[amsat-bb] Re: Satellites and the LoTW

Anthony Monteiro aa2tx at comcast.net
Thu Jan 25 05:05:06 PST 2007


At 10:02 PM 1/24/2007, Roger Kolakowski wrote:
>Eric discovered...
>
>"...and apparently the ISS is not a satellite."
>
>Hi Eric...
>
>AMSAT has never considered ISS as a satellite and has always maintained the
>SAREX Board and discouraged crossposting so that no-one gets confused and
>thinks that it has satellite "status."

Dear Friends,

I think there is a little confusion here.

 From AMSAT's Glossary of Terms, the definition of an amateur
satellite is an;

"..amateur communications relay station orbiting above the earth"

Therefore, it is very clear that a contact between an
earth station and an astronaut on the ISS is NOT a satellite
contact  It does not matter if it is packet or FM or SSTV.
It is a contact with an aeronautical station. ARRL and AMSAT are
completely consistent on this.

On the other hand, a contact between two earth stations
that use a transponder that happens to be on the ISS is
clearly a satellite contact. Again, it does not matter
whether it is packet or FM.

I believe PCSAT-2 was denied an OSCAR number because it
was just another payload on board the ISS, it is not an
autonomous satellite. Just as you would not give separate
OSCAR numbers to AO-51's Mode V/U and mode L/S transponders
since they are just additional payloads.

On the other hand, contacts through PCSAT-2 certainly
count as satellite contacts. This is also clearly AMSAT
policy. From the AMSAT web site::

"...there is no requirement for an OSCAR number to be
assigned to a satellite in order for it to be legitimately
recognized and used in the amateur satellite service."

I think the major point of confusion for many people is that
a contact with a manned spacecraft does not count as a satellite
contact because it is not a relay station and ARRL and AMSAT
both agree here.

73,
Tony AA2TX



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