************************************************************************** * * * 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-094.01 AO-10 "SPRING BREAK" BEGINS NOW HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 094.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD APRIL 01, 1989 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT AO-10's Mode B Transponder Is Heard "FM'ing" VK5AGR, AMSAT ground command station, has noted that the signals from AO-10 have been heard "FM'ing" which indicates that the sun angles have become quite poor and can no longer keep the batteries charged to the proper levels. Therefore all amateurs are requested to not use AO-10 for the next two months. It is felt that by the end of that time AO-10 will come out its "hibernation" and once again be available for use. All OSCAR satellite users are reminded that except for the fact that the ground command stations can no longer control the spacecraft attitude of AO-10, the Mode B transponder and its other subsystems are performing quite well. It has been predicted that if users are willing to tolerate these short "hiatuses" that AO-10 will be able to provide excellent communication service for many years to come. But for the present time, no operations are allowed on AO-10 until further notice from AMSAT ground command stations. /EX SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-094.02 KA9Q TO BE HONORED AT DAYTON HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 094.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD APRIL 01, 1989 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT KA9Q To Receive "Special Achievement Award" At Dayton Phil Karn, KA9Q, will receive the "Special Achievement Award" this year at the annual Dayton Amateur Radio Association Banquet on April 29, 1989. The Dayton Amateur Radio Association is the sponsoring organiz- ation for this award and the "world famous" Dayton Hamvention. This award recognizes an individual who has made many significant contributions to the Amateur Radio Service. Phil has been a long time AMSAT member and has been deeply involved in the Phase 3 program and the Phase 4 Geosynchronous Satellite design effort. Many of you will remember that Phil helped significantly with the AO-10 and AO-13 "ranging" calculations right after launch and also during the "kick" motor firings. Phil also serves on the Board of Directors of AMSAT-NA and TAPR. More recently, he has been heavily involved with a new packet radio "protocol" known as TCP/IP. This "protocol" is being experimented with as a means to more efficiently move packets than is currently possible with the AX.25 "protocol." AMSAT-NA feels that the success of the Phase 3 OSCAR satellite program has been due, in no small measure, to the many dedicated individuals like Phil Karn, who have been associated with AMSAT over the years. AMSAT-NA joins the Dayton Amateur Radio Association in recognizing Phil for his numerous contributions to the Amateur Radio Service. /EX SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-094.03 WA4SIR TO FLY ON STS-35 HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 094.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD APRIL 01, 1989 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT NASA Gives Ok to Fly SAREX Aboard Shuttle Flight STS-35 Early next year Ron Parise, WA4SIR, will be the next "ham in space" aboard the Shuttle Columbia on flight STS-35 which is scheduled for launch on March 1, 1990. Ron will be the payload specialist for the first ASTRO-1 mission. ASTRO-1 will be an "astronomy" mission to study the stars and planets from the Shuttle. The "secondary" payload on this particular Shuttle flight will be the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX). The SAREX payload will be an amateur radio station that will consist of a 2M H/T, a packet radio station, and a Fast Scan ATV uplink/SSTV downlink. This mission will last approximently one week and should provide amateurs many opportunities to make a contact with WA4SIR and those with SSTV will be able to observe pictures from space. The effort to have the SAREX aboard STS-35 has been coordinated by several individuals from the ARRL, AMSAT-NA, and NASA. These persons include Jon Bloom, KE3Z, Bill Tynan, W3XO, and Lou McFadden, respectively. In addition, it should be mentioned that the Mission Manager for this Shuttle Spacelab mission is Jack Jones; Jack recently became a licensed amateur thanks to the help provided to him by W4QAU. Look for more details about STS-35 in upcoming issues of QST and AMSAT-NA Journal. /EX SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-094.04 AMSAT-NA PUBLICATION SCHEDULE HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 094.04 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD APRIL 01, 1989 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT ASR To Be Continued; AMSAT-NA Journal To Be Published Quarterly By now many of you have had a chance to read John Champa's Editorial on the first page of ASR #187. In this Editorial he honestly explains why the Amateur Satelite Reports have been slow in coming out. The problem is basically one of a "manpower" shortage. Initially it was planned that ASR #187 would be the last one. However, it has now been decided that ASR will be continued. It will be published monthly instead of bi-monthly. AMSAT-NA Journal will be published four times a year. AMSAT-NA Journal will contain a wide variety of articles from technical discussions to construction projects. ASR will provide a more timely outlet for information and will not just be a "re-hash" of AMSAT News Service Bulletins as it has been in the past. All AMSAT-NA members are request to "bear with us" as we get through this transition period on publications; once the publication staff has had a chance to go through "one iteration" of producing an AMSAT-NA Journal and a few more ASRs, the membership can be assured that the publications will come out on a regular basis. AMSAT-NA expends a great deal of effort on publications because it is committed to keeping the membership informed about the various OSCAR projects. /EX SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-094.05 LUSAT TO CARRY CW BEACON HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 094.05 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD APRIL 01, 1989 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT LUSAT/PACSAT MICROSAT Will Carry A 70CM CW Telemetry Beacon Jose Marchao, W0/LU7JCN, reports that a CW telemetry beacon is currently under construction by AMSAT-LU in Argentina. This 70CM beacon will fly as an additional experiment aboard the LUSAT/PACSAT MICROSAT. This 70CM CW beacon will output all of the spacecraft telemetry in Morse code so that it will be possible for stations not equipped with a TNC-2 and a PSK Demodulator to monitor the health and status of LUSAT. This CW beacon will have a power output of approxi- mently one-half watt. Jose points out however, that this beacon will not run continuously; it can be commanded off or on by a ground command station. It is hoped that because of this CW telemetry beacon a large number of amateurs around the world will be encouraged to become interested in space technology and also become active on the OSCAR satellites. At the present time Jose's "temporary" QTH is Boulder, CO. He is presently "on loan" from AMSAT-LU for several months to help in the design, construction, and assembly of the MICROSAT satellites. /EX SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-094.06 SHORT BURSTS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 094.06 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD APRIL 01, 1989 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT Short Bursts The following is the operating schedule for FO-12 for the entire month of April: DATE MODE OPERATING PERIOD 04/05/89 JA 14:12 UTC until 22:24 UTC 04/08/89 JA 21:45 UTC until 12:38 UTC on 04/09/89 04/11/89 JA 12:51 UTC until 21:04 UTC 04/13/89 JD 13:05 UTC until 21:17 UTC 04/15/89 JD 19:30 UTC until 12:24 UTC on 04/16/89 04/18/89 JD 10:39 UTC until 18:48 UTC 04/22/89 JD 17:14 UTC until 10:09 UTC on 04/23/89 04/26/89 JA 09:30 UTC until 17:41 UTC 04/29/89 JA 15:00 UTC until 07:54 UTC on 04/30/89 Joe Holman, KA7LDN, has been appointed an AMSAT-NA Regional Coordinator for the Northwest Region. Joe lives in the Seattle, WA area and will be a valuable member of the Field Operations Team. For those who live in the Seattle area and would like to get in touch with Joe, he main- tains a packet radio "presence" on 144.950 MHz. On Joe's packet BBS he keeps the latest AMSAT News Service Bulletins. If you would like to reach Joe on the "land-line," he can be reached at (206) 882-2949. John Champa, K8OCL, wants to inform members that ASR #188 was sent to the printers last week and should start showing up in mail boxes soon. /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! OBSERVED MIR PASS: On March 23 at 0300 UTC, I observed an overhead pass of MIR. The trajectory proceeded from southwest to northeast. Although the moon was not yet up, there is considerable light pollution in the L. A. area including a moderately used street in front of the house. I would estimate the magnitude at +2, MIR being a little brighter than most of the stars in the Big Dipper, which it passed near. I interrupted the family's dinner and we all ran out to watch. The wife and I were excited, the three year old had trouble distinguishing from airplanes, the one year old pointed and looked upwards. . . The element set I was using was six days old at the time and the predictions were five minutes ahead of observations. 73 all, Courtney, N5BF 73 SATELLITE ISSUE: The "73 Amateur Radio" Special Satellite Issue will be available at newstands soon. This Hamsat issue was coordinated by AMSAT Vice President of User Operations, Andy MacAllister, WA5ZIB. Last year, articles were published by N5BF, N5AHD, WB5RMA and K6LFH. This time the WHOLE magazine is devoted to the amateur satellite program. There will be 18 OSCAR-related submissions. All of the usual columns were dropped. Topics cover every facet of satellite activity. There are reviews of software, preamps, radios and tracking devices. Antennas from simple turnstiles to Mode L uplink dishes and Mode S systems will be covered. Descriptions of the Microsat program and Phase 3D will be presented. This was an international effort. Material received from New Zealand, South Africa, England and West Germany augument the many stateside articles. The editors at "73" were swamped. It was not possible to publish everything that was submitted for the May satellite issue. We can expect to see at least two hamsat- oriented articles per month in "73" for the rest of 1989. The Special Satellite issue provides information for all satellite chasers, from the newcomer to the long-time enthusiast. Mention it to your friends that have considered AMSAT membership, but have not yet decided. This will tip the scales. AMSAT will have copies available at the Dayton Hamvention, April 28, 29, 30, and later via the office at P. O. Box 27, Washington, DC 20044. DATASPACE '89: (Incorporating RSGB Data Symposium & AMSAT-UK Colloquium) (Friday) July 28, 1989 to (Monday) July 31, 1989 Costs (not including transportation): ALL In 37.50 pounds/sterling per day. Includes Breakfast, lunch, dinner, tea & coffee and overnight accommodation in single student accomodation at the University of Surrey. When you fly into Heathrow Airport (London) you catch the underground to the train. Take the train to the stop right at the University of Surrey. Overseas parties should contact G3AAJ after you have confirmed plane reservations for additional transportation assistance. Prospective lecturers/authors on eithr data or satellite topics MUST submit a synopsis of not more than 200 words by 15 May 1989 (Finished papers must be submitted by June 15) Further details and booking forms can be obtained from: Ron Broadbent, G3AAJ Hon. Secretary AMSAT-UK 94 Herongate Road Wanstead Park London E12 5EQ England This is most important satellite meeting of AMSAT groups in Europe for the year. Don't miss it!