************************************************************************** * * * THIS IS THE WD0GML-AMSAT-ST.LOUIS BBS 24HR 7DAY AT (314)447-3003 * * 300/1200/2400 BAUD * * Mike Parisey WD0GML SYSOP * * Norm Newman NZ0Z Co-SYSOP * * * ************************************************************************** SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-338.01 PROJECT DOVE Peace Messages HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 338.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD DECEMBER 3, 1988 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BRAMSAT PROJECT DOVE "Messages Of Peace" Creation Process One of the four AMSAT-NA MicroSats now under construction and scheduled to be launched in June '89 is the Brazilian PROJECT DOVE. This BRAMSAT MicroSat has as its main feature a voice synthesizer that will be used to speak children's messages of peace around the world as well as spacecraft telemetry. As part of pre-launch preparations for DOVE, AMSAT-NA Science Education Advisor Rich Ensign, N8IWJ, announces the immediate availability of a special informational bulletin to schools explaining PROJECT DOVE and the "peace message" creation process. Amateur radio operators world-wide who wish to involve local school children in creating messages for DOVE and who wish to aid them in DOVE message reception once it is launched should write to: Rich Ensign, N8IWJ AMSAT-NA Science Education Advisor 421 N. Military Dr. Dearborn, MI 48124 U.S.A. The current AMSAT-NA educators informational bulletin package and Teacher's Guide to PROJECT DOVE is being produced with support of BRAMSAT President, Dr. Junior de Castro, PY2BJO. /EX SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-338.02 Phase IV & MicroSat Progress HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 338.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD DECEMBER 3, 1988 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT WD4FAB Completes First Mechanical Design Review of Phase IV & MicroSats Dick Jansson, WD4FAB, AMSAT-NA's Chief Mechanical and Thermal Design Engineer, visited Weber State College's (WSC) Center for Aerospace Technology (CAST) last week to review the progress which WSC has made in the manufacture of the MicroSat spacecraft structure and the Phase IV full-scale "mock-up." The staff and students of WSC's Manufactur- ing Technology School have now completed the fabrication of a number of machined parts to be used in MicroSat satellites. WSC's numerical machining equipment is quite advanced and many parts which would have been quite difficult, if not impossible, to do manually are now made routinely. The availability and experience in using these numerically controlled machining tools has brought about many improvements in the MicroSat structural and mechanical designs. Also, Dick had several excellent technical discussions with staff and students during this first of three scheduled visits to WSC this academic year. One of the MicroSats to be launched will carry a low-resolution imaging camera. During the AMSAT-NA Board of Directors meeting in Atlanta, the Board approved a Statement-of-Work by WSC to build a full scale space- craft model which will allow students and AMSAT-NA engineers to get an idea what the structure of the Phase IV geostationary satellite will look like. Although the first impression is that the structure looks simple, it will be anything from easy to build. This composite structure will contain the "adaptor ring" which will connect two separated satellites to be carried on the same rocket. Phase IV will be "wrapped around" this composite material "cone" inorder to form a satellite. The WSC full scale model will give AMSAT an idea of what the real working volume and contents of Phase IV will be. The building of this 1:1 scale model will also allow AMSAT to examine some of the difficult problems it will face when it proceeds to fabricate the actual flight structure. One thing which Dick pointed out is that the Phase IV spacecraft will have plenty of room for equipment and experim- ents. WSC has proposed to solict support from other academic institut- ions who wish to fly experiments on this AMSAT satellite. /EX SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-338.03 73 Magazine Plans OSCAR Issue HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 338.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD DECEMBER 3, 1988 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT 73 Magazine Plans OSCAR Issue HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 338.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD DECEMBER 3, 1988 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT 73 Magazine Plans OSCAR Issue AMSAT-NA Vice President of User Operations and 73 Magazine columnist Andy MacAllister, WA5ZIB has announced that 73 Magazine will devote the entire editorial content of it's May 1989 issue to the topic of OSCAR satellites. That's Right! 50 pages (15 to 20 articles) devoted to the amateur satellite program. Needless to say, this is a major public relations opportunity for AMSAT and the efforts of several different authors are needed. WA5ZIB has agreed to act as coordinator for the various articles to be submitted to avoid any duplication of effort. Andy is seeking a wide variety of articles from construction and "how to" articles to equipment reviews, mission profiles of the various OSCAR satellites and much much more. Some of the articles Andy already has lined up include: Review of AMSAT software Review of Silicon Ephemeris software Review of Project OSCAR software by Project OSCAR An Inexpensive Mode L dish A poor man's approach to RS Microsat overview Obviously we need more articles! If you have an idea for an article or would like to volunteer to author some material, please contact: Andy MacAllister, WA5ZIB 14714 Knightsway Drive Houston, TX 77083 (713) 561-9691 By January 15, 1989 Andy would like to submit to the editors of 73 Magazine a final "authors" list of articles to be included in that issue. The deadline for the final draft is Febuary 10, 1989. So get your ideas together and lets make this the best issue of 73 Magazine yet! /EX SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-338.04 AMSAT Seeks Advertising Volunteer HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 338.04 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD DECEMBER 3, 1988 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT AMSAT-NA Seeks an Advertising Volunteer AMSAT-NA seeks the volunteer services of an individual with a back- ground in the advertising field. If you have a background in this area and would be interested in volunteering your services, please contact: Doug Loughmiller, KO5I 620 Fairway Drive Paris, TX 75460 (214) 784-0194 /EX SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-338.05 SEN013 SCHEDULE SET HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 338.05 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD DECEMBER 3, 1988 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT SPACE EDUCATION NET (SEN013) SCHEDULE SET The thirteenth session of the Space Education Net (SEN) has been scheduled for Saturday, December 10, 1988. The Mode B session will run from 22:15 to 23:15 UTC. The downlink frequency will be 145.960 MHz. No Mode L session has been scheduled because of a lack of Mode L Net Control Station. A change has been made to the SEN Slow Scan TV operations. SSTV will be transmitted for approximately the final 10 minutes of the bulletins. After the SEN bulletins, an informal SSTV Net will convene on a downlink frequency of 145.965 MHz. Tests have shown that a SSTV signal at beacon strength provides a FB picture. The SEN would like to hear from stations that been watching the SSTV pictures. Additional Net Control Stations are needed, particulary for the Mode L sessions of the SEN. If you would like to assist the SEN in this important position please volunteer today. Contact K.O. Learner, K9PVW, at P.O. Box 5006, Kokomo, IN 46904 or via packet @KD9QB with your SEN questions or comments or to volunteer to assist the SEN. Check-ins and participants are invited for both sessions. /EX SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-338.06 Short Burst Items HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 338.06 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD DECEMBER 3, 1988 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT Short Burst Items Dave Stephens, WB0P, has been appointed Regional Coordinator of the Rocky Mountain Region. Dave has been active supporting the Denver Area AMSAT-NA forums and hamfests and is also active on Fuji OSCAR-12, MODE D and OSCAR-13, Mode L. AMSAT-NA welcomes WB0P to the Field Operat- ions management team. Those of you who take QST will no doubt see the ARRL 75th Anniversary Logo which depicts the progress that amateur radio has made over three-quarters of a century. Pictured is a spark-gap transmitter followed by a rainbow trail to a round, short, octogonal shaped cylinder with antennas on top. This is an artist's conception of what the AMSAT-NA Phase IV geostationary satellite will look like. Jeff Wallach, N5ITU, of the Dallas Remote Imaging Group (DRIG) reports that NOAA-11 continues to operate nominally with both visual and infrared automatic picture transmissions. Northbound passes occur daily at 13:40 local solar time. For those amateurs who are interested in processing weather satellite pictures and would like to know how it is done and what equipment to use, you are welcomed to dial into the DRIG BBS at (214) 394-7438. /EX SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-338.07 1989 AMSAT SYMPOSIUM DETAILS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 338.07 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD DECEMBER 3, 1988 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT 1989 AMSAT-NA SPACE SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE AMSAT-NA President, Doug Lougmiller, KO5I, announced today that Des Moines, Iowa will be the location of the 1989 AMSAT-NA Space Symposium. The sponsoring group will be the Central Iowa Technical Society with Ralph Wallio, W0RPK, Chairman. The 1989 Space Symposium will be held over the weekend of November 10-12th. /EX FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! THE FOLLOWING ADDED BY WD0GML-AMSAT-ST.LOUIS BBS @(314)447-3003 24hr 7dy STS-27 SIGHTING Thanks to Bill Bard's STS-27 elements, I have the following sighting report. Assuming its confirmed by other observations to be STS-27 and its released payload, this has been a real thrill ... thanks Bill! From 41.43788889N by 93.56797222W I observed two bright objects flying in formation from my western sky to my southern sky. At approximately 03Dec 00:21:26utc they were in my southwest sky at approximately 30-degrees elevation. LOS was at 00:26:30utc at approximately 160-degrees azimuth. The objects were very dim at LOS and slightly above my southern horizon so an eclipse may have occurred. Both objects were of equal magnitude. They were easily observable with the naked eye at maximum elevation but very dim and barely observable with 7x35 glasses at LOS. Their positions appeared to diverge as they moved to my south. These observations compare very well with predictions based on Bill's elements except that they occurred approximately 7.5-minutes later. Good hunting. Regards, Ralph Wallio, W0RPK Regarding the sighting of Atlantis. Ralph definitely saw the orbiter and presumably it's payload on orbit number 7. I had used a previously issued ground track map for STS 61A (Spacelab D-1) with a 57.1 degree inclination and predicted it's viewing precisely over the NYC area on orbit number 6. She apparently has an orbital period of 91.5 minutes and that accounts for it being slightly late. On rev 6, the payload was not visible but the object was extremely bright (brightest thing in my sky at that time) and I suspect that the payload was in the process of deployment. Ralph's sighting corresponds precisely with the predicted groundtrack. For those that may have access to a 61a map, adding 1.5 mins to each orbital equator crossing time should work very well. In any case, for this evening, there should be excellent viewing on orbit 22. The following approximate times places the orbiter's ground track directly over the following cities. This is for Sat evening. (I guarantee nothing!) Equator crossing==2119z at 136 degrees EAST overhead -- Canadian/N. Dakota border -- 2148z Minneapolis/St. Paul -- 2150z Chicago -- 2151z Cincinatti -- 2152z Cape Hatteras -- 2155z This can not take into account any on-orbit burns, of course, but I expect it will work out well. Incidently--the crew was monitored here in NYC on the launch trajectory out over the atlantic on previously published UHF frequency--in the clear. Nothing after that--I assume for safety, the were parralleled on UHF but after insertion, that was cut off. On "open " missions, the UHF is used concurrent with TDRS. 73 Ed KC2ZF MIR OPS SKED I have had an opportunity to view the crew activity plan for MIR thru 21 Dec and the following info may be of interest to those attempting Amateur ctcts. The next three Sundays (Dec 4/11/18) area all rest days--there are no activities planned. In addition, Wednesday Ded 14, is slated to be a rest day. These may be good hamming days for the crew--all six of them! Between Chretien's electronic organ, Pink Floyds album, and Musa's radio it must be interesting on a day off! 73 Ed KC2ZF AO-13 MODE L/S INFO From AO-13 PSK beacon (DSP demod by McGwier and Karn is working well now) MODE L Uplink requirements as determined by James G3RUH. N QST 1988 Nov 24 342/150. MODE L SSB UPLINK POWER REQUIREMENT E.I.R.P. = (R/40000)^2 / (COS(SQ))^12 kw, RHCP, SQ < 30 deg where R = range in km, and SQ = s/c squint or pointing angl.. Empirical formula derived from a least squares fit on dozens of measurements. It gives a "minimum" SSB return - about 6 dB SNR. Spread is Max = 37.5 dbW @ 40000, 30; Min = 27.0 dbW @ 28000, 0. Assumes transponder noise floor audible, and normal loading. Double the power for linear polarization. 73 de James G3RUH This means that the spread is from 40000 km with the worst possible squint angle allowed by this formula (30 deg) you need 6 kw EIRP amd at best, 28000 km with 0 deg squit angle you need 501 w EIRP. In other words, 60 w into a KLM 44 element or 45 element loop yagi (linear) at worst or about 10w into same at best. This appears to be right in line with what people are saying on the air. Thanks James! Bill McCaa reports that Mode S QSO's on CW have been had with 1.8 kw EIRP and a 1.2 mtr dish on receive. It is on between MA 201 and 210. Mode L AGC is running -12dB to -15dB ;-(. THAT is the reason I am going to have to spend $800 on a 100W amplifier and not any inherent fault of the transponder. The alligators are out in force as a quick tour of the transponder will reveal but I do not know if this is the reason for this very high AGC level or not. The sun angle has reached its maximum value (and Sun Sensor 2 is running 36 counts). From K de G3RUH 1988 @ 352/190. " Sun angle will be maximum on Dec. 08 when it will have been at 36 counts for a few days." In the same message, James also computes the BLAT and BLNG which he calls ALAT and ALNG DATE ALON ALNG Nov 29 209.3 -4.3 Dec. 06 209.4 -4.8 Dec. 13 209.6 -5.3 Dec. 20 209.7 -5.0 Dec. 27 209.9 -6.4 Jan. 03 210.1 -6.9 73 and have fun on the bird! Bob N4HY MIR, AO-13 COMMENTS FROM DL MIR ON6UG, Freddy and DL4AAZ on DL0VW worked U2MIR on Nov 27 1955utc for the first time. Due to heavy QRM only a few contacts were made from europe with MIR. I also tried to contact, but no chance.. too many stns calling.. I heard another QSO with one station from SM and OH and on Nov 28 with G and I. Thats all, in the past week there was no activity over western europe. UA3CR reported in the russian Sputnik net, that U1MIR/ U2MIR worked around 35 different U stns. OSCAR-13 Mode-S schedule was reduced to save power, since we have now the lowest power generation with 36 degrees sunangle. Users may notice, that the Mode-L beacon shows some FMing at the end of the window (around MA200). This is normal due to low battery voltage and big current changes on the power line. Mode-J is switched off at MA190 and MA200. As James Miller, G3RUH reported the s/c attitude is now 209.4 deg longitude and -4.8 deg lattitude. NORD>