SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-127.01 AMSAT-NA BEST EVER DAYTON HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 127.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD MAY 7, 1994 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-127.01 Dayton Hamvention '94 Termed "Best Ever" For AMSAT-NA The 1994 Dayton Hamvention is now history, and AMSAT-North America's (AMSAT-NA) participation at this year's gathering was nothing short of a record breaker from a number of standpoints. "While all the numbers aren't in yet, we now believe this will be our best year ever for AMSAT at Day- ton," said Bill Tynan (W3XO) AMSAT-NA President. He went on to express his sincere thanks for the very long hours, lost sleep and hard work put forth by the many Dayton AMSAT booth volunteers, forum speakers and contributors. In addition, Bill expressed his particular pleasure that the success at this year's Hamvention also coincided with AMSAT's 25th anniversary cele- bration. Without question, the highlight of this year's Hamvention activ- ity was a forum honoring the 10th anniversary of SAREX activity aboard the NASA Space Shuttle. Roy Neal (K6DUE) moderated the forum and was joined on the podium by NASA Shuttle Astronauts Tony England (W0ORE) and Steve Nagel (N5RAW) along with several other members of the SAREX working group. Also joining the group by live telephone patch were Astronauts Jay Apt (N5QWL) at the Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston and Astronaut Ron Parise (WA4SIR) at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. In addition, a surprisingly clear telephone patch was successfully completed to Astronaut Ken Cameron (KB5AWP) in Star City, Russia. Ken is now training there for an upcoming joint NASA/Soyuz mission to the Russian Space Station MIR. All the astronauts shared their on-orbit experiences with ham radio and answered several questions from the gathering of Ham- vention attendees. A number of students who have contacted the Shuttle via Amateur Radio in the past were also present at the forum and gave their own first hand impressions of their activities. Local TV coverage from all three Dayton commercial television stations highlighted the NASA astronauts speaking to the standing-room-only crowd of nearly 500 present at the event. Other AMSAT activities at this year's Hamvention included a beginner's forum hosted by Keith Baker (KB1SF) along with a new PACSAT forum hosted by John Hansen (WA0PTV). Ed Krome (KA9LNV) highlighted the simplicity of Mode-S in a forum dedicated exclusively to that activity. Dick Jansson (WD4FAB) AMSAT-NA's VP for Engineering, was also on the program and brought Hamvention attendees up to speed on the latest developments with Phase 3-D. In addition, Ron Broadbent (G3AAJ) the Honorable Secretary of AMSAT-UK, gave his organization's perspective on the Phase 3-D project. Ron also announced to the group that a $100,000 contribution from AMSAT-UK was recently made to the Phase 3-D project specifically for the purchase of flight batteries for the new spacecraft. Unfortunately, two days of steady rain on Friday and Saturday followed by extremely cold weather on Sunday kept most of the crowd indoors. Despite the bad weather, however, well over 200 people stopped by the booth to initially join or renew their memberships in AMSAT-NA. New items at this year's AMSAT booth included two new software programs and a number of other items. Joe Holman (KA7LDN) unveiled AMSAT-NA's first ever Microsoft Windows-based satellite tracking program called WINSAT. In addition, a new Microsoft Windows-based PB/PG packet software package called WISP written by Chris Jackson (ZL2TPO), was premiered at the booth. Needless to say, both of these new AMSAT software packages were in great demand by Hamvention attendees. Other new items included an AMSAT 25th Anniversary patch and decal. Also, several new books were premiered at the booth, including the fourth and latest edition of "How to Use the Amatuer Radio Satellites" by Keith Baker (KB1SF) and a newly revised "AMSAT-NA Digital Satellite Guide" edited by Gould Smith (WA4SXM). [The AMSAT News Service (ANS) would like to thank KB1SF, W3XO, and KA3HDO for this bulletin item.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-127.02 UoSAT STUDENT/HAM HONORED HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 127.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD MAY 7, 1994 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-127.02 G7MBF Recognized For His Research With POSAT-OSCAR-28's GPS Experiment Congratulations are in order for University of Surrey (UoSAT) student Martin Unwin (G7MBF) who won the "Best Student Paper Prize" for his paper titled "Differential GPS Implementation on Microsatellites" presented at the recent Differential Satellite Navigation Systems Conference held in London. The award was sponsored by INMARSAT and the Royal Institute of Navigation and consists of $1,000 to be used for continuing research in GPS at UoSAT; it was presented to Martin by Olaf Lundburg, the Director General of INMARSAT. The PoSAT-OSCAR-28 GPS experiment has been highly successful automatically generating keplerian elements on-board based on GPS location measurements. Efforts are under way to use ground-based radars or other "cross-checks" to see just how accurately the GPS receiver is measuring the satellite's position in orbit. [The AMSAT News Service (ANS) would like to thank Jeff Ward (K8KA/G0SUL) for this bulletin item.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-127.03 AO-13 OPS NET SCHEDULE HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 127.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD MAY 7, 1994 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-127.03 Current AMSAT Operations Net Schedule For AO-13 AMSAT Operations Nets are planned for the following times. Mode-B Nets are conducted on AO-13 on a downlink frequency of 145.950 MHz. If, at the start of the OPS Net, the frequency of 145.950 MHz is being used for a QSO, OPS Net enthusiasts are asked to move to the alternate frequency of 145.955 MHz. Date UTC Mode Phs NCS Alt NCS 14-May-94 1700 B 167 WA5ZIB W5IU 21-May-94 2130 B 185 VE2LVC W9ODI Any stations with information on current events would be most welcomed. Also, those interested in discussing technical issues or who have quest- ions about any particular aspect of OSCAR statellite operations, are encouraged to join the OPS Nets. If neither of the Net Control Stations show up, any participant is invited to act as the NCS. "Slow Scanners" are invited to join the SSTV sessions on AO-13. The freq- uency is 145.955 MHz. The net meets at 45 minutes before Mode S, and on Mode B following Mode S on Saturdays and Sundays. Join those sessions or convey your wishes for other SSTV skeds to wb6llo@amsat.org, and he will coordinate your efforts. /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-127.04 WEEKLY OSCAR STATUS REPORTS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 127.04 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD MAY 7, 1994 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-127.04 Weekly OSCAR Status Reports: 07-MAY-94 AO-13: Current Transponder Operating Schedule: M QST *** AO-13 TRANSPONDER SCHEDULE *** 1994 Apr 07-Jul 11 Mode-B : MA 0 to MA 170 | Mode-BS : MA 170 to MA 218 | Mode-S : MA 218 to MA 220 |<- S beacon only Mode-S : MA 220 to MA 230 |<- S transponder; B trsp. is OFF Mode-BS : MA 230 to MA 250 | Blon/Blat 230/-5 Mode-B : MA 250 to MA 256 | Omnis : MA 250 to MA 120 | Move to attitude 180/0, Jul 11 [G3RUH/DB2OS/VK5AGR] FO-20: The FO-20 ground command station has confirmed that the bird has been malfunctioning. The operational schedule announced previously is currently suspended and the analog mode will be continued indefinitely. Further operation schedule will be announced on and after 11-May-94. [Kazu Sakamoto (JJ1WTK) qga02014@niftyserve.or.jp] KO-25: KO-25 B has apparently been moved to the alternate receive freq- uency because of trouble with the other receiver. So uplink now is 145.870 MHz. The controllers note that the receiver may be turned off inter- mittently due to receiver testing. [WH6I] AO-16: Working well. [WH6I] LO-19: Operating normally. [WH6I] KO-23: Operating Normally. [WH6I] UO-11: WB1HBU talked with Doug Loughmiller (G0SYX) of the University of Surrey (UoSAT) while they both were at the Dayton Hamvention and G0SYX indicated that UO-11's S band beacon is now on continuously. The frequency is 2401.5 MHz. [WB1HBU & G0SYX] RS-10/11: WA6ARA reports that RS-10 is operating beautifully! The passes at his QTH are coming around again in the late evening. WA6ARA is present- ly using QRP power, about 5W, using CW into a J pole with excellent results. WA6ARA says that "this bird continues to put out an excellent signal." [WA6ARA] RS-12/13: HA5WH friend, Sanyi (XU7VK), is working from Cambodia during the daytime on RS-12. His biggest problem is finding stations to make QSOs with. HA5WH requests all stations in that area who use RS-12 to listen for XU7VK on RS-12. [HA5WH] The AMSAT NEWS Service (ANS) is looking for volunteers to contribute weekly OSCAR status reports. If you have a favorite OSCAR which you work on a regular basis and would like to contribute to this bulletin, please send your observations to WD0HHU at his CompuServe address of 70524,2272, on INTERNET at wd0hhu@amsat.org, or to his local packet BBS in the Denver, CO area, WD0HHU @ W0LJF.#NECO.CO.USA.NOAM. Also, if you find that the current set of orbital elements are not generating the correct AOS/LOS times at your QTH, PLEASE INCLUDE THAT INFORMATION AS WELL. The information you provide will be of value to all OSCAR enthusiasts. /EX