS-Table
[ANS thanks Kenneth K6KWF for the above information.]
+ Colloquium Videos
for 2009-2012 Posted on YouTube
AMSAT-UK reports that thanks to Wouter
Weggelaar PA3WEG and @BATC online videos of talks given at AMSAT-UK
Colloquium 2009-2012 are now posted at:
https://www.youtube.com/user/AMSATUK/videos
[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]
+ June Page of the 2017
ARRL Calendar Features NPOTA Satellite Ops
"Fernando Ramirez-Ferrer
NP4JV, overlooks the vastness of Grand Canyon National Park (NP22) in
Arizona as he makes contacts via the SO-50 Amateur Radio satellite. This
was the sixth NPOTA unit he had activated via satellite." (Ruth V Ramirez,
photo credit)
[ANS thanks ARRL for the above information.]
+
UT1FG/MM is departing Finland ~1900 UTC (21 January) heading to
Mexico.
Clean your antennas, de-wax your ears and remember to give
others a chance to get through..
[ANS thanks Jari OH2FQV, Via
Twitter, 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,
This week's ANS Editor,
EMike
McCardel, AA8EM
aa8em at amsat dot
org
_______________________________________________
Sent via
AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this
open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring
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