In this edition:
* June 15 is Deadline for 2023 AMSAT Board of Directors Election Nominations
* IARU Coordinates Sapling Magnifica Satellite
* eBay Sellers Donate to AMSAT
* AMSAT Thanks First Quarter 2023 President’s Club Members
* An RTL-SDR Telemetry Decoder for the Soon-to-be-Launched MRC-100 CubeSat
* Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for June 9, 2023
* ARISS News
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
* Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
* Satellite Shorts From All Over
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 [dot] 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: https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/ans.amsat.org/
ANS-162 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
To: All RADIO AMATEURS
From: Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation
712 H Street NE, Suite 1653
Washington, DC 20002
DATE 2023 Jun 11
June 15 is Deadline for 2023 AMSAT Board of Directors Election Nominations
AMSAT solicits nominations for the 2023 AMSAT Board of Directors election, to be held in the third quarter of the year. The seats of the following four incumbent Directors expire in 2023 and will be filled by this year’s election:
– Jerry Buxton, N0JY
– Joseph Armbruster, KJ4JIO
– Robert Bankston, KE4AL
– Zach Metzinger, N0ZGO
Further, up to two Alternate Directors may be elected for one-year terms. A valid nomination for Director must be written and requires either one Member Society or five current individual members in good standing to nominate an AMSAT member. Written nominations, with the nominee’s name, call sign, and contact information, as well as the nominators’ names, call signs, and contact information, should be sent to the AMSAT Secretary:
Jeff Davis, KE9V
PO Box 11
Yorktown, IN 47396
AMSAT bylaws require that the nomination be written and in the form specified by the Secretary who has elected to accept written nomination materials via mail or in electronic form, including email or electronic image of a paper document. Fax transmissions cannot be accepted.
Email nominations may be sent to jdavis [at] amsat [dot] org.
No matter what means are used, petitions MUST be received by the Secretary no later than June 15, 2023. The Secretary will verify the qualifications of candidates and nominating members or Member Societies as petitions are received, and will notify candidates whether their nominations are in order by the end of June.
[ANS thanks Jeff Davis, KE9V, AMSAT Secretary for the above information.]
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The 2023 AMSAT President’s Club coins are here now!
To commemorate the 40th anniversary of its launch
on June 16, 1983, this year’s coin features
an image of AMSAT-OSCAR 10.
Join the AMSAT President’s Club today and help
Keep Amateur Radio in Space!
https://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/
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IARU Coordinates Sapling Magnifica Satellite
The Sapling Magnifica, developed by the Stanford Student Space Initiative, is a technology demonstration mission aimed to prove several key technologies necessary for SSI’s satellites to host scientific payloads in the future. These include a magnetorquer-based ADCS, a higher quality camera than on previous Sapling missions, and reaction wheels. The satellite will be either a 1U or a 2U spacecraft. Sapling Magnifica is an Amateur Radio mission that is entirely initiated and developed by undergraduate students, most of whom already have or are studying for their Amateur Radio license.
Amateurs will be able to participate by sending commands to the satellite and receiving images in response. Research will be conducted on image downloading comparing three different modulation techniques: FSK, LoRa, and FLRC. Amateurs will be able to receive images and, if all goes well, take an image on command.
Downlinks have been coordinated on 437.400 MHz and 2427.00 MHz. Planning a launch into a SSO 525km orbit in Q2 or Q3 2023. More info from https://github.com/stanford-ssi.
[ANS thanks the IARU for the above information.]
eBay Sellers Donate to AMSAT
Are you an eBay seller? One item, ten items, or a full-time business you can donate a percentage of your winning bid to AMSAT.
To do so, do not list your item with the basic listing tool, select advanced tools. eBay will give you a warning message that it is for large volume sellers, however this is where the eBay for Charity tool is found.
You can “select another nonprofit you love” and search for either AMSAT or Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. Choose the percentage amount of the sale you would like to donate to AMSAT, and boom! When your item sells and the winning bidder pays, eBay will deduct the percentage from your take and forward it to AMSAT.
Please consider giving a piece of the pie to a new satellite and choose AMSAT for your eBay Charity.
[ANS thanks AMSAT 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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AMSAT Thanks First Quarter 2023 President’s Club Members
AMSAT wishes to thank those amateurs who have contributed to the 2023 AMSAT President’s Club during the first quarter of this year. Their generous donations are essential in helping to Keep Amateur Radio is Space.
TITANIUM LEVEL
Barry Baines, WD4ASW
Alan Biddle, WA4SCA
William Brown, K9LF
PLATINUM LEVEL
Doug Tabor, N6UA
GOLD LEVEL MEMBERS
Burns Fisher, WB1FJ
Mark Hammond, N8MH
John Kludt, K7SYS
Glenn Miller, AA5PK
SILVER LEVEL
Warren Fugate, W3WE
Joseph Lynch, N6CL
Bruce Paige, KK5DO
Jason Schwarz, N4JJS
BRONZE LEVEL
Bruce Perens, K6BP
Dave Taylor, W8AAS
David Vine, WA1EAW
CORE LEVEL
George Carr, WA5KBH
Jim Clary, ND9M
Richard Dittmer, KB7SAT
David Hartrum, WA3YDZ
Martin Shinko, KB3AEV
Paul Stoetzer, N8HM
Stefan Wagener, VE4NSA
Jeremy Wyatt, KA2PFD
David York, N8SGZ
2022 Correction
SILVER LEVEL
Jason John Schwarz, N4JJS
President Club members for 2023 receive a limited edition commemorative coin featuring AMSAT OSCAR 10, commemorating the 40th anniversary of its launch; full-color certificate, and cork beverage coasters with the AMSAT logo. To join the 2023 AMSAT President’s Club, go to https://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/.
[ANS thanks Frank Karnauskas, N1UW, AMSAT VP-Development, for the above information.]
An RTL-SDR Telemetry Decoder for the Soon-to-be-Launched MRC-100 CubeSat
The MRC-100 Hungarian CubeSat is scheduled to launch on a Falcon 9 on June 12 from Vandenburg Space Fore Base. The MRC-100 is the successor to the SMOG-1 CubeSat which was launched in March 2021. The satellite is named to honoring the 100th year anniversary of the HA5MRC Ham Radio Club at the Budapest University of Technology.
To help with decoding the Telemetry on the CubeSat, an RTL-SDR based telemetry receiver was created and an installation script for Raspberry Pi’s and Linux PC’s which installs OpenWebRX along with the satellite receiver software.
The satellite should be receivable with a simple satellite antenna, such as a handheld Yagi, Turnstile, Dipole or quadrifilar-helix antenna. It will be transmitting telemetry at 436.720 MHz. If you have a dish and tracking equipment for it, there is also a high speed downlink at 2267.5 MHz. Like the original SMOG-1, the satellite carries a sensor that is designed to measure human caused electromagnetic pollution. It also carries a camera and an AIS receiver for tracking marine vessels. More information is available at https://www.rtl-sdr.com/.
[ANS thanks rtl-sdr.com for the above information.]
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Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition?
Get your AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff
from our Zazzle store!
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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Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for 9 June 2023
Two Line Elements or TLEs, often referred to as Keplerian elements or keps in the amateur community, are the inputs to the SGP4 standard mathematical model of spacecraft orbits used by most amateur tracking programs. Weekly updates are completely adequate for most amateur satellites. TLE bulletin files are updated Thursday evenings around 2300 UTC, or more frequently if new high interest satellites are launched. More information may be found at https://www.amsat.org/keplerian-elements-resources/
The following satellite has decayed from orbit and has been removed from this week’s AMSAT-NA TLE distribution:
VZLUSAT 1 NORAD Cat ID 42790 (decayed form orbit on 06 June 2023 per Space-Track).
The following satellites have been added to this week’s AMSAT-NA TLE distribution:
SNIPE 4 NORAD Cat ID 56744 (uncoordinated frequency: 437.8000 MHz).
SNIPE 2 NORAD Cat ID 56745 (uncoordinated frequency: 435.9999 MHz).
[ANS thanks Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, for the above information.]
ARISS NEWS
Amateurs and others around the world may listen in on contacts between amateurs operating in schools and allowing students to interact with astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station. The downlink frequency on which to listen is 145.800 MHz worldwide.
+ Successful Contacts
About Gagarin From Space, Participants Of The Children’s Creative Competition For The Day Of Cosmonautics, Orel, Russia, direct via RA3ED.
The ISS callsign was RSØISS.
The crewmember was Andrey Fediaev.
The ARISS mentor was RV3DR.
Contact was successful Sunday, June 4, 2023.
The latest information on the operation mode can be found at https://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html
The latest list of frequencies in use can be found at https://www.ariss.org/contact-the-iss.html
[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team mentors for the above information.]
Upcoming Satellite Operations
IN90; June 9-11, 2023
Philippe, EA4NF will be activating the rare grid IN90 in Spain on June 9-11, 2023 on FM and linear LEO satellites. Further details on Twitter @EA4NF_SAT.LoTW confirmations will be issued with the call EA4NF/P
[ANS thanks Ian Parsons, K5ZM, AMSAT rover page manager, 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.
+ AMSAT 2023 Field Day
June 24, 1800 UTC – June 25, 2100 UTC, 2023
More information at: https://www.amsat.org/field-day/.
+ Small Satellite Conference
August 5-10, 2023
Utah State University, Logan, UT
More information at: https://smallsat.org/.
+ AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting
October 20-21, 2013
Dallas, Texas
More information to follow.
+ AMSAT Ambassador Clint Bradford, K6LCS, says,
“Think a 75-minute presentation on “working the easy satellites” would be appropriate for your club or event? Let me know by emailing me at k6lcsclint (at) gmail (dot) com or calling me at 909-999-SATS (7287)!” Clint has NEVER given the exact same show twice: EACH of the 150+ presentations so far has been customized/tailored to their audiences.
[ANS thanks Clint Bradford, K6LCS, and AMSAT for the above information.]
Satellite Shorts From All Over
+ Alan Johnston, KU2Y, AMSAT VP-Educational Relations, was interviewed by Eric Guth, 4Z1UG / WA6IGR, on QSO Today Amateur Radio Podcast. Alan tells how he reaches out to educate the general public about the world amateur satellites, and satellite technology using CubeSatSim, for live classroom simulations of satellite communications. Alan also explains how he turns to high-altitude balloon launches as a practical, hands-on approach to bringing amateur payloads closer to space, thereby affording opportunities for tangible experience and simulation. Listen to Alan’s interview at https://tinyurl.com/ANS-162-KU2Y. [ANS thanks Alan Johnston, KU2Y, AMSAT VP-Educational Relations, for the above information.]
+ Over on his latest video, Matt, from the TechMinds YouTube channel shows us how to receive and decode the packets from the GreenCube digipeater. In his demonstration Matt uses an SDRPlay RSPdx as the receiver, SDR++ as the receiver software, SoundModem as the packet decoder, GreenCube Terminal for displaying the messages, and GPredict for tracking the satellite and compensating for the Doppler effect. He also notes that while a directional antenna on a motorized tracker is recommended, he was able to still receive packets with his omnidirectional terrestrial antennas without much issue. Watch the video at https://youtu.be/Rr87Ci96SRY. [ANS thanks rtl-sdr.com for the above information.]
+ NASA is worried that SpaceX’s giant new Starship vehicle won’t be ready to carry astronauts to the surface of the moon in late 2025, as currently planned. In 2021, the agency selected Starship — the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built — to be the first crewed lunar lander for its Artemis program of moon exploration. Starship will put astronauts down near the ice-rich lunar south pole on the Artemis 3 mission, in humanity’s first return to the moon since the Apollo program ended in 1972. Artemis 3 is currently targeted to lift off in December 2025, but it’s unlikely Starship will be able to meet that timeline, NASA officials said. More information at https://www.space.com/spacex-starship-problems-delay-artemis-3-2026. [ANS thanks space.com for the above information.]
Join AMSAT today at https://launch.amsat.org/
In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership to:
* Societies (a recognized group, clubs or organization).
* 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.
* Memberships are available for annual and lifetime terms.
Contact info [at] amsat.org for additional membership information.
73 and remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space!
This week’s ANS Editor, Frank Karnauskas, N1UW
n1uw [at] amsat [dot] org