************************************************************************** * * * THIS IS THE AMSAT-NA CBBS at ST. LOUIS MO, 24HR 7DAY AT (314)447-3003 * * 300/1200/2400 BAUD * * Mike Parisey WD0GML SYSOP * * Norm Newman NZ0Z Co-SYSOP * * REVISION 1-4/18/89 * ************************************************************************** SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-105.01 MICROSAT LOGO DESIGN CHOSEN HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 105.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD APRIL 15, 1989 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT F6EZH's Design Wins The AMSAT-NA MICROSAT Logo Design Competition Marc de Filippis, F6EZH, submitted the winning design for the AMSAT-NA MICROSAT Logo Design Competition announced last November. Out of the many ideas submitted, Marc's idea was chosen because it best "typifies" the concept of amateur radio satellites: they provide exciting communication opportunities to hams all over the world. Marc's concept represents, through the use of five brillant colors, the ARIANE rocket lifting the MICROSATs to outer-space and the five continents they will serve each day. John Champa, AMSAT-NA Executive VP (K8OCL), has given the "go-ahead" to turn F6EZH's design into a beautiful 3" dia. patch which AMSAT members will be proud to display. This Logo design will also be enlarged and reproduced in the form of a large decal which will be affixed to the side of the ARIANE rocket that will launch the MICROSATs later this year. For those who would like to obtain one of these beautiful patches, they will be available soon from AMSAT-NA Head- quarters. AMSAT-NA would like to thank all those who submitted ideas for this Logo Competition. AMSAT extends its congratulations to F6EZH for submitting his winning design. /EX SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-105.02 AMSAT-NA FORUMS FOR DAYTON HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 105.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD APRIL 15, 1989 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT AMSAT-NA Will Conduct Several Forums At The Dayton Hamvention Jack Crabtree (AA0P), AMSAT-NA VP of Field Operations, has been putting the "finishing touches" on the agenda for the forums AMSAT will be sponsoring at the Dayton Hamvention April 28-30. For those who will be attending this "world famous" event and would like to plan to attend these forums, the following is a list of times, speakers, and topics of forums to be sponsored by AMSAT-NA: Friday, April 28th starting at 1:30 P.M. EDT John Champa, K8OCL, "DX On OSCAR-13" Tom Clark, W3IWI, "MICROSATS" Doug Loughmiller, KO5I, "AMSAT AND YOU" Saturday, April 29 starting at 3:00 P.M. EDT: Keith Pugh, W5IU, "Satellites For Beginners" Courtney Duncan, N5BF, "MICROSAT Ground Segment" Jan King, W3GEY, "AMSAT Phase IV Project" Bob McGwier, N4HY, "QUICKTRAK 4.0" Doug Loughmiller, KO5I, "AMSAT AND YOU" These forums are designed to present "something for everybody." From OSCAR satellite beginners to advanced topics, a wide range of topics will be covered. After the forums, speakers will return to the AMSAT Booth so that attendees will have a chance to chat with them. Look for the specific room locations in the Dayton Hamvention Program Guide for these AMSAT forums. All hams are invited to come by the AMSAT Booth and meet some of the many volunteers who help bring you OSCAR satellites. /EX SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-108.01 PROJECT DOVE NEWSLETTER HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 108.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD APRIL 16, 1989 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT N8IWJ To Publish Monthly PROJECT DOVE PRE-LAUNCH NEWSLETTER Rich Ensign, AMSAT-NA Science Education Advisor, wants to remind amateurs that the BRAMSAT MICROSAT known as DOVE (Digital Orbiting Voice Encoder), is a unique tool to be used by educators in classrooms all over the world. It's globe-circling nature will enable it, once launched, to be used in many areas of the curriculum. DOVE's first activity, dubbed Language Arts Project 1, has students creating messages of peace in many languages to share with each other around the world. DOVE's speech transmissions with a power of up to 4 watts on a frequency of 145.970 MHz should be easily picked up on the ground by basic receivers and scanners. If you are an educator or a radio amateur who is interested in getting a school in your area involved with PROJECT DOVE, there is now available a monthly "PROJECT DOVE PRE-LAUNCH NEWSLETTER" free for the asking. Rich reports that close to 200 educators are currently receiving this publication. The newsletter is written with the "layman" in mind. It will allow educators who are not radio amateurs or even space science buffs to stay up-to-date with PROJECT DOVE as the satellite progresses toward launch. Rich is also working on a comprehensive teacher's guide to DOVE for release at launch time. Why not help a school in your area become involved with this exciting experiment in orbit. To get your target school and teacher on the newsletter mailing list write: PROJECT DOVE Rich Ensign, N8IWJ 421 N. Military Dearborn, MI 48124 USA /EX SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-105.04 MODE S ON AO-13 RETURNS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 105.04 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD APRIL 15, 1989 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT Mode S Transponder Operations Return on OSCAR-13 DB2OS, AMSAT ground command station, has switched the Mode S trans- ponder on again after several weeks of "dormancy." Bill McCaa, K0RZ, reports that the Mode S beacon was heard at a frequency of 2400.665 MHz on Orbit #611, MA=211. Bill said the Mode S beacon had a signal strength of 16 dB above the noise floor using his 4' dia. dish. He reports that the beacon was stable in both frequency and in amplitude and it provided excellent PSK telemetry data using the G3RUH demodul- ator. DB2OS will be turning the Mode S transponder on everyday from MA 210 until MA 220 which will allow 30 minutes of Mode S operating time while the Mode B transponder is also running. By turning on the Mode S transponder during this particular time period (MA 210 to MA 220) and with the current Bahn Coordinates of 210/+5, DB2OS says that the squint angle works out to be less than 10 degrees for stations located in the northern hemisphere. For many OSCAR users Mode S seems to be a rather "esoteric" mode of operation with few stations posessing the capability to use Mode S. However, K0RZ reports that there are now over a hundred stations who have been heard using the Mode S transponder. With the return of regular Mode S operations, K0RZ hopes that more stations will be encouraged to start using this interesting mode. [Bill McCaa, K0RZ, led the design and construction team which was responsible for getting the Mode S transponder on AO-13 ready. A Mode S transponder is being planned for the Phase IV geostationary satellite.] /EX SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-105.05 FANTASTIC DX HEARD ON AO-13 HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 105.05 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD APRIL 15, 1989 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT DX Stations In Sri Lanka, Saudia Arabia, & Revilla Gegio Heard On AO-13 More and more DX stations are being heard on AO-13 lately as reported by WB6GFJ, N8DUY, and KC0TO. Lately XF4L has been heard on AO-13 Mode B at a downlink frequency of 145.900 MHz working stations in North America and Europe. XF4L is part of a "DX-pedition" to the island of Revilla Gigedo off the coast of Mexico. WB6GFJ reports that AO-13 users who wish to work XF4L will have until April 19th when at that time XF4L will go QRT. The QSL Bureau for XF4L is OH2BN. Tim Rush, N8DUY, located in the Detroit, MI area, reports that he made an exciting contact with 4S7AVR (Noel), who is located in Columbo, Sri Lanka. Tim points out that AO-13 was only about 15 degrees above the horizon at his QTH but that was enough for AO-13 to give him a chance to make a contact with 4S7AVR who is located directly on the other side of the world from Detroit! Tim reported his contact was made when AO-13 was in Mode J on April 10, 1989 at 03:05 UTC and that an additional fourty other stations, he estimates, also made a contact with 4S7AVR. N8DUY said he was particularly impressed with "gentlemanly behavior" he observed on AO-13 during this "DX pile-up." KC0TO, Greg, who lives in Boulder, CO reports that he too has heard and worked the Revilla Gegigo station and hopes that all AO-13 users will try to make a contact with XF4L. Greg asserts that other amateurs who are planning future "DX-peditions" may perhaps be encouraged by the reponse of OSCAR users on the Revilla Gigedo DX effort and they will hopefully take satellite equipment along in future "DX-peditions." KC0TO also reports that he worked HZ1AB who is located in Saudia Arabia. N5ITU in Dallas reports that he made a contact with UA6BAC. As can be seen, AO-13 does provide many opportunities for working DX. All those who hear of new DX stations aboard AO-13 are encouraged to report their "findings" to your local HF and VHF AMSAT Net and to the AMSAT-NA BBS. /EX SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-105.06 SHORT BURSTS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 105.06 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD APRIL 15, 1989 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT Short Bursts John Champa, AMSAT-NA Executive-VP, (K8OCL) wants to remind all AMSAT members to contact Headquarters if you have a change in your mailing address. Because ASR is sent as "second-class" postage, the Postal Service will not forward it. So if you have moved and are not receivng your ASRs, contact Martha at AMSAT HQ's at (301) 589-6062. John also wants to point out that if after several weeks you have not received your ASR, you can call HQ's and request that a replacement be sent. All active OSCAR satellite users should be aware that AO-10 is now in its "hibernation" period and is NOT to be used. VK5AGR estimates that it will be out of service for about two months until sun angles improve and solar panel illumination improves. Stay tuned to AMSAT Nets for further information about AO-10. /EX FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! THE FOLLOWING ADDED BY WD0GML-AMSAT-ST.LOUIS (314) 447-3003 24hr 7day 300/1200/2400 baud. This section may have additions through the week! MODE S REPORTS: I am pleased to report that the Mode-S beacon is operating normally. On orbit 633, MA=211, The Beacon frequency was measured at 2400.665 MHz. corrected for doppler, and was about 16 dB. above the noise using a 4 foot dish. The beacon frequency was stable in both frequency and amplitude and provided excellent PSK telemetry data via the G3RUH demodulator. As was reported previously, the passband is functional but with reduced sensitivity any time the Transponder is commanded on. The passband was found to be 435.603 to 435.638 uplink and 2400.718 to 2400.753 downlink corrected for doppler. With 50 KW erp, I received my downling about 10 dB. above the noise. I heard no one else on the transponder, except for some weak crosstalk from Mode-B uplink signals. 73,s Bill..K0RZ SA AMSAT TO INVOLVE SCHOOLS IN BALLOON PROJECT: SA AMSAT will be involving schools in its next BACAR mission (Balloon Carrying Amateur Radio). BACAR 89/1 will be launched on May 13th from a small airport close to Johannesburg and will carry in addition to a 10m up - 2m down transponder, a special AM beacon on 1602 kHz. The frequency is close enough to the medium wave band for inexpensive portable am receivers with built-in ferrite rod antennas to be used to track the balloon. The project will be backed up by a AM transmission on 7095 kHz reporting on the mission and acknowledging receipt of bearings being telephoned in by participating schools. The beacon will be modulated with 1200 hertz and carrier keyed sending the following in 10 words per minute CW: "ZS6EXP BACAR THE MODULE TEMPERATURE IS XX DEGREE C" Schools will be supplied tutorial material about the project explaining Radio direction finding, the use of a compass , maping, recording of the temperature and how to make use of the temperature information in calculating the height above sea level. The beacon is self-contained using its own batteries. 9v is supplied by stripped PCB mounted batteries delivering 111 ma peak. The total weight is 215 gram. The antenna is a vertical dipole with the top half suspended from the balloon , the beacon in the centre and the bottom half of the dipole free flying. The main objective of the project is to create more interest in Radio and Electronics amongst young people and to encourage them to following a carreer in Radio and Electronics. 73 Hans ZS6AKV. CALL FOR PAPERS: AIAA 13th International Communication Satellite Systems Conference, to be held March 11-15, 1990, in Los Angeles, CA, has issued a call for papers. Abstract deadline is May 12, 1989. Topics to be addressed at the conference include satellite communications systems and networks of all kinds--international, regional, and domestic; civilian and military; government and commercial; and fixed, broadcast, and mobile service. Papers are solicited on the following topics: * Advanced System Concepts * Terrestrial Network Integration * System and Signal Architecture * Frequency/Orbit Utilization * International Systems * Military Systems * Regional and National Systems * Mobile Systems and Services * Direct Broadcast Systems * Launch Vehicles and Transportation * Spacecraft Technology * Communications Payload Technology * Satellite Antenna Technology * Switching and Processing Technology * Component Technology * Ground Stations and Antennas * Satellite Operations * Consequences of Business Maturation Abstracts of 500-1000 words in length should be prepared in accordance with the AIAA "Abstract Submittal Form." Abstracts are to be received no later than MAY 12, 1989. For more information please contact: Dr. Eugene H. Kopp Hughes Aircraft Co. Space and Communications Group P.O. Box 29219 Bldg. S64, MS A436 Los Angeles, CA 90009 (213) 414-7962 NAME CHANGE OF THIS BBS: In as much as AMSAT-NA is footing the bill for much of the operation expences of this BBS, I thought it would be in order to rename the BBS, The new name will be AMSAT-NA CBBS at St Louis Mo. In a short time I'll get all the headers changed to reflect this change. The BBS is under AMSAT-NA Operations, Courtney Duncan N5BF is VP of Operations and my boss in this effort. In the near future we hope to be able to provide on-going information on the Phase IV project and an section for SatFoxHunters coordination. All is very exciting, please try to work with us while the changes are incorporated, I'll try to do most of these changes late at night after I get home from work 12 MID-NIGHT to 2 AM or so CDT. Thank You to all the USER's and also those who take time to leave me notes and comments reguarding the BBS. In less than a year there have been over 7000 calls from all over the world. Vy 73 es CUL...Mike WD0GML Sysop VISA AND MASTERCARD NOW GOOD AT AMSAT-UK: On Friday (April 14, 1989) I was in contact with Ron Broadbent, G3AAJ, at AMSAT-UK. Ron asked me to pass along to everyone that effective today (4/14) AMSAT-UK can accept credit card payments by BOTH Mastercard and VISA. In the past, AMSAT-UK was only able to accept Mastercard. However, AMSAT-UK is now able to accept payment with VISA. This means stations can now charge yearly membership, donations, and purchases from AMSAT-UK to their VISA card. For more information contact: Ron Broadbent, G3AAJ Secretary/Treasurer AMSAT-UK 94 Herongate Road Wanstead Park London E12 5EQ England 73, Ross (WB6GFJ) AMSAT-NA QUIKTRAK VERSION 4.0 RELEASE ANNOUCEMENT: AMSAT-NA is please to announce that QUIKTRAK 4.0 (QT 4.0) will be released April 28th. Those who will be attending the Dayton Hamvention will be able to obtain the first available copies of it at the AMSAT Booth. After that it will be available from AMSAT-NA HQ's [Phone: (301) 589-6062]. This version of Bob McGwier's (N4HY) "premier" satellite tracking program not only retains many of the fine features of QT 3.2 but also adds the following: 1) You can now keep Keplerian data files on up to 100 different satellites. 2) There is now the capability to keep QTH data for over 100 cities. 3) If you have the Kansas City Tracker or any other "auto-tracker" available on the market today, QT 4.0 will support "auto-tracking" up to 14 differente satellites. 4) For those who like to visually observe satellites, for example, SALYUT-7, Mir, the Space Shuttle, etc., QT 4.0 has the added feature that it will produce a table of azimuths and elevations for a particular object only if conditions are right for you to observe it based on the time-of-day and sun lighting conditions at your QTH. 5) In order to ease the burden of entering Keplerian or QTH data, there is now a "full-screen editor." 6) QT 4.0 now has the added support for graphics monitors which have VGA capability in addition to standard CGA/EGA monitors. This means that the usual QUIKTRAK maps are even more spectacular at this higher CRT resolution. Bob promises that when you go into the map "zoom" mode with VGA for the first time that it will "knock your socks off!" 7) And finally, the new item which N4HY is particularly pleased with because it will help every OSCAR satellite user get the most out of their operating time on the "birds" is the feature that produces a table of acquisition-of-signal (AOS) times, loss-of-signal (LOS) times, Phase or Mean Anomaly count, and "time-of-duration" between your QTH and any city in your data files for a particular satellite. Also, as an added feature for AO-13 users, it also produces a table which gives the time of the "minimum SQUINT angle" between you and the city of your choice. And for any satellite, regardless of whether it is AO-13, it will give you the time of "minimum range" between your QTH and another city. So if you want to try to "work a rare DX station" using any of the OSCAR satellites, this feature will help take some of the "guess work" out of the problem. In almost every aspect, the QUICKTRAK version 4.0 is virtually a new program. All known "software bugs" have been fixed, for example, the notorious "leap-year bug" of QT 3.2 is gone! Bob McGwier has completely changed his "internal time keeping" routines which means that such "leap-year bugs" have been exterminated forever! For QT 4.0 it will only be necessary to have a "hard disk" if you intend to use the "map zooming" capability when you are in the VGA graphics mode. If you don't have a hard disk for your IBM PC or clone, Bob wants to assure users that QT 4.0 will work on "floppy" disk based PCs or clones in the CGA/EGA mode. The reason for this "minor limitation" is that the map data files are especially large when QT 4.0 is drawing a map in the "zoom" mode when you have your monitor configured for VGA resolution. As one might guess, there is a lot of input/output (I/O) going on and it is difficult to do this with a disk drive which only holds only 360 K bytes of information. The VGA data file for the "zoom" mode is 500 K bytes! AMSAT-NA has presently adopted a new "policy" on up-grades to QT 4.0 for those individuals who have valid copies of older versions of QUIKTRAK. If you would like more information about the new "update" policy, contact Martha at AMSAT HQ's at (301) 589-6062. MIR STILL ACTIVE, STORY CORRECTION: I suggest that you check more closely. The Soviets will be leaving MIR on the 27th of this month. EVERY news organization has been reorting that. They have also reported the fact that TM-8 was cancelled for the launch on the 19th and that the original return date of Poliakov/Volkov/ Krikalov for the 29th has been moved up to the 27th. I would be very interested in the news organizations that you follow. Best regards Ed KC2ZF As I said---U5MIR is active.