
SB SAT @ AMSAT   $ANS-127.01
AMSAT-NA BEST EVER DAYTON

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 127.01 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD MAY 7, 1994
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-127.01

Dayton Hamvention '94 Termed "Best Ever" For AMSAT-NA

The 1994 Dayton Hamvention is now history, and AMSAT-North America's
(AMSAT-NA) participation at this year's gathering was nothing short of a
record breaker from a number of standpoints.  "While all the numbers aren't
in yet, we now believe this will be our best year ever for AMSAT at Day-
ton," said Bill Tynan (W3XO) AMSAT-NA President.  He went on to express his
sincere thanks for the very long hours, lost sleep and hard work put forth
by the many Dayton AMSAT booth volunteers, forum speakers and contributors.
In addition, Bill expressed his particular pleasure that the success at
this year's Hamvention also coincided with AMSAT's 25th anniversary cele-
bration.  Without question, the highlight of this year's Hamvention activ-
ity was a forum honoring the 10th anniversary of SAREX activity aboard the
NASA Space Shuttle.  Roy Neal (K6DUE) moderated the forum and was joined on
the podium by NASA Shuttle Astronauts Tony England (W0ORE) and Steve Nagel
(N5RAW) along with several other members of the SAREX working group.  Also
joining the group by live telephone patch were Astronauts Jay Apt (N5QWL)
at the Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston and Astronaut Ron Parise
(WA4SIR) at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.  In
addition, a surprisingly clear telephone patch was successfully completed
to Astronaut Ken Cameron (KB5AWP) in Star City, Russia.  Ken is now
training there for an upcoming joint NASA/Soyuz mission to the Russian
Space Station MIR.  All the astronauts shared their on-orbit experiences
with ham radio and answered several questions from the gathering of Ham-
vention attendees.  A number of students who have contacted the Shuttle via
Amateur Radio in the past were also present at the forum and gave their own
first hand impressions of their activities.  Local TV coverage from all
three Dayton commercial television stations highlighted the NASA astronauts
speaking to the standing-room-only crowd of nearly 500 present at the
event.

Other AMSAT activities at this year's Hamvention included a beginner's
forum hosted by Keith Baker (KB1SF) along with a new PACSAT forum hosted by
John Hansen (WA0PTV).  Ed Krome (KA9LNV) highlighted the simplicity of
Mode-S in a forum dedicated exclusively to that activity.  Dick Jansson
(WD4FAB) AMSAT-NA's VP for Engineering, was also on the program and brought
Hamvention attendees up to speed on the latest developments with Phase 3-D.
In addition, Ron Broadbent (G3AAJ) the Honorable Secretary of AMSAT-UK,
gave his organization's perspective on the Phase 3-D project.  Ron also
announced to the group that a $100,000 contribution from AMSAT-UK was
recently made to the Phase 3-D project specifically for the purchase of
flight batteries for the new spacecraft.

Unfortunately, two days of steady rain on Friday and Saturday followed by
extremely cold weather on Sunday kept most of the crowd indoors.  Despite
the bad weather, however, well over 200 people stopped by the booth to
initially join or renew their memberships in AMSAT-NA.

New items at this year's AMSAT booth included two new software programs and
a number of other items.  Joe Holman (KA7LDN) unveiled AMSAT-NA's first
ever Microsoft Windows-based satellite tracking program called WINSAT.  In
addition, a new Microsoft Windows-based PB/PG packet software package
called WISP written by Chris Jackson (ZL2TPO), was premiered at the booth.
Needless to say, both of these new AMSAT software packages were in great
demand by Hamvention attendees.

Other new items included an AMSAT 25th Anniversary patch and decal.  Also,
several new books were premiered at the booth, including the fourth and
latest edition of "How to Use the Amatuer Radio Satellites" by Keith Baker
(KB1SF) and a newly revised "AMSAT-NA Digital Satellite Guide" edited by
Gould Smith (WA4SXM).

[The AMSAT News Service (ANS) would like to thank KB1SF, W3XO, and KA3HDO
 for this bulletin item.]

/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT   $ANS-127.02
UoSAT STUDENT/HAM HONORED

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 127.02 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD MAY 7, 1994
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-127.02

G7MBF Recognized For His Research With POSAT-OSCAR-28's GPS Experiment

Congratulations are in order for University of Surrey (UoSAT) student
Martin Unwin (G7MBF) who won the "Best Student Paper Prize" for his paper
titled "Differential GPS Implementation on Microsatellites" presented at
the recent Differential Satellite Navigation Systems Conference held in
London.  The award was sponsored by INMARSAT and the Royal Institute of
Navigation and consists of $1,000 to be used for continuing research in GPS
at UoSAT; it was presented to Martin by Olaf Lundburg, the Director General
of INMARSAT.

The PoSAT-OSCAR-28 GPS experiment has been highly successful automatically
generating keplerian elements on-board based on GPS location measurements.
Efforts are under way to use ground-based radars or other "cross-checks" to
see just how accurately the GPS receiver is measuring the satellite's
position in orbit.

[The AMSAT News Service (ANS) would like to thank Jeff Ward (K8KA/G0SUL)
 for this bulletin item.]

/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT   $ANS-127.03
AO-13 OPS NET SCHEDULE

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 127.03 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD MAY 7, 1994
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-127.03

Current AMSAT Operations Net Schedule For AO-13

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.  If, at
the start of the OPS Net, the frequency of 145.950 MHz is being used
for a QSO, OPS Net enthusiasts are asked to move to the alternate
frequency of 145.955 MHz.

 Date           UTC    Mode     Phs     NCS     Alt NCS
14-May-94       1700   B        167     WA5ZIB  W5IU
21-May-94       2130   B        185     VE2LVC  W9ODI

Any stations with information on current events would be most welcomed.
Also, those interested in discussing technical issues or who have quest-
ions about any particular aspect of OSCAR statellite operations, are
encouraged to join the OPS Nets.  If neither of the Net Control Stations
show up, any participant is invited to act as the NCS.

"Slow Scanners" are invited to join the SSTV sessions on AO-13.  The freq-
uency is 145.955 MHz.  The net meets at 45 minutes before Mode S, and on
Mode B following Mode S on Saturdays and Sundays.  Join those sessions or
convey your wishes for other SSTV skeds to wb6llo@amsat.org, and he will
coordinate your efforts.

/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT   $ANS-127.04
WEEKLY OSCAR STATUS REPORTS

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 127.04 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD MAY 7, 1994
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-127.04

Weekly OSCAR Status Reports: 07-MAY-94

AO-13: Current Transponder Operating Schedule:
M QST *** AO-13 TRANSPONDER SCHEDULE ***  1994 Apr 07-Jul 11
Mode-B  : MA   0 to MA 170 |
Mode-BS : MA 170 to MA 218 |
Mode-S  : MA 218 to MA 220 |<- S beacon only
Mode-S  : MA 220 to MA 230 |<- S transponder; B trsp. is OFF
Mode-BS : MA 230 to MA 250 |        Blon/Blat 230/-5
Mode-B  : MA 250 to MA 256 |
Omnis   : MA 250 to MA 120 |  Move to attitude 180/0, Jul 11
[G3RUH/DB2OS/VK5AGR]

FO-20: The FO-20 ground command station has confirmed that the bird has
been malfunctioning.  The operational schedule announced previously is
currently suspended and the analog mode will be continued indefinitely.
Further operation schedule will be announced on and after 11-May-94.
[Kazu Sakamoto (JJ1WTK) qga02014@niftyserve.or.jp]

KO-25: KO-25 B has apparently been moved to the alternate receive freq-
uency because of trouble with the other receiver.  So uplink now is 145.870
MHz.  The controllers note that the receiver may be turned off inter-
mittently due to receiver testing. [WH6I]

AO-16: Working well.  [WH6I]

LO-19: Operating normally.  [WH6I]

KO-23: Operating Normally. [WH6I]

UO-11: WB1HBU talked with Doug Loughmiller (G0SYX) of the University of
Surrey (UoSAT) while they both were at the Dayton Hamvention and G0SYX
indicated that UO-11's S band beacon is now on continuously.  The frequency
is 2401.5 MHz. [WB1HBU & G0SYX]

RS-10/11: WA6ARA reports that RS-10 is operating beautifully! The passes
at his QTH are coming around again in the late evening.  WA6ARA is present-
ly using QRP power, about 5W, using CW into a J pole with excellent
results.  WA6ARA says that "this bird continues to put out an excellent
signal."  [WA6ARA]

RS-12/13: HA5WH friend, Sanyi (XU7VK), is working from Cambodia during the
daytime on RS-12.  His biggest problem is finding stations to make QSOs
with.  HA5WH requests all stations in that area who use RS-12 to listen for
XU7VK on RS-12.  [HA5WH]

The AMSAT NEWS Service (ANS) is looking for volunteers to contribute weekly
OSCAR status reports.  If you have a favorite OSCAR which you work on a
regular basis and would like to contribute to this bulletin, please send
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
