************************************************************************** * * * 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 * * * ************************************************************************** SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-203.01 WB6GFJ BECOMES UO-11 DCE GATEWAY HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 203.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD JULY 22, 1989 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT Digital Store-and-Forward Capability Now Available from WB6GFJ Via UO-11 A new facet in the Amateur Radio Satellite Program was commenced by Ross Forbes (WB6GFJ) President of Project OSCAR on July 7,1989 when WB6GFJ successfully commanded the UOSAT-OSCAR-11 satellite to change beacon frequencies from 145.825 MHz to 435.025 MHz. This simple act of commanding UO-11 to change beacon frequencies allowed Ross to upload messages to the Digital Communications Experiment (DCE) for retrival later by anyone of a number of DCE Gateway stations located around the world. These Gateway stations are located in such diverse places as Anarctica (ZL5BA), Australia (VK5AGR), Pakistan (AP2UP), New Zealand (ZL1AOX), South Africa (ZS6SAT) as well as England (GB2UP), and West Germany (DB2OS). WB6GFJ joins this team of stations from around the world as an active DCE Gateway station for the U.S.A. The DCE is the University of Surrey's "forerunner" to the concept now embodied by the AMSAT MICROSAT/PACSAT's which are currently under construction and scheduled for launch later this year. With the help of the N6IIU BBS located at the headquarters of the Palo Alto, CA Chapter of The American Red Cross, all radio amateurs are invited to use this new "digital-store-and-forward" capability which the WB6GFJ Gateway provides. Radio amateurs can now send message "traffic" to any country which has a DCE Gateway. Through an automated link, you can leave a message on the N6IIU BBS with the "SUBJECT" titled "DCE MSG" and this will alert the system operator of N6IIU that this is message "traffic" which is to be forwarded to WB6GFJ for the DCE on UO-11. In order to use the DCE to send a message to a station in any of the above mentioned countries, you MUST know a local packet radio BBS in which that station has access to. For example, let's suppose WD0HHU wishes to send a message to G3RUH via the UO-11 DCE. First, WD0HHU would check into his local BBS, (in Denver, CO this is W0LJF) and he would specify the following routing: SP WB6GJF @N6IIU SUBJECT: DCE MSG This causes the message that WD0HHU has uploaded to be routed to N6IIU where it will wait in a "mailbox" until forwarded to WB6GFJ. Then in the FIRST line of your message you must also include additional routing information. Again continuing with the above example, WD0HHU has to know that the local packet BBS for G3RUH is GB7SV so he would have in the FIRST line of his message the following routing information: SP G3RUH @ GB7SV < WD0HHU ("Hi Jim".... text would follow here...) After the routing information on the first line, you can then proceed with your message. Please keep messages to 1K bytes or less. Once WB6GFJ receives this message "traffic," it will be put into a special file where it will wait until the next pass of UO-11 and then it will be uploaded with all the other UO-11 DCE messages. Going back to the example above, when UO-11 is over GB2UP (University of Surrey's DCE station), the WD0HHU's message to G3RUH will be downloaded and then forwarded to GB7SV packet radio BBS where it will stay until G3RUH then picks up his "mail." This procedure likewise works in the reverse direction. All are welcome to use this packet radio experiment which WB6GFJ has set up at his QTH. To repeat, you must first get your message to WB6GFJ @N6IIU and then you must know a local packet radio BBS where the recipient of the message can pick it his "mail." Welcome the the world of "digital-store-and-forward" on the UO-11 DCE. /EX SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-203.02 N0DSH BUILDS MICROSAT MODELS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 203.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD JULY 22, 1989 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT N0DSH Builds And Donates High Fidelity MICROSAT Models For AMSAT-NA Long time OSCAR enthusiast and AMSAT volunteer Monty Munro (N0DSH) has just completed building eleven high fidelity, full-scale models of the AMSAT MICROSAT spacecraft. Monty who lives in Canon City, CO has donated over 320 man-hours of his labor to build this models. Each of the AMSAT-NA Regional Coordinators will be receiving one of these models soon according to AMSAT-NA VP of Field Operations, Jack Crabtree (AA0P). The expressed purpose of these models is for use by AMSAT-NA Area Coordinators to display at hamfests, club meetings, and other events which help to promote the Amateur Radio Satellite Program. At a recent hamfest in which AA0P attended, he displayed one of N0DSH's models; many amateurs were astonished at the fact that the MICROSAT model was full-scale! Also, many were intrigued by the antennas on the models which are made of the exact same "measuring tape" steel that the "real" MICROSATs use. Area Coordinators who would like to acquire a MICROSAT model for use at a hamfest or club meeting should contact their AMSAT-NA Regional Coordinator. AMSAT-NA wishes to express its sincere appreciation to Monty for his effort in building these excellent models. /EX SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-203.03 DATASPACE '89 BEGINS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 203.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD JULY 22, 1989 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT RSGB/AMSAT-UK DATASPACE '89 Brings Worldwide AMSAT Enthusiasts Together On Wednesday of this week OSCAR satellite and packet radio enthusiasts from all over Europe and the world will be converging on the University of Surrey for this year's combined RSGB Data Symposium and AMSAT-UK Colloquium known as DATASPACE '89. Starting off on Thursday, July 27th, this event will cover for the next four days many aspects of digital communications from HF packet to OSCAR satellites. Also, an extra day was added so that a colloquium on "Satellites-in-Education" could be included. Representing AMSAT-NA this year at DATASPACE '89 is Doug Loughmiller (KO5I). Other AMSAT-NA "stalwarts" who will be there which include N4HY, W2RS, NK6K, and N8IWJ. From BRAMSAT, Dr. Junior de Castro (PY2BJO) will also be present. Look for GB2SAT on HF and GB0AUK on AO-13 from the UoS. With SIX amateur radio satellites to be launched later this year, there will be plenty of interest in this colloquium. /EX SB ALL @ AMSAT $ANS-203.04 AMSAT SHORT BURSTS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 203.04 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD JULY 22, 1989 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT AMSAT Short Bursts Andy McAllister (WA5ZIB) will be conducting the following planned ZRO sessions and if you wish to participate, please take note of the following times: Saturday July 29, 1989 at 04:20 UTC Saturday August 12, 1989 at 20:20 UTC All transmissions from the control station use CW at 10 words-per-minute. Please avoid transmitting near the 145.840 MHz downlink frequency during ZRO Tests. The above dates and times have been carefully chosen for best coverage and squint angles. Any changes will be announced as soon as possible. ZRO brochures are still available from WA5ZIB for an S.A.S.E. with one unit of postage. If you wish to inquire about receiving your ZRO Test brochure or certificate, write to: Andy McAllister, WA5ZIB, 14714 Knightsway Dr., Houston, TX 77083. Good luck! Through the efforts of Sumio Nakane (JH3BJN), AMSAT-NA has received the following operating schedule for FUJI-OSCAR-12 for the next several months: DATE MODE OPERATING PERIOD 07/29/89 JD 06:43 UTC until 14:55 UTC PLEASE NOTE: NO FO-12 OPERATION FROM AUG. 1ST TO AUG. 15TH DUE TO SOLAR ECLIPSES 08/16/89 JA 02:40 UTC until 10:52 UTC 08/19/89 JA 02:00 UTC until 10:12 UTC 08/25/89 JD 00:39 UTC until 08:51 UTC 08/27/89 JD 00:53 UTC until 09:04 UTC 09/02/89 JA 22:37 UTC until 06:49 UTC on 09/03/89 09/05/89 JA 21:57 UTC until 06:00 UTC on 09/06/89 09/08/89 JD 19:15 UTC until 03:27 UTC on 09/09/89 09/13/89 JA 18:48 UTC until 03:00 UTC on 09/14/89 There is a AMSAT 17M Net which is convened every Sunday evening beginning at 23:00 UTC on a frequency of 18.155 MHz. Acting as Net Control Stations (NCS) are KO5I and N4QQ. This net provides another opportunity for those who cannot listen to the AMSAT nets on Sunday afternoon to still find out what is happen- ing in the world of amateur radio satellites. So join KO5I and N4QQ on Sunday evenings for this new AMSAT HF net. At the present time, the launch of the MICROSATs is scheduled for November 10, 1989. Since this falls within two days of the "normally" scheduled AMSAT-NA Space Symposium, AMSAT-NA officials have decided to change the date of this annual AMSAT event to the weekend of November 3rd, 4th, and 5th. If you would like to obtain more detailed information about the AMSAT-NA Space Symposium, you will find a special "menu" option on the AMSAT-NA BBS which will give all the pertinent details about this annual event. The AMSAT-NA BBS can be reached at (314) 447-3003; 300/1200/2400 baud modem speeds are supported. Courtney Duncan (N5BF), Manager of the AMSAT Operations Net, has issued the following schedule for the next several weeks for the times and frequencies of the OPS Net. These nets on AO-13 are designed to discuss the many happenings in the world of Amateur Radio Satellites. If you have any comments or suggestions to pass along to N5BF, you can leave them to COURTNEY DUNCAN on the AMSAT-NA BBS at (314) 447-3003. AMSAT OPERATIONS NET SCHEDULE 1989 Day Date Time Orbit Frequency Local evening, U.S. Sun 30 Jul 0130 863 435.970 Saturday Thu 10 Aug 0100 886 435.970 Wednesday de DB2OS 01May89: *** AO-10 TRANSPONDER SCHEDULE *** 14Jul89 to 01Sep89 Mode-B : from MA 000 to MA 225 OSCAR 13 TRANSPONDER SCHEDULE: Date : 14Jun89 until 16Aug89 ! 16Aug89 until 16Nov89 BLON/BLAT : 178.6/-0.8 ! 210/0 Mode-B : MA 000 to MA 110 ! MA 003 to MA 160 Mode-JL : MA 110 to MA 145 ! MA 160 to MA 200 Mode-B : MA 145 to MA 255 ! MA 200 to MA 240 OFF : % ! MA 240 to MA 003 Mode-S : MA 150 to MA 160 ! MA 210 to MA 222 Transponders will be in operation during the whole orbit from June 14 until August 16 due to excellent sun angles and power budgets. However, no perigee operations will occur between August and November due to perigee solar eclipses! The 70cm and 2M omni-directional antennas will be used from MA 230 until MA 30. /EX