Debugging AO-109: An Update

August 4, 2021 by Paul Stoetzer

August 1, 2021 by Mark Johns

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: [email protected]

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 Announces Strategic Satellite Objectives and Organization Goals
* F4DXV and VE1CWJ Set Numerous Satellite Distance Records
* Call For Papers For The 39Th AMSAT Space Symposium
* AM1SAT International Award
* Russian Lab Module Tilts Space Station With Errant Thruster Firings
* The Young Ham of the Year for 2021 is a Satellite Operator
* FO-29 & FO-99 Operation Schedules For August 2021
* More Slow-Scan TV Transmissions from RS0ISS Scheduled
* ARISS News
* Upcoming Satellite Operations
* Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
* Satellite Shorts From All Over

ANS-213 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 Aug 01

AMSAT Announces Strategic Satellite Objectives and Organization Goals

The AMSAT Board of Directors has adopted a set of strategic satellite objectives and organization goals. The document, adopted in early June and published in the the May/June 2021 edition of The AMSAT Journal. The plan establishes a long-term, multi-faceted vision that includes big dreams, a continued presence in space, and a development path for the scientists, engineers, and operators of tomorrow.

AMSAT President, Robert Bankston, KE4AL, commented, “Anything this ambitious will undoubtedly challenge our limited human and fiscal resources. We must parallel our new plan with new ways to manage and fund projects. AMSAT has a pool of very talented volunteers, but there will be times when we require skills beyond our current capabilities. Recruitment, partnerships, collaborative efforts, and even outsourcing are options that will help us fill in the gaps.”

Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO)

1. Upward to HEO. Develop and deploy a series of spacecraft capable of providing wide-area and continuous coverage from highly elliptical and geostationary transfer orbits. Greater Orbit, Larger Footprint

2. GOLF. Develop and deploy a series of increasingly capable spacecraft through a program to learn skills and systems for which we do not yet have the necessary low-risk experience, including active attitude control, deployable/steerable solar panels, radiation tolerance for commercial off the shelf (COTS) components in higher orbits and propulsion.

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station

3. AREx-A. Partner with ARISS and ARISS-USA to advance Amateur Radio’s presence aboard NASA’s International Space Station, Deep Space Gateway and Artemis missions and provide opportunities to engage with astronauts in lunar and deep space operations.

Low Earth Orbit (LEO)

4. LEO. Support a stream of LEO satellites developed in cooperation with the educational community and other Amateur Radio satellite groups.
4.1 FM Operations. Develop, deploy and support a series of 1U spacecraft to support continued FM amateur satellite operations in low Earth orbit.
4.2 Partnerships. Develop a plug-and-play communications solution for educational and other Amateur Radio CubeSat programs, providing a VHF/UHF telemetry beacon, command receiver, and linear transponder or FM repeater communications module.

AMSAT STEM Initiatives

5. AMSAT Education. Support science,
technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) initiatives and training programs for satellite and ground system designers and operators.
5.1 CubeSat Simulator. Continue development of AMSAT’s CubeSat Simulator Program.
5.2 High Altitude Ballooning. Develop program to support and sponsor the use of amateur radio in high-altitude balloon (HAB) launches.
5.3 Youth Initiative. Develop an educational out reach program that encourages youth to pursue STEM interests in space science and communication technology.

More details of the strategic satellite objectives and organization goals may be found at https://www.amsat.org/apogeeview/

[ANS thanks The AMSAT Journal for the above information]

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!

F4DXV and VE1CWJ Set Numerous Satellite Distance Records

Jérôme LeCuyer, F4DXV, and John Langille, VE1CWJ, have spent the last couple of months using their favorable geographic locations to set a number of satellite distance records.

On May 5, 2021 at 13:04 UTC, F4DXV and VE1CWJ set the initial record on JO-97 of 4,889 km. F4DXV was operating in JN04it22nt and VE1CWJ was operating in FN85ii89sk.

On May 15, 2021 at 08:30 UTC, F4DXV and VE1CWJ broke the 5,000 km mark for the first time on a satellite from the September 2015 Long March 6 launch when they covered a distance of 5,005 km between FN85ii22lf and JN15jo26rq on XW-2F. F4DXV was operating from the summit of a mountain and the QSO was completed with an elevation of -1.5 degrees.

On June 26, 2021 at 11:03 UTC, the pair set a record of 4,907 km on FO-99 while F4DXV was operating in JN04jr35pe and VE1CWJ was operating in FN85fo5ik.

One month later, on July 26, 2021, F4DXV returned to the summit of the mountain in JN15jo26rq and the pair set a number of additional records within one half-hour, again breaking the 5,000 km threshold for the first time on several additional satellites from the September 2015 Long March 6 launch. They set the record at 5,008 km on LilacSat-2 at 08:08 UTC, XW-2D at 08:15 UTC, XW-2B at 08:21 UTC, and XW-2C at 08:33 UTC.

A list of known satellite distance records is located at https://www.amsat.org/satellite-distance-records/. Please email n8hm at amsat.org if you wish to claim a new record, longer distance QSO not yet documented, or records for any other satellite/transponder not yet listed. Please note that if a satellite carries multiple transponders or supports multiple frequency bands, records on each transponder/band may be claimed, such as Mode A and B on AO-7 or Mode U/S, L/S, U/K, etc, on AO-40. This includes the ISS and records may be claimed for the packet digipeater and crossband repeater, but does not include different operating modes on the same transponder (such as CW or SSB on AO-7 Mode B).

[ANS thanks Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, AMSAT Executive Vice President, for the above information]

Call For Papers For The 39Th AMSAT Space Symposium

This is a call for papers for the 39th AMSAT Space Symposium to be held on the weekend of October 29-31, 2021 at the Crowne Plaza AiRE hotel in Bloomington, Minnesota.

Proposals for symposium presentations are invited on any topic of interest to the amateur satellite community. We request a tentative title of your presentation as soon as possible, with final copy submitted by October 18 for inclusion in the symposium proceedings. Abstracts and papers should be sent to Dan Schultz, N8FGV at n8fgv [at] amsat.org

[ANS thanks Dan Schultz N8FGV, Symposium Program Chair, 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/

AM1SAT International Award

From September 13-19 AM1SAT will be active on the amateur radio satellites from a number of locations in Spain, diplomas will be available for contacting the stations

A translation of the URE post reads:

AMSAT-EA will celebrate in September, coinciding with the IberRadio Fair organized by URE in Ávila and which is the largest meeting point for radio amateurs in Spain and Portugal, the third edition of its International Competition and AM1SAT Award.

To do this, AMSAT-EA operators will be in the air on all available satellites with the callsign AM1SAT between the 13th and 19th of that month, activating a minimum of 14 different locations.

As part of this activity and to encourage participation, the SILVER and GOLD classifications will be available, as well as a trophy for the one who achieves the greatest number of grids and for the one who manages to work the greatest number of different satellites.

In the last edition of the contest held in 2019, 727 QSOs were made, awarding 10 gold and 28 silver diplomas. The trophies for the best grid and satellite ‘hunter’ were awarded to F4DXV and EA3CAZ.

The rules in English for this year’s contest can be found at https://www.amsat-ea.org/app/download/12828633/AMSAT+EA+-+AM1SAT+2021+-+English.pdf

Orignal source, Union La Unión de Radioaficionados Españoles: https://tinyurl.com/IARU-Spain

[ANS thanks Southgate ARC for the above information]

Russian Lab Module Tilts Space Station With Errant Thruster Firings

A heavyweight Russian laboratory module that experienced a variety of problems after launch last week docked at the International Space Station Thursday, but in a moment of unexpected drama, inadvertent thruster firings briefly knocked the sprawling complex out of its normal orientation.

Space station program manager Joel Montalbano said the station was maintaining its orientation, or “attitude,” using massive NASA-supplied gyroscopes when the thruster firings suddenly began at 12:34 p.m. EDT, about three hours after the 44,000-pound Nauka multi-purpose laboratory glided in for docking.

The gyros were unable to counteract the unwanted push from Nauka’s jets and the space station, stretching the length of a football field with a mass of more than 930,000 pounds, began tilting away from its normal orientation.

Attitude control was quickly handed off to more effective rocket motors in the Russian Zvezda module, where Nauka was attached. A few minutes later, thrusters in a Progress cargo ship docked on the other side of Zvezda kicked in with additional muscle.

The space station ended up tilted up about 45 degrees from its earlier orientation, moving at one point at roughly half a degree per second. But in a little more than an hour, the station was back in its normal orientation, apparently none the worse for wear.

“We haven’t noticed any damage to the ISS,” Montalbano said in an afternoon teleconference. “One of the things we do after a dynamic event like this is go ahead and sit down with our structural loads team and review all the data, go pull all the telemetry and do an assessment. And so that’ll be the next step.”

A “spacecraft emergency” was declared at the outset, but that was standard procedure in such cases, giving the lab complex priority over other spacecraft using NASA’s satellite communications network. Montalbano said the station’s seven crew members were never in any danger.

“There was no immediate danger at any time to the crew,” he said. “Obviously, when you have a loss of attitude control, that’s something you want to address right away. But the crew was never in any, like, immediate emergency or anything like that.”

It’s not yet known what might have caused the Nauka module’s thrusters to suddenly begin firing as cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov were in the process of “integrating” the new spacecraft with the station’s computer systems.

Up to 11 spacewalks will be needed to outfit the laboratory and to make multiple power and data connections with the space station. The first two excursions are planned for September. Amateurs should note that the ISS amateur radio operations, ARISS, are shut down whenever there are docking operations or EVAs (spacewalks) taking place.

[ANS thanks SpaceFlightNow for the above information]

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!

https://tinyurl.com/ANS-GOLF

The Young Ham of the Year for 2021 is a Satellite Operator

Faith Hannah Lea, KD3Z, of Palm Coast, Florida, has been selected as the 2021 Bill Pasternak WA6ITF Memorial Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year.

Faith Hannah is the daughter of James, WX4TV, and Michelle, N8ZQZ, Lea. Her brother and two sisters are also hams.

She credited her parents with being the biggest influences in her entry into amateur radio. She said her journey began at the age of 10 in December 2014.

“I started studying for my Technician license with my brother (Zechariah WX4TVJ),” she recalled. “And we both went in and got it. And two weeks later, I had earned my General … Then, two months later, I earned my Extra.

“So that allowed me to really get into the stuff that I liked, which was working HF.”
Just 18 months after being licensed, Faith Hannah was invited to join the 2016 Dave Kalter Memorial Youth DX team operating PJ6 from the Dutch island of Saba.

“And that’s when I realized especially that DXing is amazing because I absolutely love those huge pileups and getting to talk to all of those different people,” she explained.

Among her PJ6 achievements was a satellite contact that broke the SO-50 distance world record. She wrote an article about the event which was published in the March/April 2017 issue of The AMSAT Journal.

In August 2018, Faith Hannah took part in the week-long “Youngsters on the Air” program in Johannesburg, South Africa where she participated in kit-building and antenna building projects, satellite operations and a high-altitude balloon launch.

She wrote an article about her experiences in South Africa that was published in CQ magazine.

On the way to South Africa, Faith Hannah and her father, James, WX4TV, had a 22-hour layover in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. They were invited by the Emirates Amateur Radio Society to visit and operate A62A and A60YOZ.

In December 2018, Faith Hannah and her younger sister, Hope, ND2L, and her father organized a 36-hour mini-DXpedition to the Dry Tortugas in the Gulf of Mexico, off the southwest coast of Florida, where they activated N4T.

The girls logged 1,970 HF contacts and 100 satellite contacts.

Faith Hannah’s account of the N4T operation was published by CQ magazine, and she and Hope shared the April 2019 cover.

These and other ham radio experiences energized her desire to actively participate in contesting with her family and she has been a regular participant in ARRL Field Day, ARRL International DX contests, CQ WW SSB, and several state QSO parties.

She has participated in several special event operations as well, including National Parks on the Air (NPOTA) activations, the first SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch, the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse in Florida, a 13 Colonies station (K2G) in Georgia, and Jamboree on the Air and Boy Scout Radio merit badge weekends.

She has been active in several clubs in Virginia and Florida over her brief time as an amateur radio operator, finding mentors and friends in each of them. She has served as a net control operator for Volusia, Florida ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service) during Hurricanes Matthew, Irma and Dorian.

Faith Hannah completed high school through home schooling. But before doing so, she enrolled in Daytona State College where she earned an Associate of Arts degree at the age of 15. Presently, she is enrolled in Stetson University in Deland, Florida, where she is recognized as a member of the junior class. She maintains a 4.0 GPA as she works toward earning two different degrees – a Bachelor of Science in molecular and cellular biology and a Bachelor of Business Administration. Faith Hannah said she is exploring two career tracks – medicine or the law, or possibly both.

In 2020, she earned a $25,000 scholarship from the Foundation for Amateur Radio. And in 2021, a $16,000 scholarship in the “Voice of Democracy” essay contest sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars – finishing first in Florida and second in the national competition.

As for amateur radio now and in the future, Faith Hannah says there’s always time for that.

“I know this sounds weird but it doesn’t really take all of my time to do my school, to have fun and to do ham radio,” she explained. “It all just fits in perfectly because a lot of times if I’m getting on the radio and it’s not a contest, I’ll just do it in the evening when gray line is there because that’s usually when I’m free and it’s a great time to make contacts.

“If it’s a weekend, we might take a radio and go out to a park or something and get on the air. And once it starts dying down, we’ll just hang around the park for a couple of hours.”

The YHOTY award is traditionally presented during the Huntsville Hamfest in August at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville Alabama. However, because of the spike in the Delta variant of Covid-19, Amateur Radio Newsline will not stage a public presentation at the hamfest this year. Faith Hannah will receive a certificate of recognition and other gifts during an online presentation.

The Young Ham of the Year Award was inaugurated by William Pasternak, WA6ITF, in 1986. Upon his passing in 2015, Bill’s name was added to the award as a memorial to his commitment to recognizing the accomplishments of young people to the Amateur Radio Service.

Amateur Radio Newsline, CQ magazine, and Yaesu USA are primary sponsors of the award, along with Heil Sound Ltd. and Radiowavz Antenna Company.

[ANS thanks Amateur Radio Newsline for the above information]

FO-29 & FO-99 Operation Schedules For August 2021

Fuji-OSCAR 29 is switched on for selected weekend orbits over Japan and remains available for use until the low voltage protection circuit turns the satellite off once again during eclipse.

FO-29 transponder ON times for Aug. 2021 (UTC)
1st 11:48-
7th 01:14- 11:33- 13:16-
8th 00:19- 10:35- 12:22-
14th 00:04- 10:20- 12:07- 23:09-
15th 11:12- 12:56-
17th 00:48- 02:35- 11:06- 12:52-
21st 00:38- 02:25- 10:56- 23:45-
22nd 09:59- 11:45-
27th 23:30-
28th 09:45- 11:30- 22:35-
29th 00:18- 10:35-

Source: https://www.jarl.org/Japanese/3_Fuji/fuji3-202107.htm

The August schedule for FO-99 is available at https://www.jamsat.or.jp/?p=1580

[ANS thanks JAMSAT and Hideo Kambayashi, JH3XCU, for the above information]

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

More Slow-Scan TV Transmissions from RS0ISS Scheduled

Russian cosmonauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) will transmit slow-scan television (SSTV) images from the station Friday and Saturday, August 6 – 7. They will use SSTV mode PD-120 on 145.800 MHz FM.

The transmissions are part of the Moscow Aviation Institute SSTV experiment (MAI-75) and will be sent via RS0ISS, the ham station in the Russian Zvezda (Service) module using a Kenwood TM-D710 transceiver.

The announced schedule is August 6, 1050 – 1910 UTC; August 7, 0950 – 1555 UTC. Dates and times are subject to change. For stations in the ISS footprint, the RS0ISS signal should be easy to copy on a handheld transceiver and a quarter-wave whip. Use 5 kHz channel spacing, if available, to correct for Doppler shift, beginning 5 – 10 kHz above the receive frequency and tuning downward as the ISS approaches and move away once again.

Free ISS software is available to download. Pass predictions are available from AMSAT. Representative images from prior ISS SSTV events are available in the ARISS SSTV Gallery.

[ANS thanks ARISS and ARRL 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.

Notre Dame Jogakuin Junior and Senior High School, Kyoto, Japan, direct via 8N3ND
The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS
The scheduled astronaut is Thomas Pesquet KG5FYG
Contact is go for: Tue 2021-08-03 11:10:15 UTC 77 deg

Next mode change is expected to take place in late August 2021.

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]

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

EA4NF: Linear & FM satellites August 1-14, 2021. IL27, IL28, IL38

ND0C & @kylee_ke0wpa and I will be “up north” for the next few days and will operate from EN36, 46, and 47. This is a “holiday-style” rove with no specific scheduled passes at this point. Most likely pop-up with short notice. FM and linears.

FN65/66: Indeed, VY2HF will be in FN65 from Thursday (7/22 – 7/29) evening this week until the following Thursday morning. As I’ll be in Fredericton proper, if there is interest I can position myself on the FN65/FN66 grid line with little trouble. Daytimes will be best, RS44 preferred, FM doable also. And on Thursday the 29th I will be driving into FN76/77 for several more days…

EN56, 57, 67: N8MR will be in EN57, EN67 and EN56 from Aug 7 thru Aug 14. Using an Icom 9700, Arrow antenna and SatPC32 to control uplink and downlink for Doppler.

[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.

AMSAT Ambassador Clint Bradford, K6LCS, has online Zoom presentations scheduled in coming weeks with amateur groups in

New Jersey
Central New Hampshire
North Carolina
Conejo Valley CA
Sonoma County CA
Massachusetts
Antelope Valley CA

Contact Clint to arrange other events:
Clint Bradford K6LCS, AMSAT Ambassador; ARRL instructor
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

+ Congratulations to two new satellite operators who have earned the AMSAT Rover Award. Tor-Atle Sandal, LA9XGA, received award #58 and Randy Kohlwey, WI7P, received award #59. More information on the AMSAT Rover Award can be found at https://www.amsat.org/amsat-rover-award/ (Thanks to AMSAT Director of Contests and Awards Bruce Paige, KK5DO)

+ A solar wind stream hit Earth during the early hours of July 28th. First contact rattled Earth’s magnetic field and sparked rare blue auroras over Canada. Blue is a sign of bright moonlight hitting the top of the auroras. The process is called “resonant scattering.” Details and photo at https://bit.ly/3zUnCLX (ANS thanks Spaceweather and Southgate ARC for the above information)

+ Boeing and NASA are getting ready to make another attempt at launching its Starliner astronaut taxi to the International Space Station. The uncrewed CST-100 Starliner space capsule is now scheduled to launch to the space station on Tuesday, Aug. 3, at 1720z, lifting off from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. If that launch date holds, the capsule will arrive at the International Space Station on Wednesday, Aug. 4. Amateurs should note that the ISS amateur radio operations, ARISS, are shut down whenever there are docking operations or EVAs (spacewalks) taking place. (ANS thanks Space.com for the above information)

+ Another step towards space exploration from UK soil has been unlocked, with the passing of the spaceflight regulations, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced 29 July 2021. The legislation provides the framework to regulate the UK space industry and enable launches to take place from British soil for the very first time. (ANS thanks SpaceDaily for the above information)

+ NASA has selected SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy to launch its Europa Clipper mission to a potentially habitable moon of Jupiter, a choice that appeared inevitable once NASA was no longer required to use the Space Launch System. NASA announced July 23 that it awarded a launch services contract to SpaceX for the October 2024 launch of Europa Clipper on a Falcon Heavy rocket. The contract is valued at $178 million. (ANS thanks SpaceNews 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. President’s Club donations may be made at https://tinyurl.com/ANS-PresClub or through the AMSAT Store.

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 info [at] amsat.org for additional student membership information.

Join AMSAT today at https://launch.amsat.org/

73 and remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space,

This week’s ANS Editor, Mark Johns, K0JM
k0jm at amsat dot org

ANS-206 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins for July 25

July 25, 2021 by Paul Stoetzer

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS–206

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[email protected]

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’s 39th Annual Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting To Be Held October 29-31
2021 AMSAT Board of Directors Election Being Held
23cm band and Sat-Nav Coexistence: Preliminary Studies considered in ITU-R WP4C
AO-109 (RadFxSat-2/AMSAT Fox-1E) Open For Amateur Use
New operational reports on FO-29 and AO-109
No Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for July 22, 2021
NEA Scout and solar sails on CUBESAT experiments.
10th annual NASA Space Apps Challenge
ARISS News
Upcoming Satellite Operations
Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
Satellite Shorts From All Over

ANS–206 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 July 25

AMSAT’s 39th Annual Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting To Be Held October 29-31

The 39th AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting will be held Friday through Sunday, October 29-31, 2021, at the Crowne Plaza AiRE in Bloomington, Minnesota. Crowne Plaza AiRE is located at 3 Appletree Square, Bloomington, MN 55425.

The Crowne Plaza AiRE is adjacent to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and only steps away from the METRO Blue Line’s American Blvd. stop. Nearby shopping and tourist attractions include Mall of America, SEA LIFE at Mall of America, Nickelodeon Universe, and the Minnesota Zoo.

The Symposium includes presentations, exhibit space, and the AMSAT Annual General Meeting. The preliminary schedule is presented below.

The AMSAT Board of Directors Meeting will be held before the Symposium, October 28-29, at the same hotel.

You can make hotel reservations by calling the hotel directly at (952) 854-9000 or (877) 424-4188 (toll free) or online by visiting crowneplazaaire.com. The group name is Amateur Satellite Group.

Registration is available on AMSAT’s Member Portal at https://launch.amsat.org/Events

Preliminary Schedule of Events (subject to change)
Thursday, October 28, 2021

0800 – 1200 AMSAT Board Meeting
1200 – 1300 AMSAT Board Lunch Break
1300 – 1700 AMSAT Board Meeting
1600 – 1900 Registration

Friday, October 29, 2021

0800 – 1900 Registration
0800 – 2100 Space Exhibit
0800 – 1200 AMSAT Board Meeting
1200 – 1300 AMSAT Board Lunch Break
1300 – 1700 AMSAT Space Symposium presentations
1700 – 1900 Dinner Break
1900 – 2130 AMSAT Reception, cash bar available

Saturday, October 30, 2021

0800 – 1600 Registration
0800 – 2100 Space Exhibit
0800 – 1200 AMSAT Space Symposium presentations
1200 – 1300 Lunch Break
1300 – 1500 AMSAT Space Symposium presentations
1500 – 1700 AMSAT Annual General Meeting
1800 – 1900 Attitude Adjustment (reception)
1800 – 2200 Cash Bar
1900 – 2200 Banquet

Sunday, October 31, 2021

0700 – 0900 AMSAT Ambassadors’ Breakfast

NOTE: All times are Central Daylight Time (CDT), UTC – 5 hours

[ANS thanks the 2021 AMSAT Symposium Committee for the above information]

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
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!
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

2021 AMSAT Board of Directors Election Being Held

The nomination period for the 2021 Board of Directors Election ended on June 15, 2021. The following candidates have been duly nominated and their candidate statements can be found at link that follows:

Joseph Armbruster, KJ4JIO
Robert Bankston, KE4AL
Jerry Buxton, N0JY
Zach Metzinger, N0ZGO

In accordance with our Bylaws, AMSAT must hold an election, even though we have four nominations for four open Director positions. As such, we will host electronic voting on our Member Portal this year, at no cost to the organization. Voting is now open and will close on September 15, 2021.

When members click on the poll link, they will see their ballot (poll question). After choosing from the possible options, click the Submit button to cast your vote. Unlike many online polls, the results of all votes cast, up to the point of your vote, will not be displayed. AMSAT members can only vote once. If you click the poll link again after already voting, a vote submitted message will be displayed. As four seats on the Board of Directors are up for election this year, all four candidates will be seated on the Board when the voting period concludes on September 15, 2021.

To read candidate biographies see: https://launch.amsat.org/2021-BoD-Election

AMSAT members may access their ballots at: https://launch.amsat.org/Sys/Poll/25943

[ANS thanks Jeff Davis, KE9V, AMSAT Secretary, for the above information]

23cm band and Sat-Nav Coexistence: Preliminary Studies considered in ITU-R WP4C

During the period 5–13 July 2021, the preparatory work for WRC-23 agenda item 9.1b continued in ITU-R Working Party 4C (WP4C). (See Region 1 Feb 23rd news item for further background). The IARU member representatives from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Japan, Norway, UK and USA, participated in the meeting and delivered additional information on amateur activities in this key microwave band.

Preliminary studies came from France based on the ongoing CEPT work to provide initial estimates of separation distances required between RNSS GALILEO receivers and a sample of amateur emissions. The European Commission GALILEO team provided a set of observations pertaining to a RNSS interference event in northern Italy.
More information is on the IARU page at: https://bit.ly/3kKEmRq

[ANS thanks The IARU and Barry Lewis, G4SJH for the above information]

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AO-109 (RadFxSat-2/AMSAT Fox-1E) Open For Amateur Use

The AMSAT Engineering and Operations Teams are pleased to announce that AO-109 (RadFxSat-2/AMSAT Fox-1E) is now open for amateur use. Users are advised to use efficient modes such as CW or FT4 for making contacts, since issues with the satellite make SSB voice contacts challenging at best.

Please see the May/June 2021 issue (Vol. 44, No. 3) of The AMSAT Journal for an article by Burns Fisher, WB1FJ, and Mark Hammond, N8MH, detailing the various attempts to characterize AO-109 and its apparent problems.

On behalf of the Engineering and Operations Teams–

73,
Jerry, N0JY and Drew, KO4MA

AO-109 Frequencies
Inverting Linear Transponder
Uplink 145.860 MHz – 145.890 MHz
Downlink 435.760 MHz – 435.790 MHz
1k2 BPSK Telemetry 435.750 MHz (non-operational)

[ANS thanks AMSAT Vice President – Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, and AMSAT Vice President – Operations Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, for the above information]

New operational reports on FO-29 and AO-109

In a recent email, Hideo Kambayashi, JH3XCU has kindly translated the August 2021 operational schedule for FO-29: “FO-29 operation schedule for Aug. 2021 (UTC) 1st 11:48- 7th 01:14- 11:33- 13:16- 8th 00:19- 10:35- 12:22- 14th 00:04- 10:20- 12:07- 23:09- 15th 11:12- 12:56- 17th 00:48- 02:35- 11:06- 12:52- 21st 00:38- 02:25- 10:56- 23:45- 22nd 09:59- 11:45- 27th 23:30- 28th 09:45- 11:30- 22:35- 29th 00:18- 10:35- Source:https://www.jarl.org/Japanese/3_Fuji/fuji3-202107.htm

Considerable discussion of AO-109 activity has occurred on the AMSAT-NA email reflector. Chris Thompson writes: “I guess our friend AO-109 must have been just waiting for us to open it up for amateur use before sending some telemetry 🙂
Seriously, thanks to SatNogs, we found some telemetry that was recorded on May 10 just after we cranked up the modulator gain. In addition, a SatNogs observation today, July 21, also shows signs of weak telemetry. We’d appreciate it if anyone who has a station that can receive telemetry, especially stations with good gain and tracking ability, could listen for AO-109 telemetry on 435.750. If FoxTelem is all you have that’s great, but if you also have some way to capture the signal in a file (say IQ recording in HDSDR) that would be even better. Chances are the signal is weak enough that it might need some teasing by our experts before we can get any info out of it. I’ll also schedule some SatNogs observations, and anyone who has a SatNogs station with similar characteristics (gain antenna etc), please schedule some of your own over the next few days!”

Chris Thompson, AC2CZ/G0KLA adds: “But, let me remind everyone that the prize and glory for receiving and decoding the first telemetry is still available. I could partially decode the data that Mark supplied by turning off the Forward Error Correction and decoding the bytes between the sync words – errors and all. It is quite a challenge to receive decodable frames but it is surely possible. See if you can be the first to post decoded frames. If you are not set up to decode frames but have a good recording, then send it to me and I will attempt to decode it. The prize will be yours all the same.

As an example, the ITR waterfall is just not quite decodable: https://network.satnogs.org/observations/4453728/. But it is close. If you can do better than that then the prize could be yours.

Mark Jessop, VK5QI, also provides the following: “I’ve scheduled more observations on the ITR ground station, which is not usually schedulable by most SatNOGS users (the station is in testing). The ITR station is using a large ZCG-Scalar Cross-Yagi, phased for RHCP. Gain is approx 14 dBd. A picture of the station is here: https://network-satnogs.freetls.fastly.net/media/ground_stations/20170911_140358.jpg. Worth noting that only one of those cross-yagis is hooked up at the moment.”

[ANS thanks Hideo Kambayashi, JH3XCU of JAMSAT, Burns Fisher WB1FJ AMSAT Flight Software, Chris Thompson, AC2CZ, and Mark Jessop VK5QI for the above information]

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No Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for July 22, 2021

The current Keplerian file is available at: https://www.amsat.org/tle/current/nasa.all

[ANS thanks Ray Hoad, WA5QGD, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, for the above information]

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NEA Scout and solar sails on CUBESAT experiments.

Now tested at scale, first by Japan’s IKAROS in 2010 (196 m2 sail) and later by The Planetary Society’s LightSail 2 (32 m2 sail), solar sails allow for low, continuous thrust without the use of fuel. NASA’s Near-Earth Asteroid Scout mission, or NEA Scout, is a 6U CubeSat with an 86 m2 aluminized polymer solar sail planned to launch on Artemis I (e.g. probably very late this year or early next). The entire craft and sail weigh less than 14 kg. The mission will spend two years sailing on solar photon pressure (and adjusting course with cold gas thrusters) to reach 1991 VG, a very small NEA, and will then characterize the asteroid’s physical properties during a slow flyby (10-20 m/s; paper). If successful, the mission may be extended to another asteroid. Further out, NASA plans to launch Solar Cruiser in 2025 to the Earth-Sun L1 point where it will use the largest solar sail ever flown (1,650 m2, with built-in reflection control devices at the sail’s corners for attitude adjustments), to explore a novel orbit: “Solar Cruiser will fly beyond L1 and use a solar sail to make its own artificial orbit closer to the Sun, but still on a straight line between the Sun and Earth as Earth revolves around the Sun. Only a solar sail can provide the forces necessary to maintain such an otherwise unstable orbit, since doing so requires constant fuel.” This is a testbed for future, even more ambitious missions.

[ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information]

10th annual NASA Space Apps Challenge

Registration is open for the 10th annual NASA Space Apps Challenge. “NASA is inviting coders, entrepreneurs, scientists, designers, storytellers, makers, builders, artists, and technologists to come together in a global, virtual hackathon the weekend of October 2-3, 2021. During a period of 48 hours, participants from around the world will come together to create virtual teams and solve challenges using NASA’s open-sourced data.

See https://www.spaceappschallenge.org/ for information and registration details.

[ANS thanks NASA for the above information]

ARISS News

No ARISS activities are being reported for the coming week. The ARISS status page below explains.

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

Quick Hits:

DM23, DM33, DM43 – Dave AD7DB will be operating holiday style on FM satellites from July 22-25 2021. DM23 will be on July 22 or 25. The other grids may be activated on any of those days depending on weather and other factors. Confirmations in LOTW. Follow @ad7db on Twitter for updates.

Major Roves:

WA7AA:
July 25-27 DN64 holiday style
July 30-31 DN63 holiday style

The remaining parts of this trip will be camping in remote areas with little to no internet or Twitter. I will get info out as I can, but I won’t be able to setup skeds ahead of time. Lots of POTA activations on Sats and HF as well.

I will be operating as F4DXV/P from several different grids over the next 2 weeks of my vacation (holiday’s style mode & weather permitting of course)

From Jérôme F4DXV: My current plans for NA, look like this:
JN14 on July 25th: RS-44 13utc (during the trip therefore not guaranteed with traffic)
JN15 on July 26th: AO-7 08:40utc
JN05 on July 28th: AO-7 08:35utc
IN96 on August 01: FO-29 12:00utc
IN96 on August 06: AO-7 18:12utc
JN06 on August 09: RS-44 11:42utc (on my return trip so not guaranteed with traffic)
IN94 on August 16: RS-44 10:40utc
Please look for me ~145.938 for AO-7 , ~435.660 for RS-44 & 435.640 for FO-29 Hope to CU there

Tyler Nicolas, WL7T has been busy Tweeting his roves. The latest: “Plan to be in BP42 Friday evening, BP53 Saturday evening, and the big one BP63 (a difficult grid to get to) on Sunday.

Please submit any additions or corrections to Ke0pbr (at) gmail.com

[ANS thanks Paul Overn, KE0PBR, AMSAT rover page manager, Jérôme LeCuyer, F4DXV and Tyler Nicolas, WL7T 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.

No upcoming events currently scheduled.

Think a 90-minute lively, informative, and fun “How to Work the Easy Satellites” Zoom presentation would be appropriate for your convention or club? Always includes are overviews of the ARRL, AMSAT, and ARISS … and pre-presentation questions are solicited and welcome.

Contact AMSAT Ambassador Clint Bradford, K6LCS, at http://www.work-sat.com or by phone at 909-999-SATS (7287)

[ANS thanks Paul Overn, KE0PBR, AMSAT Events page manager, for the above information]

Satellite Shorts From All Over

+ NASA is also developing its ACS3 mission to test light-weight deployable booms for solar sails using composite materials that are 75% lighter and experience 100x less in-space thermal distortion than those used previously. The ACS3 sail is 9 meters on a side and deploys from a 12U CubeSat.
(ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information)

+ Recently announced, joining NEA Scout on Artemis I are two CubeSats from JAXA. EQUULEUS is a 6U CubeSat that will demonstrate low-energy trajectory control technologies at the Earth-Moon L2 point, and OMOTENASHI, which will attempt a sort-of soft landing on the Moon with a small rocket motor and an airbag, all in a 12 kg, 6U spacecraft!
(ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information)

+ A Tweet reminder from Mitch Ahrenstorff @AD0HJ: AMSAT-Twitter Meetup Net on DMR BrandMeister Talkgroup #98006 | YSF Reflector #11689 | Echolink *AMSAT* #101377 July 22nd 0200Z (Wednesday Night 9:00 PM CDT). Please stop by with your check-in and comments! Net Control tonight will be Mitch @AD0HJ #amsat #dmr #ysf #echolink
(ANS thanks Mitch Ahrenstorff @AD0H for the above information)

+ A number of interesting announcements and updates to QO-100 operation have been posted by AMSAT-Deutchland. This include a lecture by Dr. K-A Eichorn, DK3ZL about the DP0POL/MM Polarstern voyage, A QO-100 linux SDR, and that contests will be allowed on the upper mixed mode range of QO-100. Details are at: https://amsat-dl.org/en/
(ANS thanks AMSAT-Deutchland for the above information)

Join AMSAT today at https://launch.amsat.org/

73 and remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space,

This week’s ANS Editor,

Jack Spitznagel, KD4IZ, Associate Editor, AMSAT News Service
KD4IZ at arrl dot net

AO-109 (RadFxSat-2/AMSAT Fox-1E) Open For Amateur Use

July 20, 2021 by Paul Stoetzer

Please see the May/June 2021 issue (Vol. 44, No. 3) of The AMSAT Journal for an article by Burns Fisher, WB1FJ, and Mark Hammond, N8MH, detailing the various attempts to characterize AO-109 and its apparent problems.

On behalf of the Engineering and Operations Teams–

73,
Jerry, N0JY and Drew, KO4MA

AO-109 Frequencies
Inverting Linear Transponder
Uplink 145.860 MHz – 145.890 MHz
Downlink 435.760 MHz – 435.790 MHz
1k2 BPSK Telemetry 435.750 MHz (non-operational)

[ANS thanks AMSAT Vice President – Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, and AMSAT Vice President – Operations Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, for the above information]