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* 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 *
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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>