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: https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/ans.amsat.org/
In this edition:
- AMSAT Seeks Qualified Volunteers For A Number Of Positions
- VUCC/r Award Announced
- W4AMI Award Qualifications Have Changed
- VUCC Awards-Endorsements for November 2021
- Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for November 4
- Results of Artemis 2 Proposal Opportunity
- ARDC Grant Award for the ARISS-USA STEREO Education Project
- ARISS School Contacts
- Upcoming Satellite Operations
- Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
- Satellite Shorts From All Over
ANS-311 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
To: All RADIO AMATEURS
From: Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation
712 H Street NE, Suite 1653
Washington, DC 20002
DATE 2021 Nov 7
AMSAT Seeks Qualified Volunteers For A Number Of Positions
Keeping Amateur Radio in Space is a team effort and the work of AMSAT is carried out entirely by volunteers. AMSAT needs people with a wide range of technical and non-technical skills. In short, WE NEED YOU! There is no pay, but a great deal of satisfaction in knowing that you are helping make something happen. Volunteers are being sought in the following areas:
* Satellite Development Technical Experience
If you have hardware or software technical skills, and proven experience directly applicable to satellite design, please contact the AMSAT Vice President of Engineering, Jerry Buxton, N0JY. Due to International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), positions involving space flight hardware or software require US citizenship or permanent resident status. Ground station development is open to all qualified persons regardless of citizenship.
* ARISS Development and Support
AMSAT’s Human Space Flight Team is looking for volunteers to help with development and support of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) project. ARISS needs both technical volunteers for hardware development, as well as technical mentors to assist with scheduled school contacts. To volunteer, contact Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO, ARISS-USA Executive Director.
* AMSAT Educational Relations
AMSAT’s Educational Relations Team needs volunteers with a background in education and classroom lesson development. Contact Alan Johnston, KU2Y, Vice President – Educational Relations
* AMSAT News and Communications
Communications through the AMSAT News Service [this weekly bulletin] and AMSAT Journal are essential in keeping both our members and the wider public informed. If you have good writing and editing skills and are interested, please contact AMSAT News Service Senior Editor Mark Johns, K0JM, or AMSAT Journal Editor Joe Kornowski, KB6IGK.
* General AMSAT Support
AMSAT is an organization of self starters. While we sometimes have tasks which we can assign, our most important contributions come from someone who sees a need, has the skills to solve the problem, and then goes ahead and does so. So pick an area that you think needs improvement and explain what you will do to make it better. Contact Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, Executive Vice President or email info [AT] amsat.org
[ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information]
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Join the 2021 President’s Club!
Score your 2″ 4-Color Accent Commemorative Coin.
This gold finished coin comes with
Full Color Certificate and Embroidered “Remove Before Flight” Key Tag
Donate today at
https://www.amsat.org/join-the-amsat-presidents-club/
You won’t want to miss it!
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VUCC/r Award Announced
At the 2021 AMSAT Dr. Tom Clark, K3IO, Memorial Space Symposium & Annual General Meeting on Oct. 30, a new AMSAT award program was announced. This program is to recognize the contribution of rover station operators to the world of grid hunting. Rovers are folks operating while mobile in motion or temporarily parked to give out grids to fixed stations.
The award is called the Reverse VUCC Award. The abbreviation is VUCC/r. It is not an easy award to earn. The award is very similar to the ARRL’s VUCC, but rather than contact a set number of grids on a frequency band, the goal is to make contacts FROM a set number of grids per band. AMSAT took over the issuance of this award from the Central States VHF Society in September, 2021.
The number of grids coincides with the ARRL award. Certificates will be awarded as well as endorsement stickers. QSL cards are required and will be verified by the program administrator. Awards will be presented with a unique serial number.
This award will be a step beyond, and a greater challenge than the AMSAT Rover Award. For more information on VUCC/r see https://www.amsat.org/reverse-vucc-or-vucc-r-award/
[ANS thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awards, 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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W4AMI Award Qualifications Have Changed
Effective November 01, 2021 no FM contacts will be accepted towards the Robert W. Barbee Jr., W4AMI Award. Contacts made prior to November 01, 2021 will be accepted.
The decision was reached by a concensus of the AMSAT Board of Directors at their virtual meeting on Oct. 29 out of concern for the demands being placed on the limited resource or our satellite FM repeaters.
“I really don’t know if there are people making contacts with five of their friends on every single pass just to get enough QSOs for this award, but if there is anything we can do to lighten the load on our FM satellites and extend their lifetime, we need to do so,” said one Board member.
The Robert W. Barbee Jr., W4AMI Satellite Operator Achievement Award. It is awarded for the submission of 1,000 satellite contacts on OSCAR-6 or later satellites. There is an endorsement for each additional 1,000 and a special certificate at 5,000. To receive the award, see https://www.amsat.org/amsat-robert-w-barbee-jr-w4ami-award/ and contact AMSAT Director of Contests and Awards, Bruce Paige, KK5DO.
[ANS thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Director Contests and Awards, for the above information]
VUCC Awards-Endorsements for November 2021
Here are the endorsements and new VUCC Satellite Awards issued by the ARRL for the period October 1, 2021 through November 1, 2021. Congratulations to all those who made the list this month!
| CALL | Oct. | Nov. |
|---|---|---|
| WA4NVM | 1568 | 1579 |
| N8HM | 1127 | 1139 |
| AA5PK | 1115 | 1132 |
| N8RO | 1111 | 1124 |
| W5CBF | 723 | 841 |
| AA8CH | 775 | 800 |
| N0JE | 681 | 734 |
| N3GS | 705 | 729 |
| N6UK | 687 | 707 |
| VE1VOX | 510 | 610 |
| AF5CC | 547 | 582 |
| VE6WK | 512 | 564 |
| N7EGY | 501 | 559 |
| K5ND | 526 | 530 |
| G0ABI | 454 | 478 |
| KN2K | 350 | 401 |
| VE4MM | 376 | 401 |
| EA2AA | 375 | 382 |
| WB7QXU | 303 | 325 |
| NA1ME | 250 | 275 |
| RA3DNC | 200 | 252 |
| VE3KY | 201 | 227 |
| XE1GK | New | 209 |
| KC1MEB | 168 | 207 |
| AB0XE | 100 | 200 |
| KE7RTB | 150 | 200 |
| WD9EWK (DM23) | 166 | 173 |
| WD9EWK (DM31) | 156 | 162 |
| WD9EWK (DM54) | 145 | 153 |
| KE4BKL | 125 | 150 |
| KP4RV+KP3V | New | 139 |
| LA9XGA | 100 | 129 |
| JK2XXK | 100 | 125 |
| XE1ZD | New | 109 |
| MU0FAL | New | 102 |
| WA2ZQX | New | 101 |
If you find errors or omissions. please contact me off-list at <W5RKN> [AT] <W5RKN> .com. This list was developed by comparing the ARRL .pdf listings for the two months. It’s a visual comparison so omissions are possible. Apologies if your call was not mentioned. Thanks to all those who are roving to grids that are rarely on the birds. They are doing a lot of the work!
[ANS thanks Ron Parsons, W5RKN, for the above information]
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AMSAT’s GOLF Program is about getting back to higher orbits, and it all
begins with GOLF-TEE – a technology demonstrator for deployable solar
panels, propulsion, and attitude control, now manifested for launch on
NASA’s ELaNa 46 mission. Come along for the ride. The journey will be
worth it!
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Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for November 4
The following satellite has decayed from orbit and has been removed from the AMSAT TLE Distribution:
CP-9 – NORAD Cat ID 44360 (Decay Epoch 10-28-2021)
[ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, 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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Results of Artemis 2 Proposal Opportunity
In January this year the Amateur Radio Exploration (AREx) team of ARISS and AMSAT submitted a no-cost proposal to fly hardware and cameras on NASA’s Artemis II mission to the moon to bring “The Excitement and Inspiration of Artemis Journeys to a Worldwide Audience through Interactive Amateur Radio Experiences.” Artemis 2 is the first planned human spaceflight mission to the moon. Like the Apollo 8 mission, it plans to orbit the moon and return to Earth. Recently we got word that we were not competitively selected for the mission.
I just found out who won the competition. The winners, National Geographic and Disney, were, in my opinion, unbeatable challengers for documenting and sharing truly historic events — especially the return of humans to the moon.
https://www.space.com/national-geographic-nasa-artemis-moon-mission-show
Despite this loss, the AREx team learned a great deal in the development of the proposal and were able to significantly refine our lunar payload design concept. A concept that can now meet Gateway payload requirements. This new design will position our amateur radio team for future lunar opportunity requests as well as to communicate our readiness to fly as a payload on the Lunar Gateway mission.
On behalf of the AREx team, my thanks to all that supported the maturation of our Lunar design and the development and submit of the proposal.
[ANS thanks Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO, ARISS-USA Executive Director, ARISS International Chair, for the above information]
ARDC Grant Award for the ARISS-USA STEREO Education Project
ARISS-USA is pleased to announce that Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) awarded a 5-year grant for a project called, “Student and Teacher Education via Radio Experimentation and Operations” (STEREO). Total grant funding over five years is nearly $1.3 million. This ARDC grant will fund three distinct initiatives that enable ARISS to sustain and improve STEAM educational outcomes:
Part 1: ARISS is developing a wireless electronics technology kit called “SPARKI”, short for “Space Pioneers Amateur Radio Kit Initiative” for use with middle and high school students. This ARDC grant will take SPARKI from prototype to operational and then deploy these kits into a selected set of ARISS formal and informal education organizations that are planning their ARISS radio contacts.
Part 2: To be successful, ARISS must “Educate the Educator” by creating awareness of ARISS, amateur radio and SPARKI to prospective formal and informal educators in the USA. ARISS‐USA will conduct educator workshops for a selected set of educators to aid them in seamlessly employing SPARKI in their education environment and for ARISS to receive their feedback and ideas.
Part 3: The grant will support some of the costs of ARISS contact operations between students and astronauts aboard the ISS over the five-year grant period.
ARISS-USA Executive Director Frank Bauer welcomed this news by saying, “ARISS-USA is so excited about this new 5-year initiative. It will be a STEAM education game changer and represents a key element of our ARISS 2.0 vision. Most importantly, it brings wireless technologies and amateur radio into our ARISS formal and informal classrooms. We thank ARDC for their interest and support and look forward to working with them on this incredible initiative!”
ARDC’s mission is to support, promote, and enhance digital communication and broader communication science and technology, to promote Amateur Radio, scientific research, experimentation, education, development, open access, and innovation in information and communication technology. ARDC makes grants to projects and organizations that follow amateur radio’s practice and tradition of technical experimentation in both amateur radio and digital communication science. Such experimentation has led to broad advances for the benefit of the general public – such as the mobile phone and wireless internet technology. ARDC envisions a world where all such technology is available through open-source hardware and software, and where anyone has the ability to innovate upon it.
[ANS thanks ARISS for the above information]
ARISS School Contacts
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.
South Yarra Primary School, South Yarra, Victoria, Australia, telebridge via K6DUE
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS
The scheduled crewmember is Mark Vande Hei KG5GNP
Contact is go for: Tue 2021-11-09 09:58:23 UTC 75 deg
Watch for livestream at: https://bit.ly/31yQldr
Ural State University of Railways and Communications, Yekaterinburg, Russia, direct via TBD
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS
The scheduled crewmember is Pyotr Dubrov
Contact is go for 2021-11-11 16: 00 UTC
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]
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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
KC1MEB & Nu1U are going to be roving in FN10 in PA this Sunday afternoon (11/7) A more definite schedule of passes for that grid will be announced.
NA-008. (Zone 2) After being silent for 18 months, operators Alex/VE1RUS and Pierre/VE3TKB will once again be active as VY0ERC from the Eureka Weather station this October. This station is operated by the Eureka Amateur Radio Club [probably the most northerly located amateur radio club in the world] from Eureka, Nunavut. The VY0ERC team (VE1RUS and VE3KTB) is now in preparation to be active from the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory between October 12th and November 22nd, (time and weather conditions permitting). They plan to participate in CQWW DX SSB and the ARRL Sweepstakes Contests. Outside of the contests, the suggested bands are 40 and 20 meters (possibly 80m), as well as FM satellites (from ER60, EQ79) using SSB, the Digital modes (FT8 and RTTY) and very slow CW. Activity will be limited to their spare time. QSL via M0OXO, OQRS or direct. For updates, see: https://twitter.com/vy0erc
[ANS thanks Paul Overn, KE0PBR, 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.
Ambassador Clint Bradford, K6LCS, is scheduling Zoom presentations for these locales in the next few weeks:
Longmont, Colorado
Las Vegas, Nevada
St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada
To schedule, contact Clint at:
http://www.work-sat.com
Email: clintbradford AT mac DOT com
(909) 999-SATS (7287) – voicemail/message
[ANS thanks Paul Overn, KE0PBR, AMSAT Events page manager, for the above information]
Satellite Shorts From All Over
+ AMSAT President Robert Bankston, KE4AL, has expressed appreciation to members of the Board of Directors, and to Virtual Symposium Team: Paul Stoetzer, N8HM and Frank Karnauskas, N1UW, and to Dan Schultz N8FGV, Symposium Proceedings editor, on a phenomenal job of carrying out the Symposium on Oct. 30. The Proceedings are available to members at https://launch.amsat.org/ (ANS thanks AMSAT President Robert Bankston, KE4AL, for the above information)
+ Did you miss the 2021 AMSAT Dr. Tom Clark, K3IO, Memorial Space Symposium & Annual General Meeting? A replay of the event is available on YouTube. https://youtu.be/RTvcceM7Tz0 (ANS thanks AMSAT for the above information)
+ NASA has ruled out a weekend launch for a SpaceX Crew Dragon carrying four astronauts to the International Space Station due to expected bad weather. Given an uncertain forecast, the mission managers have opted instead to bring four station astronauts — Crew-2 — back to Earth first, delaying the Crew-3 launch to later next week. The Crew Dragon spacecraft, named Endeavour, is scheduled to undock from the International Space Station at 1:05z on Sunday, Nov. 7, to begin the journey home. Splashing down on Monday will be Shane Kimbrough, KE5HOD, Megan McArthur, Akihiko Hoshide, KE5DNI, and Thomas Pesquet, KG5FYG. The Crew-3 astronauts awaiting launch are all licensed amateurs: Raja Chari, KI5LIU, Tom Marshburn, KE5HOC, Matthias Maurer, KI5KFH, and Kayla Barron, KI5LAL. That crew was originally scheduled to launch on Oct. 31. (ANS thanks SpaceFlightNow and NASA for the above information)
+ NASA missions have primarily relied on radio frequency communications for this transfer of information. But this fall, NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) will launch and showcase laser communications. LCRD’s ground stations, known as Optical Ground Station (OGS) -1 and -2, are located on Table Mountain, California, and Haleakala, Hawaii. These remote, high-altitude locations were chosen for their clear weather conditions. While laser communications can provide increased data transfer rates, atmospheric disturbances – such as clouds and turbulence – can disrupt laser signals as they enter Earth’s atmosphere. (ANS thanks SpaceDaily for the above information)
+ A new distance record of 4978.0 km on CAS-4A has been claimed by Joe Werth, KE9AJ, from the Colorado mountain summit in DM79iq, with Bertrand Demarcq, FG8OJ, in FK96hg in Guadeloupe. Congratulations! Distance records are published at https://www.amsat.org/satellite-distance-records/ (ANS thanks Joe Werth, KE9AJ, 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, Mark Johns, K0JM
k0jm at amsat dot org