ANS-068 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins for March 8th

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AMSAT NEWS SERVICE – ANS-068

The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information 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 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 Service Bulletins via the ANS List. To join this list see:

http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans

In this edition:

  • Welcome Back XW-2D
  • PSAT3 Launch CANCELED
  • AMSAT Academy to be Held Prior to Dayton Hamvention
  • The 23cm Satellite Band is Under Scrutiny in Europe
  • Replacing the International Space Station?
  • FO-29 Operational Schedule
  • ARISS News
  • AMSAT Will be at ScienceCity in Tucson, March 14-15
  • Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
  • Upcoming Satellite Operations
  • Satellite Shorts from All Over

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-068.01
ANS-068 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 068.01
From AMSAT HQ KENSINGTON, MD.
DATE 2020 Mar 08
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-068.01

 

Welcome Back XW-2D

XW-2D has come back from its apparent issues and is back in action. No official report for the satellite owner, but reports from operators allover the world have shown the satellite is back in operation:

Frequency:UPLINK LSB 435.210 MHz to 435.230 MHZDOWNLINK USB 145.860 MHz to 145.880 MHZ

Make sure to post your reception reports for all satellites at https://www.amsat.org/status/

[ANS thanks Hasan Schiers, N0AN, for the above information]

PSAT3 Launch CANCELED

Four days from Shipping PSAT3 to Kodiak for launch, the launch has been canceled.

The launch was part of the DARPA LAUNCH CHALLENGE: https://darpalaunchchallenge.org/index.html

The challenge (and $10m prize) was for any launch provider to deliver a rocket with only 30 days notice of what payloads they would have and where they would launch from. And then to do it again only 30 days later. We were on the second launch.

But on 2 March the third attempt by the launch provider was scrubbed at T-9 minutes and was not resolved until the launch window (and DARPA challenge deadline) had passed. Therefore the CHALLENGE is over, there was no winner, and we lost the launch.

So, if anyone hears of a rocket that needs a CUBESAT PPOD backup replacement, we have one: http://aprs.org/psat3.html

[ANS thanks Bob, WB4APR for the above information]

AMSAT Academy to be Held Prior to Dayton Hamvention

Come join us the day before Hamvention, for AMSAT® Academy – a unique opportunity to learn all about amateur radio in space and working FM,linear transponder, and digital satellites currently in orbit.

AMSAT® Academy will be held Thursday, May 14, 2020, from 9:00am to5:00pm, at the Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA) Clubhouse, located at 6619 Bellefontaine Rd, Dayton, Ohio.

The $85 registration fee includes:

  • Full day of instruction, designed for both beginners and advanced amateur radio satellite operators, and taught by some of the most accomplished AMSAT operators.
  • Digital copy of Getting Started with Amateur Satellites, 2020 Edition ($15 value)
  • One-Year, AMSAT® Basic Membership ($44 value)
  • Pizza Buffet Lunch
  • Invitation to the Thursday night AMSAT® get together at Ticket Pub and Eatery in Fairborn.

Registration closes May 8, 2020. No sign ups at the door. No refunds,no cancellations.

Registrations may be purchased on the AMSAT store at https://www.amsat.org/product/2020-amsat-academy-registration/

[ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, Vice President – User Services for the above information]

The 23cm Satellite Band is Under Scrutiny in Europe

The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 1 committee is al-ready actively participating in the regulatory work taking place inthe European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) to consider coexistence between the secondary amateur and amateur satellite services and the primary radio navigation satellite service, in the 1.2 GHz band. The principal issue is Europe’s Galileo system of global navigation satellites.

The Galileo services are delivered in a number of bands and one occupies the 1260-1300 MHz band. The Galileo team has witnessed interference from amateur TV transmissions which resulted in station shut down and has experienced interference from high power EME operations too.

Work is at an early stage and the IARU will continue to try tp mini-mise the impact on amateur operations however it is likely that some changes will be necessary to the way we use the band.

The topic is closely related to the agenda of the next World Radio-communication Conference coming up in 2013 (WRC-23) at which representatives of the United Nations countries who are members of the International Telecommunication Union will agree on coordinated radio regulations.

For more information, see https://tinyurl.com/tcrdm4j

[ANS thanks Jacques Verleijen, ON4AVJ, and the IARU Region 1 Newsletter for the above information]

Replacing the International Space Station?

Aboard the International Space Station (ISS), humanity has managed to maintain an uninterrupted foothold in low Earth orbit for just shy of20 years. But as the saying goes, what goes up must eventually comedown. The ISS is at too low of an altitude to remain in orbit indefinitely, and core modules of the structure are already operating years beyond their original design lifetimes. As difficult a decision as it might be for the countries involved, in the not too distant future the$150 billion orbiting outpost will have to be abandoned.

Naturally there’s some debate as to how far off that day is. NASA officially plans to support the Station until at least 2024, and an extension to 2028 or 2030 is considered very likely. However, one commercial partner is betting on a longer-term future. Axiom has been selected by NASA to develop a new habitable module for the U.S. side of the Station by 2024.

While the agreement technically only covers a single module, Axiom hasn’t been shy about their plans going forward. Once that first module is installed and operational, they plan on getting NASA approval to launch several new modules branching off of it. Ultimately, they hope that their “wing” of the ISS can be detached and become its own independent commercial station by the end of the decade.

Read the full article at https://bit.ly/39tsc6V

[ANS thanks Hackaday for the above information]

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

FO-29 Operational Schedule

The operation of Fuji 3 (FO-29) has been unstable, but the transmitter will be turned on in the next pass. Since the date and time are in UTC, add 9 hours to convert to Japan time.

The operation is until the UVC (lower limit voltage control) operates.

[Scheduled time to turn on the analog transmitter of Fuji 3 (UTC)]

  • March 8 04:30- 06:15- 14:40
  • March 14 04:15- 06:00- 14:25
  • March 15 03:25- 05:10- 15:15
  • March 21 03:10- 04:55- 15:00
  • March 22 04:00- 05:45- 14:05
  • March 28 03:45- 05:30- 13:50
  • March 29 04:35- 06:20- 14:40

Because of data acquisition, besides this operation plan, the transmitter may be turned on for a short time.

[ANS thanks JARL for the above information.]

ARISS News

An International Space Station (ISS) school contact with an Australian school on 13 March will be audible in USA! The ISS will be over North America at the time, and the Australians will link to it by land line”Telebridge” via a U.S. amateur radio station.

The contact will be with the Australian Air League – South Australia Wing, Parafield, South Australia, but via Telebridge Station K6DUE in Greenbelt, Maryland, USA. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS and the scheduled astronaut is Drew Morgan, KI5AAA.

The contact is scheduled at 08:56 UTC with downlink signals from ISS heard above Maryland and nearby areas on 145.800 MHz narrow band FM.

[ANS thanks Rudy Parisio, IW2BSF, and Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, of the ARISS Operation Team, for the above information]

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/

AMSAT Will be at ScienceCity in Tucson, March 14-15

AMSAT will be supporting the University of Arizona’s K7UAZ radio club during the ScienceCity science fair on 14-15 March 2020 (a Saturday and Sunday). ScienceCity will be on the University of Arizona campus in Tucson, Arizona. This science fair is supported by several organizations at the university, and runs in conjunction with the Tucson Festival of Books that will also take place that weekend. More information about ScienceCity is available at: http://sciencecity.arizona.edu/

Information about the K7UAZ radio club is available at: http://k7uaz.com/

The K7UAZ radio club will have a booth in the “Science of Everyday Life” area at ScienceCity. This booth will showcase different facets of amateur radio, including amateur satellites. WD9EWK, and possibly other call signs, should be heard during demonstrations of satellite operating taking place at ScienceCity. If you hear us, please call and be a part of the demonstrations. The University of Arizona campus is in grid DM42, in Arizona’s Pima County.

QSLing will be determined by the call sign used for QSOs. WD9EWK will upload to Logbook of the World, and will be happy to send QSL cards on request (please e-mail Patrick the QSO details – no card or SASE is required to get a card). K7UAZ will confirm QSOs by QSL card, following instructions posted on QRZ.com.

During the weekend, the @WD9EWK Twitter account will be used to post updates from ScienceCity. If you do not use Twitter, you can view these updates in a web browser without having a Twitter account at: http://twitter.com/WD9EWK

[ANS thanks Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK, AMSAT Board Member, for the above information]

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.

Current schedule:

  • March 14-15, 2020, Science City on University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (see above)
  • March 21, 2020, Midwinter Madness Hamfest, Buffalo, MN
  • March 21, 2020, Scottsdale Amateur Radio Club Hamfest, Scottsdale, AZ
  • March 28, 2020, Tucson Spring Hamfest, Tucson, AZ
  • March 29, 2020, Vienna Wireless Winterfest, Annandale, VA
  • 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

[ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT VP-User Services for the above information.]

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/

Upcoming Satellite Operations

– ShortsMar 14-15 DN26/36 KC7JPC Linears (and possibly FM)

– K7U ROVE March 7-8, 2020Casey KI7UNJ and Kel KI7UXT will be operating as K7U from CN93,CN94, DN03, DN04 a CN92. Details are posted on QRZhttps://www.qrz.com/db/k7u Updates from the road on their individualTwitter feeds: https://twitter.com/KI7UNJ and https://twitter.com/KI7UXT

– Big Bend National Park (DL88) March 16-17, 2020Ron 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 keepan eye on their individual Twitter feeds: https://twitter.com/ad0dx, https://twitter.com/dtabor, and https://twitter.com/W3ARDstroke5

– #Nevada Mayhem part 1: Central Nevada (DM19) March 21, 2020David, AD7DB, will venture deep into Central Nevada to specifically activate grid DM19 on Saturday March 21. This is actually down aide road from “The Loneliest Road in America.” Hardly any hams even live in that grid. It’s for sure that few ever activate it. On the way there, Friday March 20, he will try to also activate some or all of: DM06, DM16, DM07, DM08, DM17 and DM18. Going home Sunday, March 22, he will try to visit them again. This will be on FM satellites only. Internet and cell coverage may be very poor up there but for updates check Twitter: https:/twitter.com/ad7db

[ANS thanks Robert Bankston, KE4AL, AMSAT VP-User Services for the above information.]

——————————————————————–

Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) has completed frequency coordination HSU-SAT1, a 1U CubeSat to be released from the ISS sometime in the coming year. The satellite will include capability of a camera image dowlinked by Slow Scan Television (SSTV). The camera will take a photograph of the Earth at image pixel size 320×240. The photograph taken will then be converted into analog SSTV signal, and sent by FM-SSTV downlink on 437.280 MHz. This be part of the satellite’s main mission, test of a three-axis attitude control system. More info at shorturl.at/dizP0 and shorturl.at/puNW7
(ANS thanks IARU and AMSAT-UK for the above information)

+ The Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL) reports that a number of ama- teur radio events planned for March have been cancelled as a result of coronavirus warnings. JARL, in line with government policy, has requested that all events scheduled for the next two weeks be can- celed or postponed for the time being. Also, Dayton Hamvention officials say they are closely following the coronavirus (COVID-19) sit- uation. Show organizers will post updates as the May 15 – 17 event nears, but they’re optimistic that coronavirus will not be an issue.
(ANS thanks Southgate ARC and ARRL for the above information)

+ SpaceX-20, a Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station launched at 0449 GMT Saturday from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad. The mission carrying, as a primary payload, the Interoperable Radio System (IORS). The IORS is the foundational element of the ARISS next-generation radio system on ISS. If all goes according to plan, the Dragon cargo capsule will dock with the space station on Monday, 9 March.
(ANS thanks SpaceflightNow for the above information)

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.

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 student 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,
Casey Tucker, KI7UNJ
ki7unj at amsat dot org