[amsat-bb] ANS-335 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

Lee McLamb ku4os at cfl.rr.com
Sat Nov 30 18:54:00 PST 2013 

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-335

The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor-
mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite
Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space
including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur
Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building,
launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio
satellites.

The news feed on http://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur
Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to:
ans-editor at amsat.org.

In this edition:

* November/December 2013 AMSAT Journal is Ready
* Commands for WREN SSTV Released
* FUNcube - AO73 Data Warehouse
* South Africa ZACube-1 Now Named TshepisoSat
* AMSAT in the Press
* AMSAT SKN ON OSCAR 2014 IN MEMORY OF W2LV


SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-335.01
ANS-335 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 335.01
  From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
December 1, 2013
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-335.01



November/December 2013 AMSAT Journal is Ready

The November/December 2013 issue of the AMSAT Journal is complete
and has been sent to the print shop. It should be on the way to your
mailbox during the coming weeks.

Here are some highlights of what you will find in this issue:

+ AMSAT Announcements
+ Apogee View by Barry Baines, WD4ASW
+ Cubesat De-orbits in Hampton Roads by Richard Siff, W4BUE
+ Low Cost DVB-S Receivers Suitable for HAMTV Reception
   by Bill Ress, N6GHZ
+ November 19 Minotaur ELaNa Cubesat Frequency Summary
+ AMSAT at Texas Ham-Com 2013
+ AMSAT Field Activities Summer 2013
+ Part 1 - Fox-2 Maximum Power Point Tracker Series
   by Brenton Salmi, KB1LQD and Bryce Salmi, KB1LQC
+ EMike McCardel, KC8YLD Appointed AMSAT Vice President-Educational
   Relations
+ November 21 DNEPR Launch Cubesat Summary
+ The Gizmo - A Homebrew Equatorial Antenna Mount
   by Arthur Payne, VE3GNF
+ Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK Named New Vice President Field Operations
+ KA6SIP Portable Satellite Grid Expedition by Tom Deeble, KA6SIP
   with observations from John Papay, K8YSE about The USA Lower 48
   Worked all 488 Grids non-Award

The AMSAT Journal is a membership benefit AMSAT-NA. For more infor-
mation on how to join see: http://ww2.amsat.org/?page_id=1095

We'll help you get your article about your projects, trips,
hamfests, operating into the Journal. For more information see:
http://ww2.amsat.org/?page_id=1709 for tips on how to get started!

[ANS thanks the Journal Editor JoAnne, K9JKM; and Journal Editorial
  team: Mike, K4ERA; James, K3JPH; Bernhard, VA6BMJ, and Douglas,
  KA2UPW/5 for the above information]

---------------------------------------------------------------------


Commands for WREN SSTV Released

It is believed that the SSTV PocketQube WREN is currently in a mode where it
beacons on 437.405 MHz for 1.6 seconds then listens for 6 minutes on that
frequency for any commands. If none are received it goes to sleep for 2 minutes
before transmitting the beacon again.

The WREN team have released the following information on their Facebook page to
enable radio amateurs to activate the WREN SSTV transmitter.

BASIC COMMANDS

Commands to WREN are sent by toggling the carrier [of a FM transmitter]:
Carrier on/off: 1=long, 0=short, leave a noticeable silence between the bits.

• Activate/HK: 110011
• wait until answer [should be within 2 seconds]
• Camera ON: 11111
• wait until answer
• Snapshot & Thumbnail receive: 110
• decoder should display thumbnail picture 12*14 pixel can repeat this command
   until something useable appears
• SSTV send: 110100
• martin-1 SSTV picture comes
 in 320×240 pixels color

Wren should answer to the commands within two seconds.
Wait always at least two seconds after having received data before sending to
WREN

Notice:
Send the Activate/HK command first, else WREN won´t react to other commands.
When camera is OFF, a snapshot or SSTV command will send WREN into sleep mode.
ALWAYS SWITCH CAMERA ON FIRST BEFORE SENDING CAMERA COMMANDS.
WREN´s housekeeping data will show the status of camera power (ON or OFF).

The Telemetry Decoder and an Audio File of the beacon are available at
http://we.tl/TkWEuhIlnF

WREN on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/StaDoKo

WREN a Ham Radio Slow Scan TV PocketQube Satellite
http://amsat-uk.org/2013/10/24/wren-a-ham-radio-sstv-pocketqube/

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]


---------------------------------------------------------------------


FUNcube - AO73 Data Warehouse

Since the acquisition of the first signal by ZS1LS on Thursday 21st Nov. there
has been a steady
stream of data flowing in.

A few warehouse statistics as at 12:00 UTC, Nov. 28th 2013:

- over 12MB of unique data uploaded and stored
- 424 user registrations since 2013-11-17
- 319 users have have uploading data
- 41388 Real-time entries
- 11754 Whole Orbit Data entries
- 77940 High Resolution entries

Graphs of WOD and HighRes data are now on the web site:

https://warehouse.funcube.org.uk

Thanks go to all the individuals and groups who are helping to characterise the
performance of the satellite by uploading the data. Please keep it coming and
spread
the word about how to get involved.

The main source of information is at: http://www.funcube.org.uk

There is also a support forum at: http://forum.funcube.org.uk

[ANS thanks Dave, G4DPZ, for the above information]


---------------------------------------------------------------------


South Africa ZACube-1 Now Named TshepisoSat

The South African Radio League posted this news in their SARL News
Sunday November 24 Bulletins:

On Thursday 21 November  2013 the French South African Institute of
Technology (F'SATI), at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology,
made history by being the first in South Africa, and indeed the first
in Africa, to launch a locally built nano satellite into orbit from a
site in Russia.

Deon Coetzee, ZR1DE, who represented SA AMSAT at a ceremony held in
the auditorium at the university campus reports that  Vice Chancellor,
Prof. Vuyisa Mazwi-Tonga, paid tribute to all at the university who
made this achievement possible, and said she was immensely proud of
being part of it all.

Original known as ZACube-1, the satellite has been named TshepisoSat,
after a competition held for Grade 9 learners. Tshepiso is the seSotho
word meaning promise.

The launch was the culmination of five years' work after the first
proposal to build a small satellite as part of the engineering
curriculum was put forward by Professor Robert van Zyl in February
2008. Co-operation of the French Government made possible the forming
of  F'SATI  and the French Ambassador in South Africa, Elizabeth
Barbier, during a video address, promised continued support by France
for the programme.

ZACUBE-1 was one of fourteen cubesats aboard the thirty metre tall,
three stage rocket. All the cubesats were successfully released at a
height of 600 km above the Earth. TshepisoSat will circle the Earth up
to fifteen times per day in a polar orbit.

"At 11h13 the first signals from ZACUBE-1 were received amongst loud
cheers", Deon said. According to Francois Visser, ZS1CED, who was the
principal engineer and student mentor, the satellite was functioning
well. The satellite also includes a small camera which will be used to
monitor the releases of the 20 metre beacon antenna. The beacon will
operate on 14 099 kHz  and will be used to characterise the Superdarn
antennas at the Antarctic which are used to study the ionosphere. A
UHF beacon operates on 437,345 MHz. Follow  progress at
www.cput.ac.za/fsati and www.amsatsa.org.za

[ANS thanks the South African Radio League for the above information]


---------------------------------------------------------------------


AMSAT in the Press

+ The Fall 2013 issue of CQ VHF published an article by George Carr,
WA5KBH. George wrote about his experiences as "Being the QSL Manager
for CO6CBF." The article begins on page 30.

+ The Fall 2013 issue of CQ VHF also includes the regular Satellites
column by Keith Pugh, W5IU. Keith writes about amateur radio's 30th
anniversary in manned space flight, the upcoming HAMTV experiment on
the ISS, and FUNcube. Keith's column begins on page 60.

[ANS thanks JoAnne, K9JKM, for the above information]


---------------------------------------------------------------------


AMSAT SKN ON OSCAR 2014 IN MEMORY OF W2LV			

You are cordially invited to participate in Straight Key Night on OSCAR 2014,
sponsored by AMSAT for all radio amateurs throughout the world.

Operate CW through any amateur satellite from 
0001 through 2400 UTC on 1 January
2014, using a manual, non-electronic key.  Note that bugs are now allowed, as
they are in similar ARRL and SKCC events.

There is no need to send in a log, but please nominate someone you worked for
Best Fist.  Your nominee need not have the best 
fist of those you heard, just of
those you worked.  Send your nomination to w2rs at amsat.org..  A list of those
nominated will be published in early February.

This year’s event is being held in memory of Robert Morris (1902-1997), W2LV.
Bob’s amateur and professional career in radio literally spanned the era from
spark to satellite.  One of the first to work across the Atlantic in 1923, he
also received Satellite DXCC No. 2 in 1979.  Bob was featured in the PBS-TV
documentary, “Empire of the Air.”

[ANS thanks Ray, W2RS, for the above information]


/EX


In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the
President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining
donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive addi-
tional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT
Office.

Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership
at one-half the standard yearly rate. Post-secondary school students
enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the stu-
dent rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status.
Contact Martha at the AMSAT Office for additional student membership
information.

73,
This week's ANS Editor,
Lee McLamb, KU4OS
ku4os at amsat dot org

More information about the AMSAT-BB mailing list