SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0502 * SpaceNews 02-May-94 * BID: $SPC0502 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY MAY 2, 1994 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for unlimited distribution. * AO-27 OPERATING NOTES * ========================= AO-27 has had its FM transponder in operation on the weekends when the spacecraft is in sunlight. The transponder on AO-27 receives on an uplink frequency of 145.850 MHz FM, and downlinks on 436.800 MHz FM. As of yet, no official operating schedule has been announced, but that hasn't stopped amateur experimenters from communicating with others through the satellite. As an example, John, N8QGC, has been working stations on AO-27 all the way from his Detroit area QTH to as far away as Mexico City, Mexico, Baffin Island, and the North West Territories. N8QGC usually works AO-27 from a mobile station using 10 watts of transmitter power from his Kenwood TM-731A and a homebrew 1/4 wave antenna. Even with his low power and small antenna system, John has no problem securing a strong signal into the satellite. He has even tried accessing the satellite with his ICOM IC-U2AT running 2.5 watts and a rubber duck antenna and also had a good uplink signal (especially during periods when larger stations were not clobbering the satellite uplink with excessively strong signals). Due to the extreme sensitivity of this satellite, uplink ERP should be kept below 25 watts. AO-27 control station Mark, N4TPY, has reported that the satellite has a transponder output power of between 2 and 3 watts at the present time, and as such, is nearly impossible to receive on a HT with a rubber duck. Omni-directional antennas have provided only limited results. N8QGC uses a 6 element KLM 440-6X yagi rated at 8.9 dB gain to copy AO-27's downlink signals. He aims it out his car window and receives the satellite well. The doppler shift experienced when communicating through this satellite can be quite high. John usually starts listening for AO-27 at 436.805 MHz, and tracks it down to 436.790 MHz at LOS. Santoyo V. Ramon, XE1KK, of Mexico City has reported hearing Spanish speaking stations through AO-27 with very strong signals. They are not hams, nor are they hearing the satellite downlink. He believes they are located in the Caribbean zone, probably Cuba or Puerto Rico, and have been heard talking about union elections. He is actively tracking down the source of these signals. [Info via N8QGC, XE1KK, and ANS] * KEPLERIAN DATA AVAILABLE * ============================ Up-to-date Keplerian data in the NASA 2-line format is available via the Internet at archive.afit.af.mil (129.92.1.66) using anonymous ftp. Files such as amateur.tle, glonass.tle, gorizont.tle, gps-ops.tle, gps.tle, tvro.tle, visual.tle, and weather.tle are located in the /pub/space subdirectory at this site. * OSCAR-11 NEWS * ================= The Digitalker has been activated on the UoSAT-OSCAR-11 satellite. UO-11 has an FM downlink on 145.826 MHz, and the voice messages are interspersed with telemetry and news bulletins sent at 1200 bps using AFSK modulation. * MIR NEWS * ============ James, G1HJH, of Shoreham by Sea, West Sussex, England provides the following listing of messages contained on the Mir Personal Message System on 18-Apr-94: Msg # Stat Date Time To From @ BS Subject 2273 PR 04/17/94 10:34 ALL N6JLH MIR Keps 4-14 UTC 2272 P 04/16/94 11:33 R0MIR N7YRV Hi 2271 P 04/16/94 11:31 W6KZW WD6GYU Hello de Manton! 2270 P 04/16/94 10:59 VK3CFI VK3ZGL hello maggie 2269 P 04/16/94 09:58 N7QME N7TTQ hi hhere 2268 PR 04/16/94 09:57 R0MIR N7TTQ greetings from Tigard, OR 2267 P 04/15/94 23:05 R0MIR F1OKN ** DOBRI VIETCHERE ** 2266 PR 04/15/94 14:18 R0MIR KB2MVN School Greetings 2265 P 04/15/94 14:10 R0MIR KD6CLO QSL CARD 2264 PR 04/15/94 12:44 ALL KB2MVN CALLING CQ..... 2265 P 04/18/94 01:05 R0MIR G1HJH HOPE ALL IS FINE 5449 Bytes free Next message Number 2274 * OSCAR-13 SCHEDULE * ===================== The following is the latest AO-13 operating schedule: M QST *** AO-13 TRANSPONDER SCHEDULE *** 1994 Apr 07-Jul 11 Mode-B : MA 0 to MA 170 | Mode-BS : MA 170 to MA 218 | Mode-S : MA 218 to MA 220 |<- S beacon only Mode-S : MA 220 to MA 230 |<- S transponder; B trsp. is OFF Mode-BS : MA 230 to MA 250 | Blon/Blat 230/-5 Mode-B : MA 250 to MA 256 | Omnis : MA 250 to MA 120 | Move to attitude 180/0, Jul 11 [Info via G3RUH] * FO-20 SCHEDULE * ================== The Fuji-OSCAR-20 satellite will be operating in Mode JA between 11-May-94 at 06:54 UTC through 18-May-94 at 07:20 UTC. The packet mailbox is active at other times. [Info via Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK] * 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@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