From: cowdin@pogo.DEn.mmc.COM (Dave Cowdin)
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc
Subject: ANS-354 BULLETINS
Date: 20 Dec 92 23:31:25 GMT
Organization: UCSD Usenet Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: ucsd.edu
Originator: daemon@ucsd.edu

SB SAT @ AMSAT   $ANS-354.01
OSCAR HAMFEST DEMONSTRATION

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 354.01 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD DECEMBER 19, 1992   BID:$ANS-354.01
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT

A Simple "Demonstration" Satellite Station Setup At Maryland Hamfest

Early Sunday morning, on December 6, 1992, amateur satellite operators from
the Washington, D.C. area set up and operated a satellite station at a
local hamfest.

The second annual "HolidayFest" Ham Radio and Computer Fair, held at the
Prince Georges County Community College, was co-sponsored by the Goddard
Amateur Radio Club of Greenbelt, MD.  But it doesn't take a nearby major
NASA facility to pull off such a demonstration for the public, say the
planners.

AMSAT member Pat Kilroy (WD8LAQ) organized the OSCAR satellite  demonstra-
tion.  He teamed with fellow members Steve Greene (KA1LM), Dan Schultz
(N8FGV), and Walt Daniel (N3KVQ), to operate a portable battery-powered sta-
tion and brave the chilly morning weather outside in a tent that was cook-
ing with activity.

Their 8x10 foot tent was located near the main entrance and next to a mod-
est but plainly visible OSCAR antenna array.  The array was mounted on a
seven-foot tall wood 2x4 and guyed with some rope.  The team made contacts
on AO-13 using two mobile radios and two deep-cycle 12-volt batteries.  The
team members also spoke with many curious individuals who were attending
the hamfest.

According to WD8LAQ, the objectives of their demonstration were to (1)
share the fun of space communications with others, especially new hams, (2)
demonstrate a *SIMPLE* yet effective station, (3) make a few contacts, both
the satellite kind and the Elmer kind, and (4) steer the several highly in-
terested folks to Howard Ziserman (WA3GOV), AMSAT Area Coordinator, who was
staffing the hamfest AMSAT table inside.  One new friend thanked KA1LM for
the successful event, saying that previously his experiences in two-way
space communications were only through the pages of ham radio magazines!

The Washington, D.C. area AMSAT group is a "vocal" group.  There is a
weekly local AMSAT Net on a 2M FM repeater following one of the AMSAT HF
nets.  This group also holds semiannual meetings that use a "show and tell"
format as well as serving as a forum for satellite operators to discuss
their particular satellite interests.

This special event station is the kind of local, "grass-roots" activity
that effectively spreads the exciting word about AMSAT and the amateur
radio satellites!

[The AMSAT News Service would like to thank N3KVQ and WD8LAQ for this bul-
letin item.]

/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT   $ANS-354.02
N0MIR SPEAKS TO U6MIR & U7MIR

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 354.02 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD DECEMBER 19, 1992   BID:$ANS-354.02
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT

St. Louis Science Center Hosting The Soviet Space Exhibit

Many MIR space station watchers will remember last year that the station W5MIR
was specifically set up in the lobby of the Fort Worth, TX Museum of Science
and Technology to provide public relations support for the Soviet Space
Exhibit.  Included in many of the activities surrounding W5MIR were weekly
chats with the cosmonauts aboard MIR and the re-broadcasting of these
conversations over the museum's public address system the so that
the visitors to the Space Exhibit could also hear these conversations.
Many a museum vistor was suprised to see how easy it was for radio amateurs
to talk to the cosmonauts and how eager the cosmonauts were to talk to
those at the museum.  This year, the Soviet Space Exhibit has moved to the
St. Louis, MO Science Center and again amateur radio is part of the Space
Exhibit.  The station call being used, most appropriately, is N0MIR and
according to Mike Koening (N0PFF) the OSCAR station is quite impressive.
Mike says that the station at the Science Center consists of an IC-970, the
Hygain 218S antenna set, Kenpro AZ/EL rotators, two COMPUDYNE 386 computers
running Roy Welch's (W0SL) ORBITS III program and Antonio Franklin's
InstantTrack V1.0b.  To help track the fast moving MIR space station, the
Kansas City Tracker was installed in one of the COMPUDYNE computers to
command the rotators.  To help hear the cosmonauts there are SSB
Electronics 2M and 70CM pre-amps and to ensure that N0MIR is heard, the
station has a RF Concepts 2M/70CM power amplifier.  When N0MIR is not being
used to talk with the cosmonauts, the operators are demonstrating the many
different modes, from the PACSATs to AO-13, with the Science Center
visitors.

Roy Welch reports that on Saturday, 21-Nov-92, ex-Apollo 10 astronaut and
now Air Force General Tom Stafford was present at the Space Exhibit and
through arrangements with Anatoly Solovyev (U6MIR), the Flight Commander
of MIR, a former Apollo astronaut was able to chat with a "on-orbit" cosmonaut.
During this pass, the local CBS and NBC television affliates were present to
record this event.  Tom Stafford spoke in Russian to Anatoly (U6MIR).  On the
next pass, a Russian translator and engineer who accompanies the Space Exhibit,
worked Sergey Avdeyev (U7MIR), the MIR space station Flight Engineer.  All of
these QSOs were arranged through messages left on the packet radio BBS aboard
MIR.  After these MIR passes, General Stafford expressed a great interest in
the satellite tracking software that radio amateurs are running.  He also
expressed an interested in AMSAT and in setting up an OSCAR satellite station
at the Oklahoma City Space Museum.  General Stafford is a native of Oklahoma.

N0PFF wishes to remind all radio amateurs that if you work N0MIR on any of
the OSCAR satellites, that you are eligible to receive a beautiful, special
event station QSL card.  Send your QSL cards with an enclosed s.a.s.e to
W0SL's QTH, 908 Dutch Mill Dr., Manchester, MO 63011.

[The AMSAT News Service (ANS) would like to thank Mike Koening (N0PFF) and
Roy Welch (W0SL) for the information which went into this bulletin item.]

/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT   $ANS-354.03
SIDEREAL ANGLES FOR W3IWI PROGRAM

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 354.03 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD DECEMBER 19, 1992   BID: $ANS-354.03
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT

G3RUH Provides Sidereal Angles Needed For The W3IWI Tracking Program

AMSAT-OSCAR-13 (AO-13) Ground Station operator, James Miller (G3RUH), is
aware that there are a great number of hams who currently are using the
orginal "IWI" satellite program written by Tom Clark (W3IWI).  One of the
important input parameters needed to run Tom's program is the "sidereal"
angle or the "G2" constant inside the progam.  It is necessary for one to
update it at the beginning of each year.  The following is the listing of
this short BASIC computer program which generated the table.

LIST

 T$="B.GHAA(0)": REM     GMST of 0000 utc Calculator.  Based on
 REM                   1984 Astronomical  Almanac Pages B6 & S13.
 REM
 REM Version 1.1   Last modified 1985 May 08 by JRM
 REM
 REM                 (C)1991 J R Miller G3RUH
 REM
 REM GMST =24110.54841 + TU*(8640184.812866+TU*(0.093104+TU*(-6.2E-6)))
 REM (seconds).
 REM
 REM  where Tu is the interval of time, (measured in Julian centuries
 REM  of 36525 days of universal time), elapsed since the epoch
 REM  2000 Jan 1.5   i.e TU = (JD - 2451545.0)/36525
 REM
 FI%=&80F: FF%=&2060F: REM  Print formats;  #########   #.######
 :
 PRINT"Program ";T$;"    GHAA for Year yyyy Jan 0.0     (C)1991 G3RUH"
 PRINT
 PRINT"           YEAR      GHAA deg        GMST rev"
 PRINT"         -------------------------------------"
 FOR YR = 1988 TO 2000
   DD = FND0(YR)-(FND0(2000)+1.5): REM Days since 2000 Jan 1.5
   TU = DD/36525
   G1 = TU*(184.812866+TU*(0.093104+TU*(-6.2E-6)))/86400 :REM Small part
   G2 = TU*100                                    :REM Big part
   G3 = 0.2790572733                              :REM 24110.54841/86400
   GMST = G1+G2+G3: GMST=GMST-INT(GMST): GHAA=GMST*360
   @%=FI%: PRINT YR;: @%=FF%: PRINT GHAA,GMST
   NEXT
 STOP
 DEF FND0(YR)=INT((YR-1)*365.25)

RUN

Program B.GHAA(0)    GHAA for Year yyyy Jan 0.0     (C)1991 G3RUH

           YEAR      GHAA deg        GMST rev
         -------------------------------------
           1993      99.667481       0.276854
           1994      99.428769       0.276191
           1995      99.190057       0.275528
           1996      98.951346       0.274865
           1997      99.698282       0.276940
           1998      99.459570       0.276277
           1999      99.220859       0.275613
           2000      98.982147       0.274950

[The AMSAT News Service (ANS) would like James Miller (G3RUH) for this
bulletin item.]

/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT   $ANS-354.04
AMSAT OPERATIONS NET SCHEDS

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 354.04 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD DECEMBER 19, 1992   BID: $ANS-354.04
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT

AMSAT-NA Operations Net Schedule

AMSAT Operations Nets are planned for the following times.  Mode B Nets
are conducted on AO-13 on a downlink frequency of 145.950 MHz and the Mode
J/L Nets on a downlink of 435.970 MHz.

 Date           UTC    Mode     Phs       NCS     Alt

  3-Jan-93       0200   B        35      WA5ZIB  WJ9F
 11-Jan-93       0400   B        21      W9ODI   N7NQM
 16-Jan-93       2200   B        36      W5IU    WA5ZIB

Any stations with information on current events are especially welcomed
to join the AO-13 Operations Net.  In the unlikely event that either the
Net Control Station (NCS) or the alternate do not call on frequency, any
participant is invited to act as the NCS.

Slow Scan Television on AO-13

SSTV sessions will be held on Saturdays and Sundays (UTC).  Mode J on a
downlink of 435.980 MHz, and Mode B immediately after Mode J on 145.960
MHz.  OPS NETS will take priority so look for SSTV activity immediately
after they conclude.

/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT   $ANS-354.05
CURRENT OSCAR STATUS REPORT

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 354.05 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD DECEMBER 19, 1992   BID: $ANS-354.05
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT

Current OSCAR Status Report: 12/19/92

FO-20: Date: 12/19/92: FO-20 is in Mode JA SSB mode on Wednesdays UTC.  At
all other times the Mode JD BBS will be in operation.  Mode JA Uplink pass-
band is 145.900-146.000 MHz.  Downlink passband is 435.900-435.800 MHz.
Mode JA is an inverting transponder.  The Mode JA beacon can be heard at
435.795 MHz.  [WD0HHU]

AO-21: Date: 12/19/92: FM Transponder in operation for 6 minutes, a voice
transmission for 3 minutes, and 1200 baud AFSK telemetry transmission
for 1 minute.  This cycle repeats every hour of everyday.  Uplink frequency
is 435.016 MHz and downlink frequency is 145.987 MHz FM.  Use your standard
terrestrial packet 2M VHF TNC to decode the telemetry. [DB2OS]

AO-13: Date: 12/19/92: PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE FROM VK5AGR:
L de VK5AGR 19-DEC-92 05:00 UTC - The next session of magnetorquing
to change AO-13's attitude from 210/0 to 130/0 will commence on 19-DEC-92
at 15:41 UTC i.e. Orbit #3458, MA count 224.  This move will take about 9
days and be carried out in two stages.  The first stage will be to change
the attitude to approximately to 155/15 over the next 6 perigees finishing
on 22-DEC-92 at 03:43 UTC.  After checking the attitude over the next few
days the second stage will be to change the attitude from 155/15 to 130/0.
During the reorientation from 210/0 to 130/0 the SA (Sun Angle) will
approach -45 degrees.  From previous experience when the |SA| > 45 degrees,
the spacecraft will not support more than 55 MA units of continuous Mode B
transponder operation.  Therefore, if the |SA| approaches 45 degrees the
Mode B transponder will only be switched ON from MA 90 to MA 145.  The move
to 130/0 should be completed by 28-DEC-92.  Don't rely on gossip and rumor!
Continuous up-to-date information about AO-13 operations is always available
on the beacons, 145.812 MHz, 435.658 MHz and 2400.646 MHz in CW, RTTY and 400
bps PSK.

DO-17: Date: 12/19/92: S/W reload continuing.  S-Band transmitter in use.
An intense effort is underway to get the 2M packet beacon running again.
[WD0E]

AO-16: Date: 12/19/92: The Raised Cosine (RC) transponder is in use.  The
downlink frequency is 437.050 MHz.  AO-16 appears to be operating normally
with the new PB.EXE software. [WH6I]

UO-22: Date: 12/19/92: Operating normally, after a series of on-board
computer crashes and several S/W reloads last week.  Uplink on 145.975 &
145.900 MHz FM and receive on the downlink frequency of 435.120 MHz FM.
[WH6I]

WO-18: Date 12/19/92: WO-18's on-board computer crashed as of about 48 hrs
ago.  No serious cause has been found but the speculation is that it was a
Single Event Upset (SEU) in a critical RAM memory location.  The trans-
mitter has been turned on and there doesn't appear to be any danger to the
batteries.  WO-18 ground controllers have begun the S/W reloading process
but will not be including the picture taking task S/W.  Ground controllers
will probably stop short of any thing beyond housekeeping software because
it is necessary for WA3PSD to present in order to assist in the reload and he
will be out of town next Wednesday and and there won't be time to reload the
on-board computer before the holidays.  WO-18 users can expect telemetry again
in a few days.  Once WA3PSD returns on Sunday, 27-Dec-92, the rest of the WO-18
imaging software will be reloaded. [WA3PSD]

LO-19: Date: 12/19/92: The Raised Cosine Transponder is in use with the
downlink frequency of 437.1255 MHz.  For broadcast downloads use PB.EXE
version 910509m, and for directory and file uploads, use PG.EXE version
910207r.  On Mondays, look for broadcast bulletin experiments. [LU8DYF]

KO-23: Date: 12/19/92: Operating normally with a number of good pictures.
KO23 had some problem at one of two trasmitter chains a few days after
launch.  The TX0 transmitter's frequency synthesizer became unlocked for some
reason so it was necessary to switch to TX1 and it has been in use since
30-Nov-92.  The TX1 consumes more power than TX0 and this has affected the
whole eclipse operation plan.  In November, due to lack of power during
eclpise period, only one payload was able to be turned and it discharged the
batteries too much.  This caused ground controllers to postpone opening up
the BBS on KO23.  Today, however, KO23 is currently using TX0 and healthy.
Since KO-23 is using TX0, your downlink frequency should be adjusted to
435.175MHz. [WH6I & G7LAZ]

RS-10/11: Date: 12/19/92: The morning passes are sparsely populated one or
two phone stations and about the same on CW. In the evenings a lot more
activity with the Transponder almost fully loaded.  As others have
mentioned before, this is a very "easy-bird" to get started on and with as
little as 10-25 watts ERP you can work lots of stations.  Here is this
week's CW telemetry bulletin: "CQ DE RS3A/MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW
YEAR/PSE SEND UR QSL TO ADDRESS RUSSIA MOSCOW 141000 STATION PERLOVSKAYA.
UL VVOLOSHINOJ. D11. KV72. MIRONOV ANDREY/MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW
YEAR/" [WC9C @ N9HSI.IL.USA.NA]

RS-12/13: Date: 12/19/92: NO RECEIVED STATUS REPORT THIS WEEK!

UO-11: Date: 12/19/92: G0/KO5I has uploaded new and current information con-
cering UO-11.  Monitor its telementry beacon on 145.820 MHz. [G3IOR]

ARSENE: Date: 12/19/92: G3IOR reports that the launch of this new OSCAR is
scheduled for 20-April-93.  Telementry formats will be published soon.  [G3IOR] 

The AMSAT NEWS Service (ANS) is looking for volunteers to contribute weekly
OSCAR status reports.  If you have a favorite OSCAR which you work
regularly and would like to contribute to this bulletin, please send in
your observations to WD0HHU at his CompuServe address of 70524,2272, on
INTERNET at wd0hhu@amsat.org, or to his local packet BBS in the Denver, CO
area, WD0HHU @ W0LJF.#NECO.CO.USA.NOAM.  Also, if you find that the current
set of orbital elements are not generating the correct AOS/LOS times at
your QTH, PLEASE INCLUDE THAT INFORMATION AS WELL.  The information you
provide will be of value to all OSCAR enthusiasts.

/EX