AMSAT-NA Board of Directors Election Ballots in the Mail

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Ballots have been mailed to AMSAT-NA members in good standing, and must be received at the AMSAT-NA office by 15 SEP 2015 in order to be counted. Those sent outside North America were sent by air mail. If you have not received your ballot package in a reasonable time for your QTH, please contact the AMSAT-NA office. Your completed ballot should be returned as promptly as possible, and those from outside North American preferably by air mail or other expedited means.

This year there are eight Board candidates:

Barry Baines, WD4ASW
Jerry Buxton, N0JY
Steve Coy, K8UD
Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA
Mark Hammond, N8MH
EMike McCardel, KC8YLD
Bob McGwier, N4HY
Bruce Paige, KK5DO

The four candidates receiving the highest number of votes will be seated as voting Board Members with two year terms. The two candidates receiving the next highest number of votes will serve as non-voting Alternate Board Members with terms of one year. Please vote for no more than four candidates.

Election of Board members is both a responsibility as well as an opportunity by our membership to help shape the future direction of AMSAT-NA. Please take the time to review the candidate statements that accompany the ballot and determine who you wish to see on the Board.

W5KUB.com webcast with AMSAT; New Perk for Fox-1C donations

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Check out the AMSAT VPs of Engineering and Operations on the W5KUB.com webcast at 8PM CDT tonight July 14th, talking all about Fox and AMSAT.

Also, we have a new perk available for donations of $1,000 or more. Eighteen donors will receive engraved, mounted solar panel protective covers actually used on Fox-1C. Don’t miss this limited availability perk for supporting your amateur satellite program! Donations may be made via the AMSAT website, via the FundRazr crowdsourcing app at http://fnd.us/c/6pz92/sh/561Zd, or via the AMSAT office at (888) 322-6728.

fox solar cover small

CAMSAT announces mid-July launch with six U/V transponders

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Alan Kung, BA1DU (CAMSAT CEO) recently sent AMSAT-NA a stunning press release, copied in full below:

CAMSAT orchestrated CAS-3 amateur satellite system is now nearing completion, six Chinese amateur satellites will be launched in mid-July，it includes different weight category satellites, consists of a 20 kg, three 10 kg and two 1 kg satellites. All six satellites are equipped with substantially the same amateur radio payloads, a U/V mode linear transponder, a CW telemetry beacon and an AX.25 19.2k/9.6k baud GMSK telemetry downlink are attached in each of the six satellites, each set of amateur radio equipments has the same technical characteristics, but operates on different frequencies of 70cm band uplink and 2m band downlink.

During the years, CAMSAT works closely with DFH Satellite Co. Ltd to complete the project, which is Chinese government aerospace contractor and provided most of the support for this project. All the satellites are currently conducting final testing and inspection, here are the technical details:

● CAS-3A:CAS3A
– Micro-satellite architecture
– Dimensions: 400Lx400Wx400H mm
– Mass: 20kg
– Stabilization: three-axis stabilization system with its +Y surface facing the earth
– Antenna: Deployable antenna, one 1/4λ monopole VHF antenna with max.0dBi gain is located at +Z side and one 1/4λ monopole UHF antenna with max.0dBi gain is located at –Z side, close to the each edge of satellite body
– Uplink: 70cm band
– Downlink: 2m band
– Amateur radio payloads:
Callsign: BJ1SB
CW Telemetry Beacon: 50mW, 22wpm
U/V Mode Linear Transponder: 100mW, 20kHz bandwidth, spectrum Inverting
AX.25 telemetry: 100mW, 19.2k/9.6k baud GMSK

● CAS-3B, CAS-3C and CAS-3D:CAS3B
– Micro-satellite architecture
– Dimensions: 250Lx250Wx250H mm
– Mass: 9kg
– Stabilization: three-axis stabilization system with its +Y surface facing the earth
– Antenna: Deployable antenna, one 1/4λ monopole VHF antenna with max.0dBi gain is located at +Z side and one 1/4λ monopole UHF antenna with max.0dBi gain is located at –Z side, close to the each edge of satellite body
– Uplink: 70cm band
– Downlink: 2m band
– Amateur radio payloads:
Callsign: BJ1SC ( for CAS-3B), BJ1SD ( for CAS-3C), BJ1SE ( for CAS-3D)
CW Telemetry Beacon: 50mW, 22wpm
U/V Mode Linear Transponder: 100mW, 20kHz bandwidth, spectrum Inverting
AX.25 telemetry: 100mW, 19.2k/9.6k baud GMSK

● CAS-3E and CAS-3F:CAS3E
– Cube-satellite architecture
– Dimensions: 110Lx110Wx110H mm
– Mass: 1.5kg
– Stabilization: Spinning stabilization using permanent magnet torquer
– Antenna: Deployable antenna, one 1/4λ monopole VHF antenna with max.0dBi gain is located at +Z side and one 1/4λ monopole UHF antenna with max.0dBi gain is located at –Z side, close to the each edge of satellite body
– Uplink: 70cm band
– Downlink: 2m band
– Amateur radio payloads:
Callsign: BJ1SF ( for CAS-3E), BJ1SG ( for CAS-3F)
CW Telemetry Beacon: 50mW, 22wpm
U/V Mode Linear Transponder: 100mW, 20kHz bandwidth, spectrum Inverting
AX.25 telemetry: 100mW, 9.6k baud GMSK

This launch will use an brand new Chinese launch vehicle named as Long March – 6 (LM-6 or CZ-6) at Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center of China, CAS-3A will operate at about 450 km height sun-synchronous orbit, the other satellites will operate at about 530 km height sun-synchronous orbit.

The launch will carry total of 20 satellites, there are other three satellites named as CAS-3G, CAS-3H and CAS-3I involved in amateur radio from other agencies of China will share the same launch, CAMSAT was assisting Chinese government administration to coordinate and allocate their frequencies, more details will be announced later.

Fox-1 Development, Launch, and Frequency Coordination Status at Dayton

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During the Dayton Hamvention, AMSAT Vice President Operations, Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, and AMSAT Vice President – Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, provided more information about the Fox-1 satellites under development. Buxton, N0JY, says Fox-1A has passed all environmental testing and is integrated into the P-POD deployment canister. “The ‘remove before flight pin’ has been pulled, the doors closed on the P-POD, and everything is aboard the shipping container now en route to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for launch”, said Buxton.

Previously Buxton had announced plans to incorporate an L band receiver in Fox-1C and Fox-1D. The addition will allow ground commanded selection of the U/v (normal Fox-1 bands) or the new L/v 1.2 GHz (23 cm) mode. Both bands will operate as FM single channel. (See: http://www.amsat.org/wordpress/?p=4000)

During the satellite operations segment of the AMSAT Forum Glasbrenner provided the details of the uplink and downlink frequencies for the Fox-1 FM cubesat fleet.

Fox-1 Frequencies

                                            Uplink FM (67 Hz tone)     Downlink FM

Fox-1A                                 435.180 MHz                     145.980 MHz

RadFxSat/Fox-1B*              435.250 MHz                     145.960 MHz

Fox-1C*                               435.300 MHz                     145.920 MHz

       1267.300 MHz **               145.920 MHz

Fox-1D*                                435.350 MHz                    145.880 MHz

        1267.350 MHz **              145.880 MHz

* Pending IARU Coordination, If needed, changes will be announced

** U/v and L/v operations switchable by command station,
not operational simultaneously

According to Buxton, the team is planning to have an affordable L band uplink ground station available to amateurs by the time Fox-1C is on orbit.

+ Fox-1A will launch on a NASA ELaNa flight scheduled during the third quarter, 2015 from Vandenberg AFB. Fox-1A is a passenger aboard this launch driven by the schedule of the primary payload. When updates are available with firm dates they will be announced via the ANS bulletins, on the AMSAT web, and in the AMSAT Journal.

+ Fox-1B will fly with the Vanderbilt University radiation experiments expected in 2016.

+ Fox-1C will launch on Spaceflight’s maiden mission of the SHERPA multi-cubesat deployer on a SpaceX Falcon 9 flight planned for late 2015.

+ Fox-1D is a flight spare for Fox-1C. If not needed as a spare it will fly with the University of Iowa HERCI radiation mapping experiment.

+ Fox-1E “Evolution” will carry a Mode J linear transponder. The transponder is planned to be 30 kHz wide and will also have a 1200 bps BPSK telemetry beacon. Launch opportunities are being developed, to be announced at a later date.

Visit the Station and Operating Hints page (http://www.amsat.org/wordpress/?page_id=2144) for a copy of the Fox-1 Operating Guide which premiered at Dayton.

AMSAT has an immediate need to raise funds to cover both the launch contract and additional materials for construction and testing for Fox-1C. Please help us to continue to keep amateur radio in space. Donations may be made via the:

+ Paypal and credit card payment on the AMSAT website at http://www.amsat.org/wordpress

+ Donation link in the AMSAT store: http://store.amsat.org/catalog/

+ Call the AMSAT office at (888) 322-6728