[ans] ANS-035 AMSAT Weekly Bulletins

David Johnson dave at g4dpz.me.uk
Sun Feb 4 13:00:23 PST 2007 

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-035

ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North America,
The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS 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.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to:

ans-editor at amsat.org

In this edition:
* AMSAT-DC SPACE SEMINAR 2007
* ARISS Weekly Report
* Space Shorts From All Over
* Upcoming ARISS Contacts

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-035.01
AMSAT-DC MEETING AND SPACE SEMINAR 2007

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 035.01
 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
Febrary 4, 2007
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-035.01

Excitement is brewing for the next annual local AMSAT meeting and space 
seminar
to be held in the Maryland-DC area on Saturday, March 24, 2007.  You are
invited!

There will be talks, demos, tutorials and plenty of socializing on amateur
 satellites, ground station set up, and high-altitude balloon experiments in
the greater mid-Atlantic USA area.

AMSAT members, students, educators & the public are all invited. No 
tickets, no
RSVP is needed.  Come as you are, but bring a friend and pass the word!

The event will be held in the Pioneer Hall at the Historical Electronics 
Museum
(HEM) at 1745 West Nursery Road, Linthicum, Maryland (ZIP 21090) near BWI
airport.  Starting time is 11 A.M. local for the day long event.

Directions to HEM are at the museum web site: http://www.hem-usa.org/

TALK-IN will be on 146.760 MHz with a 107.2 Hz tone in the two hours 
prior to
the start time.

Your host is AMSAT Area Coordinator Pat Kilroy, N8PK, n8pk at amsat.org, and
others.

Speaker slots are open.  More demos are solicited.  Coordination help is 
sought
in advance and also on the day of the meeting.  AMSAT members please contact
the host.

This event is sponsored by the local volunteer AMSAT members.  All 
presenters
are volunteers.  A pass-the-hat offering will be taken for donations to help
offset the meeting room cost, refreshments and associated items.

For any late breaking updates go to

http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/fieldops/events.php

You won't want to miss this one!

Additional information is available at www.ao27.org

[ANS thanks Pat Kilroy, N8PK, for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-035.02
ARISS Weekly Status Report January 29, 2007

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 035.02
 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
Febrary 4, 2007
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-035.02


1.Canadian School Contact Successful

Students from Ecole elementaire publique Le Prelude experienced an Amateur
Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Wednesday, 
January
4. The event was held at the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa.
Sunita Williams, KD5PLB, greeted the students in both English and French 
and
answered 21 questions put to her by twelve K-6 graders. An audience of 
175 was
present for the contact, including two elected members of Federal 
Parliament,
one City Councilor, the School Board Chair, and the president of Radio 
Amateurs
of Canada (RAC). Among the media attending were four major French and 
English
television stations.  Audio was fed into the EchoLink AMSAT and JK1ZRW
conference room servers; seventeen connections were made from 6 countries.

2.Winnebago Reservation School Contact Successful

On Thursday, January 25, students at the Winnebago Public School spoke with
Sunita Williams, KD5PLB, via Amateur Radio on the International Space 
Station
(ARISS). Nineteen students were each able to ask one question.  An 
audience of
approximately 500 students, teachers and parents listened over the PA 
system.
Television station Channel 9, from Sioux City, IA and the Sioux City 
Journal
covered the event, interviewing at least 9 students.  The school posted
information about the ARISS activities on its website.

See http://winnebago.esu1.org.

For the Sioux City Journal article,

see: 
http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/video/video_vid_player.php?v=20070125_winnebagospace_384

Winnebago is a rural, Title 1 school with 86% of the school population 
coming
from economically disadvantaged families.

3. ARISS  New York Contact to be Rescheduled

The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact 
with East
Aurora Middle School in New York, originally slated for Thursday, 
February 1,
has been cancelled due to scheduling issues.  The event will be 
rescheduled in
the near future.

4.ARRL Article Covers ISS Crew

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) ran an article on ISS Hams and 
upcoming
spacewalks.

See: http://www.arrl.org/?artid=7145

5.Boulder Hill Elementary Prepares for ARISS Contact

Boulder Hill Elementary School in Montgomery, Illinois has been 
preparing for
an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact. The
school has a radio club made up of 30 members from the fourth and fifth
grades; two-thirds of the members are girls. The Fathers Club and PTA are
preparing for the contact, making a stage curtain, and trying to obtain 
space
food and astronaut costumes for the teachers. They also plan to invite an
astronaut to visit the school.  Display cases have been set up 
publicizing the
event, providing information on the International Space Station, space, 
solar
energy, (complete with solar panels),  and satellite models and rockets.  A
documentary is in the works, which will cover all activities related to the
contact. An Illinois state representative and state senator have been 
invited
to attend the event, tentatively planned for the spring.

6. ARRL Article on Students SuitSat-2 Work

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) ran a web story on the college 
students
who are participating in the SuitSat-2 software defined radio hardware 
testing
and development.

See: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2007/01/24/101/?nc=1

The two Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) members, who taught 
this
software defined radio class at The College of New Jersey, have received an
invitation from the Engineering department head to repeat the course in the
fall.

[ANS thanks Pat Carol Jackson, KB3LKI, for the above information]

/EX

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-035.03
Space Shorts From All Over

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 035.03
 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
February 4, 2007
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-035.03

+ On February 3, 2007 Craig, KL4E conducted a live amateur radio
  communications exhibition for the PQ-13 pilots and support per-
  sonnel of the 491st Aviation Regiment, ASDF, at Camp Carroll
  on Fort Richardson, Alaska.  For the satellite portion of the
  demonstration, Craig operated on AO-51 and SO-50.

+ Taking advantage of good operating conditions aboard the recently
  recovered AO-27 satellite its controllers have shifted the bird's
  schedule to begin 7 minutes earlier than usual and have extended
  the transmitter's on-time to 8 minutes. This will allow operators
  to contact the satellite DXpeditions currently active aboard cruise
  ships in the Carribean.  See http://www.ao27.org.

+ Here's a chance to do some space browsing in the shack while
  waiting for the next satellite pass.  http://sky-map.org/ features
  an interactive sky map with point-and-click accessibility. You
  can simply point your mouse at any sky object and a small pop-up
  appears displaying the name and a brief description of that object.
  By clicking on the object you instantly have access to detailed
  information about this star.

+ Sources at SpaceDaily.com reported this week the International
  Space Station will likely remain operational until 2025 according
  to the head of the Russian spacecraft manufacturer Energia. Nikolai
  Sevastyanov said Tuesday, "By 2009-2015, Russia will be the only
  country able to deliver crews to the station. No one is going to
  sink or drop the ISS, as all countries realize that the station is
  becoming a full-scale industrial facility in space. Although it is
  scheduled for decommissioning in 2015, its operational life could
  be prolonged until 2025. Energia has proposed making the station
  permanent. If we terminate its existence, it would be hard for man-
  kind to implement such a project anew."

[ANS thanks everyone for the above information]

/EX


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-035.04
Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2007-02-02

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 035.04
 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
February 4, 2007
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-035.04

Quick list of scheduled contacts and  events:

Total number of ARISS school contacts is  267.

QSL information may be found at:   

http://www.arrl.org/ARISS/arissfaq.html   
http://www.rac.ca/ariss/oindex.htm#QSL's  

ISS  callsigns:  DP0ISS, NA1SS,  RS0ISS

*****************************************************************************

The  schedule page has been updated as of 2007-02-02 23:00 UTC.  Here 
you will  
find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and questions, other ISS  
related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and instructions for any 
contact
that may be streamed live.  

http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.txt

The successful  school list has been updated as of 2007-01-26 04:00  UTC

http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf

Frequency  chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing 
Doppler
correction  as of 2005-07-29 04:00  UTC

http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction.rtf

Listing  of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30  UTC:

http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf

*****************************************************************************

There  has been a rumor that the ISS was having direct contacts on the 
40 meter
band.  There is no HF radio equipment on board and available yet.  The  HF
antenna is mounted.  Sometimes WA3NAN will retransmit shuttle  audio.

*****************************************************************************

Expedition  14 on orbit:
Michael Lopez-Alegria KE5GTK
Mikhail Tyurin, RZ3FT  

Expedition 14/15 on orbit:
Sunita Williams,  KD5PLB

*****************************************************************************

[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N 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 additional benefits. Application 
forms are
available from the AMSAT Office.

73,
This week's ANS Editor,
Dave Johnson
g4dpz at amsat dot org

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