AMATEUR RADIO SATELLITE INFORMATION ELMERS - These AMSAT Area Coordinators will be glad to help out. Keith Pugh, W5IU Fort Worth, TX 817-292-5633 Rusty Reeve, KT5U Lucas, TX 214-442-1217 Keith Berglund, WB5ZDP Fort Worth, TX 817-244-5176 Richard Ruhl, WD5GLD Kingfisher, OK 405-375-4843 Roger Ley, WA9PZL/5 Bossier City, LA 318-746-0356 Jack Douglas, KA5DNP Kingwood, TX 713-358-5172 R. G. Maniago, KA5RMT Vernon, TX 817-553-1447 Harold Bulmahn, W5DSG Waco, TX 817-754-2732 Ken Blanton, W5CBT Amarillo, TX 806-355-3234 Bob Douglas, W5GEL Corpus Christi, TX 512-883-5103 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ON THE AIR HELP - News plus technical guidance. Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex Wed., 8:00 PM CST 146.02/62 Mid American AMSAT Net Tue., 9:00 PM CST 3840 khz International AMSAT Net Sun., 1900 UTC 14.282 mhz Novice/Technician Net Sun., 1900 UTC 28.460 mhz ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ AMSAT BBS - Satellite Info St. Charles, MO 314-447-3003 HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 070.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD MARCH 11, 1989 AO-13 Transponder Schedule Change Planned For March 15, 1989 There will be a AO-13 spacecraft attitude reorientation maneuver starting on March 15th in order to make adjustments for seasonal changes in sun angles. As with all attitude readjustments there will be a transponder operating schedule change which will accompany this event. Effective March 15, 1989 the Operating Schedule for AO-13 will be as follows: Mode B From MA 100 to MA 160 Mode JL From MA 160 to MA 200 Mode B From MA 200 to MA 255 OFF From MA 0 to MA 100 The final Bahn Coordinates for AO-13 after the attitude change will be as follows: Bahn Longitude=210 degrees, Bahn Latitude=+5 degrees. Listen to the CW/PSK/RTTY telemetry beacons on AO-13 on a downlink frequency of 145.812 MHz/435.651 MHz and to AMSAT Nets for the latest information on any operating schedule changes. The predicted Bahn Coordinates for March 13th are: Bahn Longitude=179.6 degrees, Bahn Latitude=-5.8 degrees. The above operating schedule will remain in effect until May 3, 1989. MICROSAT Information And Details To Appear In Numerous Magazines Soon Starting in March there will be a "flood" of information which will be available to AMSAT members and OSCAR enthusiasts about the new series of Amateur Radio Satellites which will are currently scheduled to be launched late this summer aboard a ARIANE IV rocket. To be published later this month will be the new AMSAT-NA Satellite Journal; the featured article for this "first edition" will contain a substantial amount of data about the four MICROSATs which are presently being assembled by volunteers in the Boulder, CO area. This article is being authored by Courtney Duncan, N5BF, and Jan King, W3GEY. Also, the May issue of 73 Magazine will likewise contain an article by Courtney Duncan about the MICROSATs. The entire May issue of 73 Magazine will be devoted to OSCAR satellites and will include a wide range of topics concerning all aspects of assembling, building, operating, and maintaining a station for amateur radio satellite operation. In the May and June issue of QST, look for another series of articles about the MICROSATs which will be authored by Bob McGwier, N4HY, and Doug Loughmiller, KO5I. Each of these up coming articles will cover different aspects of the MICROSATs from their inception, discussions about their "modular" mechanical design, software, and information about how to operate the "store-and-forward" packet radio pair, that is, PACSAT/NA and PACSAT/LU. Also included will be a discussion about the WEBERSAT MICROSAT which will have the capability to send pictures back from space! And last but certainly not least, the QST article will also include a discussion about the educational possibilities of DOVE (Digital Orbiting Voice Encoder). DOVE will contain a voice- synthesizer that will possess the capability to speak five different languages. DOVE is designed to be received on simple 2M receivers or inexpensive scanners. So be sure to start looking for these articles because they will contain "everything you ever wanted to know" about the MICROSATS. Bill Eitel -- Silent Key In the March 6, 1989 edition of "Defense News" there was an obituary notice of the death of William Eitel, age 81, who was a early pioneer in the Silicon Valley and a long-time amateur radio enthusiast. Bill Eitel, WA7LRU/W6UF/W6AY, along with a partner, founded the Eitel-Mc- Cullogh (EIMAC) company. Bill was an early participant in the amateur radio satellite program; he was active with the Project OSCAR group in the 1960's, and as Life Member No. 9, provided strong personal and financial support to AMSAT programs in the 1970's. From 1972 to 1975 he served as chairman of the Amateur Satellite Service Committe (ASSC), a coordinating body with representation from Project OSCAR, AMSAT, and the ARRL. In this position, he undertook a number of initiatives aimed at garnering support for the amateur radio satellite program from the highest levels in the Government. Bill was not as active in the past several years due to failing health, but continued to take a strong interest in AMSAT programs. He will be missed. Short Bursts There will be a AO-13 Operations Net on March 18, 1989 at 16:00 UTC. Andy MacAlister, WA5ZIB, will be the NCS. The downlink frequency for this session of the Operations Net will be 145.950 MHz since it is predicted that AO-13 will be in Mode B. The Operations Net is designed to give satellite users the latest operational news about all OSCAR satellites. All are invited to check-in. If you would like a quicker update to the Keplerian elements of UO-9 than are provided from NASA, you are invited to call the NY0T BBS. Keith Goobie, NY0T/VE3PDD, an AMSAT-NA Area Coordinator for the Southern Colorado Area, is a Captain in the Royal Canadian Air Force who is presently stationed at the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) in Colorado Springs, CO. Keith will be putting the "latest and greatest" elements for UO-9 on his BBS as he receives them from NORAD each day. So for daily updates for UO-9, call the NY0T BBS at (719) 637-1375. Mike Parisey, WD0GML, the System Manager for the AMSAT-NA BBS, wants to request that users avoid using the BBS on Sundays between 17:30 UTC and 19:00 UTC. Mike indicates that RFI from his HF operations of the AMSAT 20 Meter "pre-net warm-up" will throw users off the BBS and make it impossible to "down-load" the AMSAT News Service Bulletins. Mike has continued to try and remedy the problem, but the solution continues to elude him. So Mike suggests at the present time for users to avoid calling on Sundays during the time period mentioned above. The AMSAT-NA BBS is open to any interested amateur who would like to find out the latest information about OSCAR satellites. Except for the times mentioned above, the BBS is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The phone number is (314) 447-3003. Joe Holman, KA7LDN, AMSAT-NA Area Coordinator for the Seattle, WA area wants all AMSAT members who live in the Pacific Northwest to be aware that his packet radio BBS will contain the latest AMSAT News Service Bulletins. His station is located in Redmond, WA and the BBS can be found on a frequency of 144.950 MHz. If you wish to get in touch with Joe on the "land-line," contact Joe Holman at (206) 882-2949. HR AMSAT ORBITAL ELEMENTS FOR OSCAR SATELLITES FROM W0RPK INDIANOLA, IOWA MARCH 11, 1989 Satellite: UO-9 Catalog number: 12888 Epoch time: 89065.06540645 Element set: 473 Inclination: 97.5794 deg RA of node: 113.0487 deg Eccentricity: 0.0002049 Arg of perigee: 127.8562 deg Mean anomaly: 232.3110 deg Mean motion: 15.46358204 rev/day Decay rate: 4.8703e-04 rev/day^2 Epoch rev: 41298 Satellite: AO-10 Catalog number: 14129 Epoch time: 89062.72138113 Element set: 385 Inclination: 26.6140 deg RA of node: 277.2360 deg Eccentricity: 0.6061757 Arg of perigee: 22.2090 deg Mean anomaly: 355.7324 deg Mean motion: 2.05889934 rev/day Decay rate: 1e-08 rev/day^2 Epoch rev: 4304 Satellite: UO-11 Catalog number: 14781 Epoch time: 89062.60860166 Element set: 414 Inclination: 98.0196 deg RA of node: 124.4444 deg Eccentricity: 0.0012356 Arg of perigee: 295.8048 deg Mean anomaly: 64.1838 deg Mean motion: 14.63074434 rev/day Decay rate: 2.486e-05 rev/day^2 Epoch rev: 26710 Satellite: FO-12 Catalog number: 16909 Epoch time: 89038.07742442 Element set: 129 Inclination: 50.0179 deg RA of node: 338.2722 deg Eccentricity: 0.0011061 Arg of perigee: 13.5524 deg Mean anomaly: 346.5603 deg Mean motion: 12.44397497 rev/day Decay rate: -2.5e-07 rev/day^2 Epoch rev: 11320 Satellite: AO-13 Catalog number: 19216 Epoch time: 89040.26552022 Element set: 30 Inclination: 57.3661 deg RA of node: 220.4414 deg Eccentricity: 0.6656511 Arg of perigee: 198.6348 deg Mean anomaly: 115.5647 deg Mean motion: 2.09697875 rev/day Decay rate: 1.6e-07 rev/day^2 Epoch rev: 505 Satellite: RS-10/11 Catalog number: 18129 Epoch time: 89065.93020051 Element set: 690 Inclination: 82.9294 deg RA of node: 313.7009 deg Eccentricity: 0.0011772 Arg of perigee: 343.1119 deg Mean anomaly: 16.9636 deg Mean motion: 13.71948898 rev/day Decay rate: 1.31e-06 rev/day^2 Epoch rev: 8537 Satellite: MET-2/16 Catalog number: 18312 Epoch time: 89064.04956588 Element set: 247 Inclination: 82.5573 deg RA of node: 302.0577 deg Eccentricity: 0.0012969 Arg of perigee: 123.1953 deg Mean anomaly: 237.0445 deg Mean motion: 13.83435929 rev/day Decay rate: 2.49e-06 rev/day^2 Epoch rev: 7811 Satellite: MET-2/17 Catalog number: 18820 Epoch time: 89063.79127606 Element set: 89 Inclination: 82.5431 deg RA of node: 3.5103 deg Eccentricity: 0.0015930 Arg of perigee: 198.5135 deg Mean anomaly: 161.5455 deg Mean motion: 13.84105086 rev/day Decay rate: 3.24e-06 rev/day^2 Epoch rev: 5524 Satellite: MET-3/2 Catalog number: 19336 Epoch time: 89063.44830983 Element set: 145 Inclination: 82.5363 deg RA of node: 249.7771 deg Eccentricity: 0.0017948 Arg of perigee: 82.9781 deg Mean anomaly: 277.3293 deg Mean motion: 13.16854286 rev/day Decay rate: 3.91e-06 rev/day^2 Epoch rev: 2912 Satellite: NOAA-9 Catalog number: 15427 Epoch time: 89063.68378243 Element set: 339 Inclination: 99.1351 deg RA of node: 48.6326 deg Eccentricity: 0.0014333 Arg of perigee: 246.4287 deg Mean anomaly: 113.5380 deg Mean motion: 14.11866355 rev/day Decay rate: 7.33e-06 rev/day^2 Epoch rev: 21770 Satellite: NOAA-10 Catalog number: 16969 Epoch time: 89065.07029446 Element set: 198 Inclination: 98.6494 deg RA of node: 97.4845 deg Eccentricity: 0.0013313 Arg of perigee: 185.3337 deg Mean anomaly: 174.7703 deg Mean motion: 14.22848821 rev/day Decay rate: 7.13e-06 rev/day^2 Epoch rev: 12927 Satellite: NOAA-11 Catalog number: 19531 Epoch time: 89064.74012887 Element set: 51 Inclination: 98.9286 deg RA of node: 9.3098 deg Eccentricity: 0.0012294 Arg of perigee: 159.5045 deg Mean anomaly: 200.6624 deg Mean motion: 14.10850883 rev/day Decay rate: 7.95e-06 rev/day^2 Epoch rev: 2288 Satellite: MIR Catalog number: 16609 Epoch time: 89065.69300504 Element set: 728 Inclination: 51.6258 deg RA of node: 158.9202 deg Eccentricity: 0.0011831 Arg of perigee: 88.7649 deg Mean anomaly: 271.4006 deg Mean motion: 15.69204247 rev/day Decay rate: 5.5285e-04 rev/day^2 Epoch rev: 17517 Satellite: SALYUT-7 Catalog number: 13138 Epoch time: 89065.66897369 Element set: 464 Inclination: 51.6108 deg RA of node: 98.2316 deg Eccentricity: 0.0001978 Arg of perigee: 47.9158 deg Mean anomaly: 312.1784 deg Mean motion: 15.38113892 rev/day Decay rate: 1.4005e-04 rev/day^2 Epoch rev: 39239 Satellite: AJISAI Catalog number: 16908 Epoch time: 89038.17532047 Element set: 117 Inclination: 50.0133 deg RA of node: 337.7587 deg Eccentricity: 0.0011308 Arg of perigee: 16.5812 deg Mean anomaly: 343.5388 deg Mean motion: 12.44375026 rev/day Decay rate: -3.3e-07 rev/day^2 Epoch rev: 11322