SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-351.01 PHASE-3D STATUS REPORT! HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 351.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD DECEMBER 18, 1993 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-351.01 The Phase 3-D Project Shifts Into High Gear Following a series of meetings both in the United States and Germany involving key members of the International Phase 3-D Project Development Team, work on construction of the new amateur satellite is moving forward at an accelerated pace. On December 11th and 12th, Hanspeter Kulen, DK1YQ, along with Dr. Karl Meinzer, DJ4ZC, AMSAT-DL President and Phase 3-D Team Leader, hosted a key meeting of the project's international participants near Munich, Germany. AMSAT-NA's Vice President for Engineering, Dick Jansson, WD4FAB, and Dr. Tom Clark, W3IWI, AMSAT-NA's President Emeritus and a key member of the Phase 3-D GPS experiment group, were also in attendance. Both Dick and Tom report that all phases of the project are "on track" for the expected launch of Phase 3-D in 1996. "Each country's team is performing their assigned tasks very well," said Jansson on Dec. 13th, soon after his return from Germany. Clark observed that, "we are really pulling together as an international group." He went on to note that, "thanks to the work of our European, South African and Japanese friends, it now looks like we'll have some superb cameras, some really 'hot' receivers and some very powerful transmitters on Phase 3-D when it's launched in 1996." Specifically, Dick mentioned that Mike Dorsett's (G6GEJ) effort's on the spacecraft's 2 Meter transmitter are right on schedule and that Mike's proposed construction approach has already met all the key design parameters. During the Munich meeting, Jansson was presented with a token of appreci- ation by Dr. Karl Meinzer for his outstanding contributions to the project. Karl cited Dick's superb design work on the Phase 3-D structure and thermal control system as well as his tireless efforts in support of the overall international project. Just prior to his meetings in Germany, Jansson met with both students and faculty members from AMSAT-NA's team at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. Weber students are now in the process of building the flight model structure for Phase 3-D. Dick reports that this vitally important portion of AMSAT-NA's role in the overall effort is "also on schedule for delivery of flight hardware next June." Other major contributions by AMSAT-NA to the project in the coming year will include the purchase of the spacecraft's heat pipes, solar panels and flight batteries, as well as final construction of the spacecraft's GPS positioning experiment, antennas and propellant flow hardware. In addition, yet another group of some 15 dedicated volunteers have now been assembled in the Orlando, Florida area. These people are already in the process of both securing and preparing the spacecraft's final integration facility. This team will also assist other project team members with integration activities beginning in mid-1994. Jansson concluded by saying, "there is still a lot of work left on all of our plates between now and 1996." He also had high praise for the many volunteers now working on the project. "The ongoing work of our volunteers is of high quality, and is much appreciated. Without their selfless efforts, the Phase 3-D project simply would not happen." Jansson said. /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-351.02 KO-25 EARTH IMAGING INFORMATION HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 351.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD DECEMBER 18, 1993 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-351.02 K6OYY Passes Along Some Information About KITSAT-OSCAR-25 (KO-25) K6OYY has received an informative message from Mr. Hyungshin Kim of SaTReC/KAIST in Korea. Mr. Kim reports that the KO-25 images are not currently on KO-23, but that they will be available on KO-25 when its BBS is opened up sometime next year. Currently images on KO-23 have the designation KAIWxxxx or KAINxxxx depending upon which imaging system was used; images from KO-25 will have KBIWxxxx or KBINxxxx as file designations. In response to K6OYY's inquiry, Mr. Kim also indicated that it is possible for amateur experimenters to process the COLOR images from KO-25! He fur- ther stated that the designer of the KO-25 color CCD camera is preparing an article on how to do this. KO-25 continues transmit strong signals with good modulation quality as received here by K6OYY at Santa Barbara, CA QTH. The Kitsat Team is very busy at the moment conducting experiments with the various systems on KO-25. Mr. Kim reports that one of his collegues has been asked to prepare an article for the AMSAT publications. [The AMSAT News Service (ANS) would like to thank Jim Shepherd (K6OYY) for the information which went into this bulletin item. For those on who live near the Santa Barbara, CA area, K6OYY is the 75M AMSAT West Coast HF Net Control Station. Listen for K60YY on 3840 KHz every Tuesday night at 8:00 P.M. PST.] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-351.03 MIR COSMONAUTS HEARD HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 351.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD DECEMBER 18, 1993 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-351.03 WA6ZVP Explains Working One Of the Russian Cosmouauts Aboard MIR WA6ZVP noting one morning this past week that during a MIR pass on the west coast would provide him a good pass for a visual sighting. Getting up just as the spacecraft came above the horizon, he had noted again that the AOS time was about 3 minutes or so before it would pass out of the earth's shadow. With his receiver set to 145.550 MHz, he started to hear the normal packet traffic. Just as WA6ZVP was about to go outside his house, he started hearing voice traffic but at first thought it was just some of the Los Angeles "locals" going QRMing the frequency and complaining about the packet traffic. Much to his surprise, however, when WA6ZVP turned the volume up to hear the voice of a cosmonaut speaking broken but very understandable English. The cosmonaut was in a QSO with another station which could not be hear locally or from a mountain top remote. During the 5 or 6 minutes that I heard him, he did not identify so I don't know what call he is using. Presumably it was R0MIR. The best that WA6ZVP can recall, the cosmonauts have not been on voice for over 4-6 months. For all those wishing to work R0MIR, please listen first before transmitting packet. As in the case of WA6ZVP, you might be suprised! [The AMSAT News Service (ANS) would like to thank Roger Wiechman (WA6ZVP) for this bulletin. ] /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-351.04 AMSAT OPS NET SCHEDULE HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 351.04 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD DECEMBER 18, 1993 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-351.04 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 3-Jan-94 0200 B 160 WA5ZIB N7NQM Any stations with information on current events would be most welcomed. Also, those interested in discussing technical issues or who have questions about any particular aspect of OSCAR statellite operations, are encouraged to join the OPS Nets. In the unlikely event that either the Net Control Station (NCS) or the alternate NCS do not call on frequency, any participant is invited to act as the NCS. ************************************** Slow Scan Television on AO-13 SSTV sessions will be held on immediately after the OPS Nets a downlink on a Mode-B downlink frequency 145.960 MHz. /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-351.05 WEEKLY OSCAR STATUS REPORTS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 351.05 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD DECEMBER 18, 1993 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-351.05 Weekly OSCAR Status Reports: 18-DEC-93 AO-13: Current Transponder Operating Schedule: L QST *** AO-13 TRANSPONDER SCHEDULE *** 1993 Nov 15-Jan 31 Mode-B : MA 0 to MA 95 ! / Eclipses, max Mode-B : MA 95 to MA 180 ! OFF Dec 07 - 24. < duration 136 Mode-B : MA 180 to MA 218 ! \ minutes. 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 256 ! Blon/Blat 240/-5 Omnis : MA 250 to MA 150 ! Move to attitude 180/0, Jan 31 [G3RUH/DB2OS/VK5AGR] FO-20: The following is the FO-20 operating schedule: Analog mode: 15-Dec-93 07:41 -to- 22-Dec-93 8:05 UTC Digital mode: otherwise noted above. [JJ1WTK] 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