SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0228 * SpaceNews 28-Feb-94 * BID: $SPC0228 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY FEBRUARY 28, 1994 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for unlimited distribution. * 137 MHz WXSAT NEWS * ====================== NOAA POLAR ORBITING SATELLITES FREQUENCY [X] NOAA-09 Transmitting normal APT VIS/IR 137.620 MHz [X] NOAA-10 Transmitting normal APT VIS/IR 137.500 MHz [X] NOAA-11 Transmitting normal APT VIS/IR 137.620 MHz [X] NOAA-12 Transmitting normal APT VIS/IR 137.500 MHz [ ] NOAA-13 Inactive 137.620 MHz Note: The NOAA Command Center has lost control of this satellite, and the recovery attempts have been suspended. METEOR SERIES SPACECRAFT FREQUENCY [ ] METEOR 2-16 Inactive 137.850 MHz [ ] METEOR 2-17 Inactive 137.850 MHz [ ] METEOR 2-18 Inactive 137.850 MHz [ ] METEOR 2-19 Inactive 137.850 MHz [ ] METEOR 2-20 inactive 137.850 MHz [X] METEOR 2-21 Transmitting Normal APT VIS 137.850 MHz Note: Satellite not heard during night passes. [ ] METEOR 3-2 Inactive 137.300 MHz [X] METEOR 3-3 Transmitting Normal APT VIS 137.300 MHz Note: Satellite not heard during night passes. [ ] METEOR 3-4 Inactive 137.300 MHz [X] METEOR 3-5 Transmitting Normal APT VIS 137.300 MHz Note: Satellite not heard during night passes. [Info via HP2DFA] * HF PBBS UPDATE * ================== The WT0N-3 HF Packet Radio BBS in St. Paul, MN on 10.127 MHz now also supports PACTOR communications under the callsign of WT0N. The BBS is available for packet operations Monday through Saturday from 1600 UTC until 2300 UTC. PACTOR operations are currently scheduled during the hours of 23:30 UTC and 04:00 UTC. The system carries all AMSAT bulletins and Keplerian data for OSCAR satellites. It also carries other satellite related items such as "SpaceNews". The BBS is currently set up as an experiment. Comments and suggestions should be directed to the sysop, BJ Arts at any one of the following addresses: Packet: WT0N@WB0GDB.#STP.MN.USA.NOAM Internet: BJARTS@STTHOMAS.EDU HF PACKET: WT0N-3 (ON 30 METERS) HF PACTOR: WT0N [Info via WT0N] * RS-15 NEWS * ============== According to reliable sources close to the project, a launch date for RS-15 has still not been firmed up, and the official presentation before the Russian Space Agency has been delayed until 20-Mar-94. The following is some data pertaining to the transponder carried on RS-15 and its orbital charateristics: uplink: 145.857 - 145.897 MHz downlink: 29.351 - 29.397 MHz beacon 29.398 MHz..........P = 0.4/1.2 W beacon 29.353 MHz..........P = 0.4/1.2 W antenna........................1/4 wavelength height.........................2,300 km inclination....................67 degrees [Info via Gustavo, LW2DTZ] * OSCAR TALK AT BERKELEY * ========================== On Thursday, March 3rd, at 7:30 PM, Professor Robert Twiggs of Stanford's newly formed small satellite department will be giving a talk about their amateur radio based satellite program. Professor Twiggs's extensive background in amateur satellites at Weber State University included OSCAR WO-18 and NUSAT I. His positive experience with including OSCAR activities in the education curriculum has led him to establish a program at Stanford. He hopes to get faculty, staff, students and local volunteer engineers to work together in a similar manner as was done at WSU to design, build, launch and operate microsatellites at Stanford. Professor Twiggs will be discussing possible payloads for Stanford's amateur satellites and science payloads for the larger buses that they would like to build. The talk will be held in downtown Berkeley, CA at UCB's Center for EUV Astrophysics, 2150 Kittredge Street. The CEA is between Shattuck and Oxford Streets, diagonally across from the California Cinema. A tour of the CEA, including the Science Operations Center for NASA's Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer satellite (EUVE), will be available for those arriving at 7:00 PM. Will Marchant Center for Extreme Ultraviolet Astrophysics marchant@cea.berkeley.edu University of California KC6ROL@N0ARY 2150 Kittredge St., Berkeley, CA 94720 USA * FO-20 SCHEDULE * ================== The FO-20 command station announced that a slight malfunction in the onboard command system had been detected. As a result, analog mode operation arranged from 09-Feb-94 will be performed on schedule, but there is a possibility of interruption due to satellite ground station control. The present schedule is as announced before: Analog mode: 09-Feb-94 07:15 -to- 16-Feb-94 07:40 UTC 23-Feb-94 08:05 -to- 02-Mar-94 06:40 UTC 09-Mar-94 07:05 -to- 16-Mar-94 07:30 UTC 23-Mar-94 07:52 -to- 30-Mar-94 08:15 UTC Digital mode: Unless otherwise noted above. [Info via Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK] * SpaceNews VIA SATELLITE * =========================== SpaceNews distribution via the Amateur Packet Radio Network has been improved recently with the help of high-speed "Pacsat" satellites. These polar orbiting satellites now make SpaceNews available to every inch of the planet several times daily at 9600 bps. My sincere thanks to W3QNS for uploading copies of SpaceNews to the KITSAT OSCAR-23 satellite and making them available for all KO-23 satellite users. * CONGRATULATIONS! * ==================== Congratulations to Jeff Ward, G0/K8KA, who recently earned his Doctorate degree. Jeff has been instrumental in the design of not only OSCAR satellite hardware, but also the ground station software that is used for Pacsat communications. His work has had a great impact on emerging microsatellite and digital communications technology, and we all look forward to working with him in future satellite projects and in expanding the communications resources available to Amateur Radio operators worldwide. * THANKS! * =========== Thanks to all those who sent QSL cards, letters, and messages of appreciation regarding SpaceNews, especially: N2HZK KB5ROV EI6EH G8INE * FEEDBACK/INPUT WELCOMED * =========================== Mail to SpaceNews should be directed to the editor (John, KD2BD) via any of the following paths: FAX : 1-908-747-7107 PACKET : KD2BD @ N2KZH.NJ.USA.NA INTERNET : kd2bd@ka2qhd.ocpt.ccur.com -or- kd2bd@amsat.org MAIL : John A. Magliacane, KD2BD Department of Engineering and Technology Advanced Technology Center Brookdale Community College Lincroft, New Jersey 07738 U.S.A. <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>> /EX