SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-036.01 STS-60 SAREX Mission Begins HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 036.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD FEBRUARY 6, 1994 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-036.01 STS-60 News as of 3 February 1994 at 12:30 UTC The Space Shuttle Discovery made a spectacular, historic, on-time liftoff this morning from the Kennedy Space Center. Discovery's launch marks the first joint U.S.-Russian Space Shuttle Flight. This will be the first of several joint missions planned in preparation for the development of the international Space Station. Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, U5MIR, was one of the six crew members on board this morning's Shuttle flight. His fellow American crew mates include Commander Charlie Bolden, KE4IQB, Pilot Ken Reightler, and Mission Specialists Jan Davis, Ron Sega, KC5ETH, and Franklin Chang-Diaz. The primary payloads on-board Discovery are the Wake Shield Facility, which will be deployed and retrieved during the flight and the Spacehab facility. Of particular interest to radio amateurs is the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) secondary payload. SAREX information for STS-60 including frequencies, callsigns and Keplerian elements, follows: STS-60 Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) Information Sheet Mission: STS-60 Space Shuttle Discovery Wake Shield Facility & Spacehab-2 Mission Launch: February 3, 1994, 12:10 UTC Orbit: 57 degree inclination Mission Length: 8 days (Nominal) Amateur Radio Operators: Charlie Bolden, KE4IQB, Ron Sega, KC5ETH, Sergei Krikalev, U5MIR Modes: FM Voice Prime callsign: KE4IQB Packet Radio Callsign: W5RRR-1 Frequencies: All operations in split mode. Do not transmit on the downlink frequency. Voice Freqs: Downlink: 145.55 MHz (Worldwide) Uplinks: 144.91, 144.93, 144.95, 144.97, 144.99 MHz (Except Europe) 144.70, 144.75, 144.80 MHz (Europe only) Note: the crew will not favor any specific uplink frequency, so your ability to work the crew will be the "luck of the draw" Packet Freqs: Downlink: 145.55 MHz Uplink: 144.49 MHz Info: Goddard Amateur Radio Club, WA3NAN, Greenbelt Maryland, SAREX Bulletins and Shuttle Retransmissions 3860 KHz, 7185 KHz, 14,295 KHz, 21,395 KHz, 28,650 KHz and 147.45 MHz (FM) Johnson Space Center ARC, W5RRR, Houston, Texas SAREX Bulletins 7225 KHz, 14,280 KHz, 21,395 KHz, 28,650 KHz, (SSB) and 146.64 MHz (FM) ARRL Amateur Radio Station, W1AW, Newington, CT SAREX News Bulletins 3990, 7290, 14,290, 18,160, 21,390, and 28,590 KHz and 147.555 MHz (FM) Also, bulletins available on internet, via AMSAT ANS, Compuserve, and your local PBSS. School Group Participation: 5 school groups will participate in SAREX with pre-scheduled direct and telebridge contacts. These include 4 in the U.S., and one in Russia. ANS wishes to thank Frank Bauer KA3HDO AMSAT VP for Manned Space Programs for this information. /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-036.02 SAREX UPDATE AS OF FEB 6 at 00:30 UTC HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 036.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD FEBRUARY 6, 1994 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-036.02 SAREX Begins Operation SAREX was officially activated at 14:27 UTC on February 4 with a successful voice contact through the University of Surrey amateur radio station. Doug Loughmiller, G0SYX was the operator at the microphone to intitate the first contact with the STS-60 crew. The SAREX team reports a highly successful direct contact one orbit later with a school group in Boise Idaho. The contact, held at the Discovery Center included students from several schools including the Boise Senior High School. 19 students were able to ask direct questions to Shuttle Commander Charlie Bolden. The packet robot has also been quite active. The packet QSO sequence number exceeded the 800 mark about 30 hours after SAREX operations was initiated. Problems with RFI on the Wake Shield Facility have delayed the deployment of this primary payload. This has affected the SAREX payload somewhat. Currently, the Mars, Pennsylvania school contact, which was scheduled for today, has been postponed until the Wake Shield issues have been resolved. The official SAREX element set for today will be GSFC-003. Gil Carman, WA5NOM reports that the predictions using GSFC-003 are 1 second later than the current orbiter state vector. 1 22977U 94006A 94 35.13981770 0.00000202 00000-0 58718-5 0 37 2 22977 56.9857 213.2731 0008535 263.0773 96.9324 15.72145611 115 Satellite: STS-60 Catalog number: 22977 Epoch time: 94035.13981770 (04 FEB 94 03:21:20.25 UTC) Element set: GSFC-003 Inclination: 56.9857 deg RA of node: 213.2731 deg Space Shuttle Flight STS-60 Eccentricity: 0.0008535 Keplerian Elements Arg of perigee: 263.0773 deg Mean anomaly: 96.9324 deg Mean motion: 15.72145611 rev/day Semi-major Axis: 6730.8981 Km Decay rate: 0.20E-05 rev/day*2 Apogee Alt: 358.25 Km Epoch rev: 11 Perigee Alt: 346.77 Km NOTE - This element set is based on NORAD element set # 003. The spacecraft has been propagated to the next ascending node, and the orbit number has been adjusted to bring it into agreement with the NASA numbering convention. ANS thanks Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO, of the SAREX Working Group for this item. /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-036.03 AMSAT NET ON GALAXY 3 HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 036.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD FEBRUARY 6, 1994 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-036.03 AMSAT NET ON GALAXY 3 Satellite users may be interested in an experimentbeing conducted in the Houston, Texas area. The group there is uplinking the Houston Area Amsat Net, heard locally on the 147.10 FM repeater, to Galaxy 3, Channel 17, 5.8 Mhz. audio subcarrier (Shop-At-Home Channel). This net is carried in realtime on Tuesday evening, from approximately 10PM (CST) until completion at approximately 10:30 - 10:45 PM. This is an experiment but could be continued on a regular basis if interest is sufficient. Please send reports of your reception and your comments to: davidsonc@tcd.jsc.nasa.gov via Internet, or call (713) 483-0078 during business hours, or during the uplink period (713) 595-2393. Ask for Craig Davidson, WD5BDX. ANS wishes to thank Craig Davidson WD5BDX for this information. /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-036.04 OSCAR-21 CELEBRATES THIRD BIRTHDAY HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 036.04 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD FEBRUARY 6, 1994 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-036.04 OSCAR-21 CELEBRATES THIRD BIRTHDAY On 29 January 1991 the first international Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio (OSCAR) in which radio amateurs from the former Soviet Union (CIS) worked together with radio amateurs from Germany was successfully launched. The official name of the project was RM1, which stands for "RADIO M-1". The digital transponder RUDAK-2 is part of RM1. After the launch from the Northern Cosmodrome in Plesetsk, Russia the satellite was named as AMSAT-OSCAR 21, to emphasize that the spacecraft was built by, and for, Radio Amateurs around the world. AMSAT OSCAR-21 is an attached secondary payload (Piggy-back) aboard the CIS geological research satellite "INFORMATOR-1". OSCAR-21 (also known as RS-14) is a joint project between AMSAT-U in Russia and AMSAT-DL in Germany. Two UUENCODED files which show the RUDAK hardware and two pictures taken from an original launch video have been uploaded to AMSAT-BB by DB2OS. The picture is compressed using CJPEG. ANS thanks Peter Guelzow DB2OS for this item. /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-036.05 AO-13 ZRO TEST SCHEDULES! HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 036.05 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD FEBRUARY 6, 1994 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-036.05 AO-13 ZRO Tests Begin For '94 AMSAT-OSCAR-13 ZRO TEST SCHEDULE FEBRUARY-MARCH 1994 The ZRO Memorial Technical Achievement Award Program, or just "ZRO Test" has a new schedule for February and March, 1994, via AMSAT-OSCAR-13. This activity is a test of operating skill and equipment performance. During a typical ZRO run, a control station will send numeric code groups using CW at 10 words-per-minute. At the beginning of the run, uplink power from the control station is set to match the general beacon downlink strength. This is level "zero". The control operator will send and repeat a random five-digit number, then lower his uplink power by 3 dB (half power) and repeat the procedure with a new random number (level "1"). This will continue to a level 30 dB below the beacon (level "A"). A participating listener monitors the downlink signals until he or she can no longer copy the numbers. Those who can hear the beacon will qualify for the basic award by copying the code group heard at level "zero". The challenge is to improve home-station performance to a point where the lower-level downlink signals can be copied (levels 6 through A). To date, only one station, Darrel Emerson (AA7FV), has successfully copied level "A". The following schedule of Mode "B" tests were chosen for convenient operating times and favorable squint angles. The tests can be heard on 145.840 MHz. Andy WA5ZIB will conduct all the tests. Mode "JL" tests will no longer occur due to the failure of AO-13's 70-cm transmitter. Day Date (UTC) Time Areas covered Saturday Feb. 12, 1994 2345 UTC NA, SA, Europe, W. Africa Sunday Feb. 20, 1994 0330 UTC NA, NW SA, Japan, Pacific Saturday Feb. 26, 1994 1930 UTC NA, SA, Europe, Africa, ME Saturday Mar. 19, 1994 1930 UTC NA, SA, Europe, Africa Saturday Mar. 26, 1994 2315 UTC NA, SA Note that the dates and days are shown in "UTC", thus the second test occurs at 9:30 PM CST Saturday night (the 19th). Any changes will be announced as soon as possible via the AMSAT HF and AO-13 Operations Nets. All listener reports with date of test and numbers copied should be sent to Andy MacAllister WA5ZIB, AMSAT V.P. User Operations, 14714 Knights Way Drive, Houston, TX 77083-5640. A report will be returned verifying the level of accurate reception. An S.A.S.E. is appreciated but not required. Information about the AMSAT Awards Program can be found on page 197 of the "Proceedings of the AMSAT-NA Tenth Space Symposium" (1992). This paper, covering all the AMSAT-NA awards including specifics on the ZRO Test, was reprinted on page 10 in the March/April 1993 issue of "The AMSAT Journal". The ZRO Test information provided in the article covers test procedures, means for obtaining certificates and gives some historical background about the program. Reprints of the article can be obtained for an S.A.S.E. to WA5ZIB at the address above. /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-036.06 WEEKLY OSCAR STATUS REPORTS HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 036.06 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD FEBRUARY 6, 1994 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-036.06 Weekly OSCAR Status Reports: 6 FEB-94 AO-13: Current Transponder Operating Schedule: L QST *** AO-13 TRANSPONDER SCHEDULE *** 1994 Jan 31-Apr 04 Mode-B : MA 0 to MA 90 | Mode-BS : MA 90 to MA 120 | Mode-S : MA 120 to MA 145 |<- S transponder; B trsp. is OFF Mode-S : MA 145 to MA 150 |<- S beacon only Mode-BS : MA 150 to MA 180 | Blon/Blat 180/0 Mode-B : MA 180 to MA 256 | Omnis : MA 230 to MA 30 | Move to attitude 240/0, Apr 04 Poor Sun angle and battery testing need maximum OFF time. [G3RUH/DB2OS/VK5AGR] FO-20: The following is the current FO-20 operating schedule: From January '94 thru March '94, the analog mode and the digital mode will be on alternately for a week at a time. ANALOG MODE: 09-FEB-94 7:15 -TO- 16-FEB-94 7:40 UTC 23-FEB-94 8:05 -TO- 02-MAR-94 6:40 UTC 09-MAR-94 7:05 -TO- 16-MAR-94 7:30 UTC 23-MAR-94 7:52 -TO- 30-MAR-94 8:15 UTC DIGITAL MODE: Unless otherwise noted above. [Kazu Sakamoto (JJ1WTK) qga02014@niftyserve.or.jp] AO-21: ZL3VTV works AO-21 with great success from his QTH in Christchurch, New Zealand. He reguarly works stations in Australia with ease using a a fixed 10 element beam pointed 30 deg above the horizon on the uplink and using a collinear antenna for the downlink. ZL3VTV is looking for to work more ZL's and would entertain schedules. [ZL3VTV @ZL3AC] The AMSAT NEWS Service (ANS) is looking for volunteers to contribute weekly OSCAR status reports. If you have a favorite OSCAR which you work on a regular basis and would like to contribute to this bulletin, please send your observations to WD0HHU at his CompuServe address of 70524,2272, on INTERNET at wd0hhu@amsat.org, or to his local packet BBS in the Denver, CO area, WD0HHU @ W0LJF.#NECO.CO.USA.NOAM. Also, if you find that the current set of orbital elements are not generating the correct AOS/LOS times at your QTH, PLEASE INCLUDE THAT INFORMATION AS WELL. The information you provide will be of value to all OSCAR enthusiasts. /EX