BID: $SPC1227 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY DECEMBER 27, 1993 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for unlimited distribution. * AO-21 GOES MULTIMEDIA * ========================= As reported last week in SpaceNews, the RUDAK group of AMSAT-DL achieved another milestone with the development of more sophisticated software for the OSCAR-21/RUDAK satellite. Although some key members are already very busy with P3D activities, much time has been invested to implement new attractive modes on AO21. Besides the Voice Broadcast which was successfully used throughout the last year with several greeting messages in different languages, RUDAK is now capable of transmitting picture files in WEFAX compatible format. Unfortunately there is no camera onboard AO-21, so the pictures have to be uploaded first by the AO-21 command station. Not only is RUDAK now capable of transmitting FAX pictures, the pictures themselves are uploaded and stored in JPEG format! They are also converted from JPEG to WEFAX format online by the RTX-2000 RISC processor during transmission, so not much memory is needed to hold the images. JPEG compression gives an enormous reduction in file size compared to GIF picture format, without much loss in quality. This saves a lot of space in the 1MB RAMDISK and will also speed-up the upload time drastically. RUDAK is also capable of holding several picture and voice broadcast files in the RAMDISK at the same time. They can be transmitted on a schedule mixed with FM-Mode and 1200 baud AX.25 Telemetry. The "Multimedia" satellite premiere will be activated for the first time on December 24 and some special season greeting in voice and picture will be transmitted. Stay tuned on AMSAT OSCAR-21 and be prepared for some surprises! The RUDAK downlink center frequency is 145.987 MHz. The uplink for FM-Mode is 435.014 MHz. The WEFAX format is like METEOSAT WEFAX Specification (MGCS): FM, 2400 Hz Subcarrier frequency with double sideband AM modulation, 300 Hz start signal for 3 seconds, 450 Hz stop signal for 5 seconds, 800 x 800 Pixel Image format with 256 grey levels, 4 Lines/sec. * MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR * AMSAT-DL, Germany and AMSAT-U, Russia [Info via Peter Guelzow] * SANTA GETS CLEARANCE * ======================== To all our friends who have participated in SAREX operations this past year: The Kennedy Space Center has given clearance for Santa to land on the Shuttle landing strip. The folks in Mission Control have given their go ahead for deorbit burn and landing operations. Engineering has declared all systems operating properly and the range safety officer has cleared the landing area of all interfering craft. We are ready for final Christmas operations. We trust that our friends in the north have taken good care of Santa's Reindeer during this past year and all systems are go. We here at the Johnson Space Center and the SAREX team send our Seasons Greetings and Wishes for a Happy New Year. [Info via Lou McFadin, W5DID at the NASA Johnson Space Center] * 2 METER AMSAT NET * ===================== All interested are invited to check in to the WA2SNQ repeater satellite net, on the 147.075 MHz repeater in Dix Hills, Long Island. Beginners are welcome, as are old hands. We are especially looking for PACSAT users. There will soon be a Oscar 13 gateway in operation during good AO13 passes during net time. Please stop in and say hello Tuesday nites at 7 PM. [Info via Scott, WB2UZR @ WA2NDV.#NLI.NY.USA.NA] * CELESTIAL BBS NUMBER CHANGE * =============================== The telephone number of the Celestial land-line BBS system will change effective 6 January 1994 from 513/427-0674 to 513/253-9767. [Info via WX8X] * NEW AMSAT LAND-LINE BBS * =========================== Dave, KB9BNR has added a land line port to his packet radio BBS (QCBBS), a F6FBB packet BBS with three RF ports supporting RF data rates from 1200 to 9600 baud. The BBS has a very nice satellite section containing realtime satellite tracking facilities as well as text files on each Amateur satellite. There are also back issues of SpaceNews and ANS bulletins available, and Dave hopes to add a bigger hard disk soon and include much more information. There are also lots of other Ham Radio files on the system, such as radio mods, SWL frequency lists, and much more. On your first connect to the system you will have read only status. You can send Dave a message if you would like full access to the system. Simply provide your name and callsign and select a password for your login and pass it along to Dave. The next time you connect, you will have full access to the system. The telephone number is 309-797-3827. The BBS supports baud rates from 300 to 9600 baud, with 8N1 data format and is available 24 hours a day. [Info via Dave, KB9BNR] * FO-20 OPERATION SCHEDULE * ============================ The following is the FO-20 operation schedule for December 1993 through February 1994. During this period, the analog and digital transponder modes will on alternately for a week as they were in December. ANALOG MODE: 15-Dec-93 7:41 -to- 22-Dec-93 8:05 UTC 29-Dec-93 8:30 -to- 05-Jan-94 8:50 UTC 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: G3IOR N3JIX W3PYF AA4MI ZS5FR KD6ILO YT7MPB WD8LAQ F9XG 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, New Jersey 07738 U.S.A. <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>> /EX