SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0110 * SpaceNews 10-Jan-94 * BID: $SPC0110 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY JANUARY 10, 1994 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for unlimited distribution. * AO-16 NEWS * ============== Recommended Operation Procedure to Reduce AO-16 Uplink Contention: 1993 has brought many new satellites and many new satellite users. It would be good to dust off an old AMSAT bulletin from 1991 to help refresh the "old-timers" procedures and to aquaint new users to the recommended uplink frequency usage. The AO-16 Command Team recommends that users of the AO-16 PBBS system use only uplink channel D (145.960 MHz) for download and directory requests leaving channels A, B, and C (145.900, 145.920, and 145.940 MHz) for file uploads and digi users. Stations uploading files should stay off of the download/directory/fill request channel D as their longer uplink packets will collide with the shorter request packets. Stations doing downloads and directories should stay off channels A, B, and C since their frequent but short requests will collide with longer uplink attempts seriously degrading uplink performance. Another benefit of using this procedure, while most of the uplink activity to AO-16 will be on channel D (145.960) this frequency is high enough in the passband of AO-13 that QRMing our fellow operators will be kept to a minumum when Pacsat crosses beneath AO-13's path. Recommended AO-16 operating practice in summary: Downlinks: 437.050 (also 2400.143 on experimenter's day.) Uplinks: 145.900 A uploads 145.920 B uploads 145.940 C uploads 145.960 D downloads, fills and directory requests [Info via WJ9F, AO-16 Command Team Leader] * NASA TV MOVED * ================= NASA Select Television has moved to Spacenet 2, transponder 5, C band, 69 degrees west longitude, 3880.0 MHz, horizontal polarization, with audio on a 6.8 MHz subcarrier. NASA Select offers daily educational and information programming, carries shuttle launches and mission coverage, and occasionally airs live coverage of Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment activity. The move occurred on 08-Jan-93 at 1500 UTC. [Info via ARRL] * NEW MIR CREW * ================ By Serge Samburov, RV3DR Launch: 08.01.94 aboard SOYUZ-TM18 (crew #15) Docked at the port of "MIR" 10.01.94 Undocked and launched to Earth cosmonauts V. V. Ziblyiv and A. A. Serebrov (crew #14) 14.01.94 aboard Soyuz TM17 Crew #15: Viktor Afanasiev (commander) HAM #30, call U9MIR Yuri Usachev (flight engineer) HAM #31, call R3MIR Valerij Polyakov (doctor) HAM #32, call U3MIR Call packet: R0MIR Call PMS "MIR": R0MIR-1 Call voice U3MIR, U9MIR, R3MIR, R0MIR op. Viktor, Valerij, Yuri =================================================== # CALL NAME # CREW FLIGHT TIME =================================================== 30 U9MIR VIKTOR AFANASIEV 15 08.01.94-04.07.94 31 R3MIR YURI USACHEV 15 08.01.94-04.07.94 32 U3MIR VALERIJ POLYAKOV 15/16/17 08.01.94-april 95 Starting 01.01.93 the new QSL Manager for cosmonauts is RV3DR. I also confirm all QSOs with station MIR from 1988. RV3DR-Serge Samburov, Space "MIR" QSL Manager Chief of Cosmonaut Amateur Radio Department NPO "Energia" All QSLs should be sent to: P.O.BOX 73, Kaliningrad-10 city, Moscow Area, 141070, RUSSIA. Send me message via PKT: RV3DR#R#MIR or RV3DR@RK3KP.#MSK.RUS.EU Happy QSQ BEST 73 ***RV3DR*** [Info via N2NRD] * GST UPDATE FOR 1994 * ======================= For those tracking satellites with BASIC programs that require sideral time constants, here is the Greenwich Sidereal Time (GST) for January 0, 1994: G2 = 0.2761908 You will need to replace this value in your program for element sets having Epoch years of 1994 and later. Don't forget that you can just use a date of 13/01/93, 13/02/93, ... until you get 1994 element sets. [Info via Dick, N3FKV] * FO-20 OPERATION SCHEDULE * ============================ The following is the current operating schedule for FO-20: ANALOG MODE: 12-Jan-94 7:30 -to- 19-Jan-94 7:50 UTC 26-Jan-94 8:20 -to- 02-Feb-94 6:50 UTC 09-Feb-94 7:15 -to- 16-Feb-94 7:40 UTC The digital (Mode JD) transponder is available at all other times. [Info via Kazu Sakamoto, JJ1WTK] * THANKS! * =========== Thanks to all those who sent messages of appreciation regarding SpaceNews, especially: FB1RCI XE1KK VU2LBW VK3ZMF XX9AS Frank L. Weissferdt * 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, NJ 07738 <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>> /EX