In this edition:

* Fox-Plus Progress Report
* AMSAT Net Tops 1500 Sessions
* Fuji 3 (FO-29) Operation Schedule as of April 21, 2023
* Youth On the Air Camp for the Americas Announced
* 14th annual TAPR/AMSAT Banquet Menu Announced
* Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for April 20, 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-113 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 Apr 23

Fox-Plus Progress Report

Recognizing the immense popularity of the original Fox series of satellites and their ability to introduce countless hams to amateur satellites, the AMSAT Board of Directors in 2021 approved the Fox-Plus program to carry Amateur Radio payloads into low-earth-orbit (LEO) and, specifically, to provide continued availability of entry level FM repeater satellites.

With Fox-Plus having a year-and-a-half of operation under its belt, AMSAT News Service thought it was a good time to check in with AMSAT Assistant VP – Engineering, Jonathan Brandenburg, KF5IDY for a report on its progress.

Jonathan reports, “The progress of the Fox -Plus team has been steady and is now accelerating thanks to a fresh influx of engineers who are now contributing to the team. We currently have ten engineers actively working on various aspects of this new generation of satellites. We have software engineers, electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, even system engineers working on testing and documentation. This is a solid team of engineers, some with a lifetime of experience and some still in college, but we can always use more.

“Our strategy is to build 20 or so satellites to have on-the-shelf and ready to fly. There are two important facets to this approach. The first is the economy of scale and the second, perhaps more importantly, is the ability to take advantage of launch availabilities in a timely manner.

“As we close in on completed and tested designs, it is likely that we can launch our first bird, Fox-Plus Alpha, in early 2024. That date, of course, is dependent on the ability of our volunteer engineering staff to work on AMSAT projects while working their full-time jobs, fulfilling their responsibilities with their families, and taking the occasional moment to sit back and relax.”

“Fox-Plus Alpha will be a feature-packed bird combining commercially available and AMSAT developed hardware. In the interest of speeding up delivery time for our first satellite, certain components such as the space frame, electrical power module, solar panels and antennas will be commercially sourced. We are reusing the Improved Command Receiver and the Internal Housekeeping Unit for this flight. Over time, we will continue to improve our own ideas for electrical power systems and antennas. One example of this is the maximum power point tracker (MPPT), a device that extracts the maximum amount of power from the solar cells by adjusting the voltage to maximize the power curve.

“Although the basic mission of the Fox-Plus program is to fly FM repeater payloads, the Fox-Plus Alpha payload will utilize the previously flown linear transponder module (LTM) as used on Fox-1 Echo. The decision to fly a linear transponder payload was made for expedience reasons- to provide AMSAT members with a working Amateur Radio payload in the shortest time possible. A bird carrying an FM repeater will follow, but we are in need of an engineer to develop that board.

“Fox-Plus Alpha’s linear transponder will utilize a V/U configuration (VHF uplink – UHF downlink). There will also be a separate telemetry beacon that will leverage the ever-popular FoxTelem software. The battery chemistry will be lithium-based.

“Although we learned many things from the original Fox series satellites, one thing that sticks in my mind is the need to harden the transmitter circuity. Variations in the SWR caused by the state of the antenna deployment and other factors created difficulties in transmitter operation such as significantly reduced power output and even failure altogether. This is a priority for all Fox-Plus missions.

“After we have achieved our initial mission objectives, there are several improvements to the Fox-Plus series that we have planned, including:
– Radiation tolerant internal housekeeping unit (RT-IHU)
– Multi-channel FM repeater
– SSTV uplink and downlink
– Internally developed attitude determination and control capabilities, and a
– Packet system with store-and -forward capabilities already being developed by engineers participating in the Advanced Satellite Communications and Exploration of New Technology (ASCENT) initiative.

“After Fox-Plus Alpha, the future is not all that far away. Planned improvements to the Fox-Plus series of satellites include increased payload capabilities. We are exploring the opportunities to fly high-school and university level experiments as additional payloads. These possibilities may exist within a 1U spaceframe. But, adding robust science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) modules comes the need for increased volume and greater power generation and storage. Thus, the transition from 1U to 3U spaceframes seems inevitable, and even desirable.

“Looking at the big picture, the AMSAT Youth Initiative and Educational Relation programs have a front seat at the table for defining STEM missions. Our payload capabilities must meet their requirements for missions that generate wide participation and the serious benefit to youth education.”

[ANS thanks Jonathan Brandenburg, KF5IDY, AMSAT Assistant VP-Engineering 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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AMSAT Net Tops 1500 Sessions

For those unaware, the Houston AMSAT Net has been around since prior to AMSAT Board of Directors member Bruce Paige, KK5DO starting with it in 1993. April 11, 2023 was its 1506th net. Check-ins discuss satellite and balloon stuff. Andy MacAllister, W5ACM (SK), was the host with Bruce and Marty Smith, WV5Y, participating. Through the years, they morphed from geostationary satellites and streaming to its current format using podcasting and Echolink. Marty is now the host as Bruce moved to far to reach the local Houston repeater. An antenna at 30 feet may help with that issue.

Vern Jackson, WA0RCR, has put the program on the top band for all these years. You can listen to the last net on 1860 kHz AM. Back in the day, Bruce had to mail Vern a cassette tape of the net. The internet has made delivery of that cassette almost immediate.

The net is heard on the W5BSA local Houston repeater on 145.190 Mhz Tuesday evenings at 8:00 PM Central Time. At amsatnet.com, you can find links to the live stream during the net, a link to the recorded nets for the past 4 weeks and some way-back streams from long ago. There also is a link to the URL’s that are referenced during the net, so you do not have to write them down. A subscription is available to receive the links via email when they are posted prior to the net.

The AMSAT net can be found during the net with a stream on Echolink connecting to *AMSAT*.

[ANS thanks Bruce Paige, KK5DO, AMSAT Board of Directors for the above information.]

Fuji 3 (FO-29) Operation Schedule as of April 21, 2023

The period of continuous operation in full sunshine has ended. From late April to early May, the analog repeater will be activated on the following dates and approximate UTC times until it is stopped by the lower limit voltage control.

April 2023
22 07:05~
23 06:10-20:55-
29 05:55-20:35-
30 06:45~

May 2023
3 07:30~
4 06:35~
5 07:25~
6 08:15~
7 07:20~

These estimated times indicate the time to start transmitting. Please be aware that it may take some time for the transponder to turn on due to the attitude of the satellite and the direction the antenna is pointing, disturbances in the ionosphere, interference, power supply conditions of the satellite, etc.

Fuji 3 was launched more than a quarter of a century ago and its operation is now unstable. Please use Fuji No. 3 carefully.

[ANS thanks the Japanese Amateur Radio League 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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Youth On the Air Camp for the Americas Announced

The 2023 Youth on the Air Camp for the Americas will be held in Ottawa, Canada on July 16-21. Each year campers have the opportunity to try different aspects of the Amateur Radio hobby including satellite operation and high-altitude balloon launches.

Youth on the Air Camp is for already licensed amateur radio operators between the ages of 15 to 25.  For those who have a license, but don’t know what to do next, the camp teaches  cutting edge technology that can be used with Amateur Radio. For youth operators who are already experienced, this is an opportunity for young operators to take their knowledge to the next level and share their previous knowledge with other young amateurs from throughout North, Central, and South America.

The camp will focus on building strong relationships with peers and mentors, and developing new radio skills.  The camp is being modeled closely after the popular Youngsters on the Air camps in IARU Region 1 (Europe/Africa/Middle East). Campers will operate a special event station, featuring cutting-edge HF and VHF/UHF radios and a wide array of antennas that many only dream of having a chance to use.

Applicants must be licensed amateur radio operators residing in North, Central, or South America between the ages of 15 and 25.  We welcome ALL licensed operators in our region who meet these requirements.  Applicants outside of the USA and minorities are strongly encouraged to apply. More information and application forms are available at https://youthontheair.org/ottawa2023/.

[ANS thanks Youth on the Air 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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14th annual TAPR/AMSAT Banquet Menu Announced

The 14th annual TAPR/AMSAT Banquet will be held at the Kohler Presidential Banquet Center on Friday, May 19th at 18:30 EDT. This dinner is always a highlight of the TAPR (Tucson Amateur Packet Radio) and AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corp.) activities during the Dayton Hamvention. This year’s menu includes:

Cash Bar
Regular and Decaf Coffee, Hot & Iced Tea, Water

Appetizer
– Crudite Platter (with dip on the side)

Buffet
– Roast Prime Rib of Beef Au Jus (Carved on site. Served with horseradish and au jus on the side)
– Santa Fe Chicken (with Pepper Cheese Jalapeno Hollandaise)
– Deep Fried Tempura Shrimp (with Tomato Lemon Aioli)
– Risotto Cake
– Fresh Asparagus
– Smashed Cauliflower

Served to the Table
– Strawberry Fields
– Assorted Dinner Rolls (Served with butter)

Dessert
– Assorted Layer Cake
– Cheesecake

Tickets ($60 each) may be purchased from the AMSAT store. The banquet ticket purchase deadline is Friday, May 12th. Banquet tickets must be purchased in advance and will not be sold at the AMSAT booth. There will be no tickets to pick up at the AMSAT booth. Tickets purchased on-line will be maintained on a list with check-in at the door at the banquet center. Seating is limited to the number of meals reserved with the Kohler caterers based on the number of tickets sold by the deadline.

The Kohler Presidential Banquet Center is located at 4548 Presidential Way, Kettering, Ohio – about 20 minutes away from the Greene County Fairgrounds.

[ANS thanks the AMSAT Hamvention Team for the above information.]

Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for April 20, 2023

A SpaceX Falcon 9 Transporter-7 mission placed the following satellites carrying Amateur Radio into orbit on an April 15, 2023, at 02:48 a.m. Eastern time.

The following satellites have been added to this week’s AMSAT-NA TLE distribution:

KILICSAT – NORAD Cat ID 56181 (uncoordinated frequency: 436.9000 MHz).
CIRBE – NORAD Cat ID 56188 (IARU coordinated frequency: 437.2500 MHz).
INSPIRE-SAT 7 – NORAD Cat ID 56211 (IARU coordinated frequencies: 435.2002.MHz and 437.4100 MHz).
ROSEYCUBESAT 1  – NORAD Cat ID 56212 (IARU coordinated frequency: 436.8252.MHz).

Thanks to Nico Janssen, PA0DLO for the NORAD Cat ID identification of the above satellites.

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/.

[ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, 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.

+ Upcoming Contacts

None listed.

+ Successful Contacts

West Michigan Aviation Academy, High School, Grand Rapids, MI, direct via W8ISS.
The ISS callsign was NA1SS.
The crewmember was Sultan Al Neyadi, KI5VTV.
The ARISS mentor was KD8COJ.
Contact was successful on Thursday, April 20, 2023.

Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre, Dubai, UAE, direct via A68MBR.
The ISS callsign was OR4ISS.
The crewmember was Sultan Al Neyadi, KI5VTV.
The ARISS mentor was ON6TI.
Contact was successful on Tuesday, April 18, 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

None listed.

Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events

+ CubeSat Developers Workshop
April 25-27, 2023
Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
Performing Arts Center, 1 Grand Avenue, San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
https://www.cubesatdw.org/

+ Dayton Hamvention
May 19-21
Greene County Fair and Expo Center, 210 Fairground Road, Xenia 45385
https://hamvention.org/

+ TAPR/AMSAT Banquet
May 19, 2023
Kohler Presidential Banquet Center is located at 4548 Presidential Way, Kettering, Ohio
Reservations are required and available at the AMSAT Store
https://www.amsat.org/product-category/amsat-at-hamvention/.

+ AMSAT Symposium and Annual Meeting
October 20-21, 2013
Dallas, Texas

+ AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events.

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. An email message received after a recent presentation:

“I really enjoyed Clint’s presentation last night. The fact that he had taken the time to research and know something about his audience and welcomed interaction made it very informative and enjoyable. This was a refreshing change from many canned YouTube presentations I’ve tried to watch, which were poorly done, fuzzy video or muddy audio, or a badly prepared presenter stumbling his way through, with any valuable info lost along the way. Thanks for hooking this one up.”

[ANS thanks Clint Bradford, K6LCS, and the AMSAT Events page for the above information.]

Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ The Providence Radio Association, W1OP will attempt SSB and FM satellites QSO’s from the Alan S. Feinstein Middle School, in Coventry, RI on April 27, 2023. This will be part of a presentation on ham radio to about 350 students in their 8th grade STEM program. N1DM will be the operator and will attempt to work any available satellites during the demo portion of the program which will occur somewhere in the period of 1245 to 1425 UTC. W1OP/N1DM requests if you make a QSO in addition to call and grid square you give your state.[ANS thanks Dom Mallozzi, N1DM for the above information.]

+ $50Sat, also known as EAGLE-2,  is an open-source, PocketQube satellite project that was designed to demonstrate the feasibility of building and launching a functional satellite for just $50. The project was launched in 2013 with the goal of providing a simple and low- cost platform for educational and amateur space missions. $50Sat is equipped with a basic communications system, including a UHF/VHF transceiver, a microcontroller and a simple power system. The satellite is based on a modular design, which makes it easy to modify and customize for different missions. One of the key innovations of $50Sat is the use of Commercial-Off-The Shelf (COTS) components, such as a cellphone battery and a Bluetooth module, all of which helps to lower costs. The satellite also leverages a number of open-source hardware and software tools, making it easier for others to build their own satellites based on the $50Sat design. For more ideas on PocketQubes, see http://satmagazine.com/story.php?number=1780991041. [ANS thanks satmagazine.com for the above information.]

+ ‘Look what I found!’ Hours after the first test flight of SpaceX’s Starship ended with the spacecraft and its Super Heavy booster tumbling until it was commanded to explode, possible debris from the colossal rocket began to wash up on the shores surrounding the company’s Starbase launch facility in Boca Chica, Texas. Photos shared on social media showed that more than one person had come across small fragments of the black and white ceramic tiles from the Starship. Though the Starship test flight was a privately funded activity, it was conducted under a Federal Aviation Administration launch license asserting it was being undertaken with the oversight of the United States. As a party to the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, protections are extended that any spacecraft components found anywhere on Earth (or in space) remain the property of the launch operator until such time that the entity explicitly relinquishes them. As such, all of the Starship debris remains SpaceX’s property, even if it is found on private property or in the Gulf of Mexico. [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

In this edition:

* SpaceX Falcon 9 Carries INSPIRE-Sat7 Into Orbit
* TAPR/AMSAT Banquet to Be Held May 19
* Updating the Satellite Status Page
* SpaceX will try First Starship launch on April 17, 2023
* IARU Simulations Predict Little 23cm RNSS Receiver Interference
* GNU Radio Beginner Tutorials Updated
* Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for 14 April 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-106 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 Apr 16

SpaceX Falcon 9 Carries INSPIRE-Sat7 Into Orbit

The SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on the Transporter-7 mission on April 15, 2023 at 2:48 a.m. Eastern, after several days of weather-related delays. The upper stage reached orbit a little more than eight minutes later, shortly after the first stage landed back at the launch site. It was the seventh dedicated rideshare mission.

The first telemetry from the satellite has been decoded and it has accepted its first telecommand sent by the ground control station.

The INSPIRE-Sat 7 satellite is a university project carried out by the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin en Yvelines (France) on behalf of LATMOS (UVSQ, Sorbonne University, Université Paris Saclay, CNRS).

This satellite is a demonstrator for experimenting new technologies with a strong involvement of students. This satellite allows the experimentation of miniaturized remote sensing sensors that could be used for multi-point observation of essential climate variables (ECV) and the ionosphere.

INSPIRE-Sat 7 carries :

– A 435.200 MHz telemetry channel with BPSK mode – GR3UH 9k6.

– An FM transponder with an uplink of 145.830 MHz and a downlink of 435.200 MHz. The FM transponder is expected to be active at least twice a month, depending on the satellite power budget.

– A SPINO card that will be activated for experimentation.

To receive the telemetry, a software has been developed: KissTool. It is available for Windows & Linux:

Linux: https://site.amsat-f.org/download/118791/?tmstv=1680945385

Windows: https://site.amsat-f.org/download/118784/?tmstv=1680945385

The user manual is available in French at:
https://site.amsat-f.org/josast-kisstool/

and English at:
https://code.electrolab.fr/xtof/josast/-/blob/27-new-application-for-spino/ApplicationKissTool/src/site/markdown/UserManual.md

[ANS thanks AMSAT-Francophone and Spacenews.com for the above information]

TAPR/AMSAT Banquet to Be Held May 19

14th Annual TAPR/AMSAT Banquet to Be Held May 19

The 14th annual TAPR/AMSAT Banquet will be held at the Kohler Presidential Banquet Center on Friday, May 19, 2023 at 18:30 EDT. This dinner is always a highlight of the TAPR (Tucson Amateur Packet Radio) and AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corp.) activities during the Dayton Hamvention. This year’s banquet speaker will be announced in the coming weeks.

The Kohler Presidential Banquet Center is located at 4548 Presidential Way, Kettering, Ohio – about 20 minutes away from the Greene County Fairgrounds.

Tickets ($60 each) may be purchased from the AMSAT store https://tinyurl.com/ANS-106-Banquet. The banquet ticket purchase deadline is Friday, May 12, 2023. Banquet tickets must be purchased in advance and will not be sold at the AMSAT booth. There will be no tickets to pick up at the AMSAT booth. Tickets purchased on-line will be maintained on a list with check-in at the door at the banquet center. Seating is limited to the tickets sold by the deadline.

[ANS thanks AMSAT 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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Updating the Satellite Status Page

The AMSAT-BB has shown considerable interest and discussion on possible updates to the Satellite Status page on AMSAT.org. Matt Alberti, KM4EXS, AMSAT IT Team Manager provided the following feedback.

“The AMSAT IT Team does have it on our list of projects, to update the Satellite Status page. We do want to include the feature that will allow for comments. There are other ideas like enabling the AMSAT Discord bot to check the “last heard” info for any given satellite. The initial plan was to try to open source the code, so that more people could contribute to make it better.

“That is still the plan. However, we identified some code that is pretty dated; and has some security issues. We have to resolve some of that before we can open source it.

“That all being said, if people are interested in contributing their time to this or other AMSAT IT projects, please e-mail us at [email protected]. We would love to have a couple more people on the team that have development experience. We are a small team; and we all have family and full time job commitments. Our AMSAT volunteer time is largely limited to keeping the lights on, so to speak. We try to develop new capabilities or improve existing ones as best we can. But if any of you out there are passionate about this and have some coding experience, please reach out to us. Thanks!”

[ANS thanks Matt Alberti, KM4EXS, AMSAT IT Team Manager for the above information.]

SpaceX will try First Starship launch on April 17, 2023

It’s official: SpaceX will try to launch the first orbital test mission of its huge Starship vehicle on Monday (April 17).

SpaceX has been targeting Monday for the Starship flight for the past week or so. That plan was tentative, however, as the company still needed to secure a launch license from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

It’s tentative no longer. At 5:50 p.m. EDT (2150 GMT) on Friday (April 14), the FAA announced the granting of the license, ending a review that lasted more than 500 days. Mere minutes later, SpaceX firmed up its launch plans.

“Targeting as soon as Monday, April 17 for the first flight test of a fully integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket from Starbase in Texas,” the company tweeted (opens in new tab) at 5:57 p.m. EDT (2157 GMT) on Friday.

The 150-minute launch window opens Monday at 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT; 7 a.m. local Texas time). You can watch the liftoff live here at Space.com when the time comes, courtesy of SpaceX.

Starship consists of a giant first-stage booster called Super Heavy and a 165-foot-tall (50 meters) upper-stage spacecraft known as Starship. Both of these vehicles are designed to be fully reusable, and both are powered by SpaceX’s next-generation Raptor engine — 33 for Super Heavy and six for Starship.

As the above tweet notes, the upcoming test flight will lift off from Starbase, SpaceX’s facility in South Texas. It will involve a Super Heavy prototype called Booster 7 and the Ship 24 upper-stage variant.

If all goes according to plan, Booster 7 will splash down in the Gulf of Mexico about 20 miles (32 kilometers) off the Texas coast around eight minutes after liftoff. Ship 24, meanwhile, will keep flying, conducting a partial lap of Earth before coming down in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii.

When Booster 7 and Ship 24 lift off, Starship will become the most powerful rocket ever to fly. The vehicle will generate about 16.5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, according to SpaceX — nearly twice as much as the current record holder, NASA’s Space Launch System megarocket.

SpaceX has big plans for Starship. The company believes the giant vehicle, which stands 394 feet (120 meters) tall fully stacked, will make settlement of the moon and Mars economically feasible.

[ANS thanks Space.com for the above information.]

IARU Simulations Predict Little 23cm RNSS Receiver Interference

The IARU maintains the view that the likelihood of widespread and persistent interference from amateur radio activities to RNSS (e.g. Galileo) receivers in the 23cm band is minimal. The WRC-23 preparatory studies carried out in the ITU-R study groups have only considered static one-to-one estimations using a minimum coupling loss approach. These studies do not consider the effect of an amateur transmitter on a population of RNSS receivers deployed around an amateur transmitting station.

Therefore IARU volunteers have carried out a “Monte Carlo” style study simulating scenarios assuming a fixed and mobile population of RNSS receivers deployed around an amateur station. A 100W amateur ‘home station’ and a 25W eirp ‘repeater station’ have been assumed.

The simulation results suggest that at most only around 1% of a population of fixed and mobile RNSS receivers randomly situated around a transmitting amateur station location would have a small chance of receiving a signal level above the RNSS protection threshold identified in the relevant ITU-R Recommendations. In most scenarios, the percentage of RNSS receivers impacted by interference above the threshold within the “simulation area” is far less than 1%. Even in the densest areas of amateur station activity and with the lowest clutter model the percentages remain less than 5%.

The study assumed that an amateur station is transmitting throughout the whole “Monte Carlo” trial period. However event data collected by the IARU shows that even in the busiest amateur communities the amount of time during which these sporadic transmissions are most likely to occur amounts to less than 2% of time over a one year period.

Therefore the IARU maintains its position that the potential for widespread and persistent interference between amateur radio transmissions and RNSS receivers is minimal.

You can read the complete report at https://tinyurl.com/ANS-106-23CM.

[ANS thanks the IARU 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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GNU Radio Beginner Tutorials Updated

Have you had an inkling to learn some of the basics of software-design-radio design and implementation? If so, you might find the GNU Radio library of Beginners Tutorials most useful.

GNU Radio is a free & open-source software development toolkit that provides signal processing blocks to implement software radios. It can be used with readily-available low-cost external RF hardware to create software-defined radios, or without hardware in a simulation-like environment. It is widely used in research, industry, academia, government, and hobbyist environments to support both wireless communications research and real-world radio systems.

There are 19 beginners tutorials that have been recently updated. There are also another 20 intermediate/advanced tutorials as well as yet another 14 sections of developers resources. The tutorials are free and available on a newly designed landing page at https://wiki.gnuradio.org/index.php/Tutorials.

[ANS thanks GNURadio.org for the above information.]

Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for 14 April 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:

BY70-3 NORAD Cat ID 46839 (decayed form orbit on 8 April 2023 per Space-Track).

Additionally, Space-Track reports that the AMSAT-NA built HO-107 (HuskySat-1) NORAD Cat ID 45119 decayed from orbit on 12 April 2023. This satellite was removed from AMSAT-NA TLE distributions in December 2021 when End of Mission was declared.

[ANS thanks Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P, AMSAT-NA Assistant 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.

+ Upcoming Operations

Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre, Dubai, UAE, direct via A68MBR.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS.
The scheduled crewmember is Sultan Al Neyadi, KI5VTV.
The ARISS mentor is ON6TI.
Contact is go for Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at 10:43:28 UTC

West Michigan Aviation Academy, High School, Grand Rapids, MI, direct via W8ISS.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS.
The scheduled crewmember is Sultan Al Neyadi, KI5VTV.
The ARISS mentor is KD8COJ.
Contact is go for Thursday, April 20, 2023 at 18:20:54 UTC.

Rostov-on-Don, Russia, direct via TBD.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RS0ISS.
The scheduled crewmember is Andrey Fediaev.
The ARISS mentor is RV3DR.
Contact is go for Friday, April 21, 2023 at 08:10 UTC.

Montross Middle School, Montross, VA, Multi-point telebridge via K6DUE.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS.
The scheduled crewmember is Steve Bowen, KI5BKB.
The ARISS mentor is AA4KN.
Contact is go for Friday, April 21, 2023 at 17:34:31 UTC.

Agrupamento de Escolas João de Barros, Corroios, Portugal and Escola Secundária da Baixa da Banheira, Moita, Portugal, direct via CS5SS.
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS.
The ARISS mentor is IKØUSO.
Contact is go for Saturday, April 22, 2023 at 12:06:44 UTC.

+ Completed Contacts

About Gagarin From Space, Ural State University of Railway Engineering, Yekaterinburg, Russia, direct via RK9C.
The ISS callsign was RS0ISS.The crewmember was Sergey Prokopyev.
The ARISS mentor was RV3DR.
Contact was successful on Wednesday, April 12, 2023 at 09:02 UTC.

About Gagarin From Space, Admiral D.N. Senyavin Marine Technical Academy, St. Petersburg, Russia, direct via RY1AAG.
The ISS callsign was RSØISS.
The crewmember was Andrey Fediaev.
The ARISS mentor was RV3DR.
Contact was successful on Wednesday, April 12, 2023 at 10:34 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.]

Upcoming Satellite Operations

None reported.

[ANS thanks Ian Parsons, K5ZM, AMSAT rover page manager, for the above information.]

Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events

+ CubeSat Developers Workshop
April 25–27, 2023
Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
Performing Arts Center, 1 Grand Avenue, San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
https://www.cubesatdw.org/

+ Dayton Hamvention
May 19-21
Greene County Fair and Expo Center, 210 Fairground Road, Xenia 45385
https://hamvention.org/

+ TAPR/AMSAT Banquet
May 19, 2023
Kohler Presidential Banquet Center is located at 4548 Presidential Way, Kettering, Ohio
Reservations are required and available at the AMSAT Store
https://www.amsat.org/product-category/amsat-at-hamvention/.

+ AMSAT Symposium and Annual Meeting
October 20-21, 2013
Dallas, Texas

+ AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events.

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. An email message received after a recent presentation:

“I really enjoyed Clint’s presentation last night. The fact that he had taken the time to research and know something about his audience and welcomed interaction made it very informative and enjoyable. This was a refreshing change from many canned YouTube presentations I’ve tried to watch, which were poorly done, fuzzy video or muddy audio, or a badly prepared presenter stumbling his way through, with any valuable info lost along the way. Thanks for hooking this one up.”

[ANS thanks Clint Bradford, K6LCS, and the AMSAT Events page for the above information]

Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ The 2023 CubeSat Developers Workshop has published its schedule for the April 25-27, 2023 event. It has also announced its Tuesday Keynote speaker as Maj. Gen. Douglas A. Schiess is the Commander, Combined Force Space Component Command, U.S. Space Command; and Vice Commander, Space Operations Command, U.S. Space Force, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The complete schedule is available at https://www.cubesatdw.org/2023-schedule. [ANS thanks CubeSat.org for the above information]

+ NASA announced today that it is once again delaying the launch of the Boeing Starliner CFT flight until 21 July 2023 – at the earliest. Starliner has been plagued by delays due to prolonged development, then a deeply flawed first (un-crewed) test flight, followed by repairs and redesigns, then a second un-crewed flight, followed by more issues that needed attending to before NASA would give a green light to fly a crew. According to NASA’s Steve Stich the main delay in launching Starliner has to do with certification work. There is also a lot of arrival and departure activity at the ISS which also helped push the launch to the right. [ANS thanks spaceref.com for the above information]

+ One of the challenges of seeking to establish a permanent outpost on the Moon is how to provide communications to support those on the lunar surface. Space stations in LEO rely on Earth-based communications and navigations capabilities, but outposts and other assets on the Moon cannot rely on the same capabilities because of the vast distances and line-of-sight challenges to places like the far side of the Moon. The Parsec service responds to this challenge. Read more at https://tinyurl.com/ANS-106-Parsec. [ANS thanks Lockheed Martin 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