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****************************************************************************** * AMSAT NA News Service Bulletins * * NEWS276 03Oct87 * * [ Copyright 1987 by AMSAT NA, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ] * * [ Permission is granted for unlimited redistribution by electronic or ] * * [ other means provided credit is given to AMSAT NA News Service (ANS). ] * * [ Edited for AMSAT NA by W0RPK ] * * [ (N)=New story; (U)=Updated story; (R)=Reprieved story ] * * [ This edition was forwarded by the W0RPK-AMSAT Bulletin Board System ] * * [ operating on 515-961-3325 24-hours Ralph Wallio, W0RPK SYSOP ] * * [ Uploaded to Barf-80 by N8HSP ] * ****************************************************************************** Headlines: 1.(N) Mexico attempts to reallocate 430-440 MHz from ham radio 2.(N) W3IWI organizing moonbounce effort from 140' NRAO dish 3.(N) 1987 AMSAT-NA annual meeting and space symposium information 4.(R) U.S. Groups To Participate In Moscow Space Future Forum 5.(R) Launch Success Catalyzes Phase 3C Launch Campaign 6.(U) FO-12 Schedule Reinstated 7.(R) NASA Seems Likely To Win Space Station Funding 8.(N) N4HY QUIKTRAK V3.1 now ready for distribution 9.(U) Short Bursts News In Brief: 1. In a surprise move at the WARC, Mexico is attempting to reallocate the 430-440 MHz amateur radio frequency spectrum to land mobile use. 2. Tom Clark, W3IWI, and others will put the National Radio Astronomy Observatory on-the-air during the October 17/18 ARRL moonbounce contest. 3. A tentative schedule and other information is now available for the 1987 AMSAT-NA annual meeting and space symposium in Southfield, Michigan. 4. A "Space Future Forum" will be held in Moscow on the 30th Anniversary of Sputnik's launch. NASA and AMSAT have been invited to the meeting. 5. AMSAT's Phase 3C launch campaign is off and running. Informative articles, brochures and a launch insurance fund raising effort are all included. 6. FO-12 is back on schedule and performing well. 7. Despite opposition from a powerful U.S. Senator, it appears NASA will prevail in its Space Station budget battle. 8. Dr. Bob McGwier, N4HY, has released version 3.1 of his latest highly acclaimed QUIKTRAK program for IBM-PC type computers. ****************************************************************************** 1. (N) Mexico attempts to reallocate 430-440 MHz from ham radio In a startling turn of events at the Geneva-based World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC), the government of Mexico moved swiftly to request reassignment the 430-440 MHz band from Amateurs to commercial land mobile use in that country. The move surfaced late on Friday afternoon, September 25, according to AMSAT's Jan King who is part of the U.S. delegation to the WARC. The timing of the resolution seemed designed to catch delegates from other nations off guard as the weekend closed in. The move by Mexico to usurp Amateur operation in the weak signal and satellite portion of the band would devastate Mexican 70 cm operation according to King. Furthermore, he said, there is a real possibility of serious interference to satellite uplinks from mobile radio users in the 435 to 438 MHz range. According to AMSAT Mexico President David Liberman, XE1TU, this situation has already been fought in the Mexican courts for some time. Now, he says, the proponents of the Mexican mobile radio initiative, including powerful economic elements and the former Mexican President, are attempting to go the WARC route to codify their demands. From Geneva, Jan King reports other Central and South America countries are watching the issue with considerable interest since many would like to avail themselves of the valuable 70 cm turf. The band is allocated to radiolocation (Primary) and Amateur (Secondary) in IARU Region 2. IARU Secretary David Sumner, K1ZZ, advises that the IARU considers this matter very serious and has marshalled all available Region 2 forces against the threat. According to King, the U.S. delegation is firmly against the Mexican proposal. The problem, he says, is that some of the smaller nations may side with Mexico on this issue in return for reciprocal support in other deals. The main attraction of 70 cm to Mexico and other nations is the ready-made supply of ham radio 70 cm radios. As of October 1st, Jan King reports from Geneva that a potential compromise has been arrived at with the Mexicans regarding the protection of the 435-438 MHz Amateur Satellite Service region. The Mexican proposal has come up once as a footnote on the floor, and will be up again for further consideration. At that time other 3rd world countries (especially Central and South American) may join-in with the Mexican proposal. If the item comes to the floor again, Jan said that the IARU would then jump in to the matter to provide necessary input. If this proposal does go through, amateurs in affected countries may well loose their privileges in the 430-440 MHz region (with the possible exception of the 435-438 MHz Amateur Satellite Service segment). * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 2.(N) W3IWI organizing moonbounce effort from 140' NRAO dish Dr. Tom Clark, W3IWI, wishes to inform all interested parties that an interesting moonbounce (EME) expedition has been scheduled to coincide with the 17/18 October ARRL international moonbounce contest. This activity will involve use of the 140' diameter radio telescope at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Greenbank, West Virginia. Plans call for activity on 3 bands -- 432, 1296 and 2304 MHz. The 140' radio telescope is located at 79.83 deg. longitude and 38.44 deg. latitude, corresponding to grid designator FM08ck. The operating schedule calls for being QRV during the entire time the moon is above the horizon -- about 13 hours per day. Available moon windows from Greenbank are 06:40-20:00z on the 17th and 07:40-20:30z on the 18th (plus an optional window from 08:40-12:00z on the 19th if their stamina holds out and if there is anyone left to work). Nominal operating frequencies will be 432.025, 1296.025 and 2304.010 MHz. Operation on the 432 and 1296 MHz frequencies can be concurrent since the dish antenna feeds are concentric (except that transmitting on one band will overload the other receiver). The 2304 MHz feed is off-axis, so the antenna must be re-pointed to QSY to that band. They currently plan to concentrate on 432/1296 the first day (Oct.17) and schedule 2304 MHz during the second day. Due to telescope constraints they have decided to use all solid-state transmitters. The power amplifier for 432 MHz will run about 140 watts output, while the 1296 and 2304 amplifiers will run about 100 watts output. These will be housed along with the GaAsFET receiver preamps in a large (.7m x .7m x 1.5m) box located at the focus of the dish; this minimizes transmission line loss problems. The feeds for all three frequencies support circular polarization, and the polarization sense will be remotely selected from the control room. On 432 MHz they will use a Kenwood TS811 as the exciter, while 1296 and 2304 will share a TS711 exciter to drive the respective transmitting converters. On the receive side, the 711/811 all mode radios will be augmented by a TS940. They expect to be able to QSO stations that have EME capability without the need for schedules on 432 and 1296. They request that stations working them 'random' not transmit on their frequency -- THEY PREFER TO TUNE FOR YOU! Given the gain of the 140' dish, it should be possible for them to work a well- equipped non-EME station on 432 and 1296. If you have one or two yagis, can generate 2-3 kw EIRP, and have a good GaAsFET preamplifier, there is a chance for a QSO. In order to QSO such stations, they expect to resort to schedules and will use the '432 standard' EME format. To make a sked, contact Jay, K5JL on the weekend EME net (Saturdays and Sundays at 16:00z on 14.345) or by phone (405-373-3758). When keeping skeds or calling CQ, they will follow the standard 5 minute EME sequence, and will transmit during the first 2.5 minute window. During the weekend you can also request a sked by telephoning them at the 140' telescope (304-456-2347). They anticipate that all 2304 MHz activity will be done with skeds. After the moon sets each night, they will be available to try long-haul tropo skeds on any of the three bands. Due to telescope limitations, they can only point to the horizon at southerly azimuths in the range 80 to 280 degrees. Again contact K5JL or telephone for skeds. Because the beam of the 140' telescope ranges from 1.1 degrees (at 432 MHz) to 0.24 degrees (at 2304), they will need to know your latitude and longitude quite accurately to know where to point the antenna. During the weekend they anticipate that there will be many hours during which there is nobody new to work. During these time they will be trying some 'exotic' tests. They expect to be QRV for packet tests with several modems (300 baud with 200 & 600 Hz FSK, 1200 baud with 1000 Hz FSK, 1200 baud PSK). They also anticipate trying some DSP (digital signal processing) tests using techniques being developed by W3IWI and N4HY. This extravaganza is a joint effort of a number of people from all over North America (NJ, MD, VA, WV, OK, KS and Manitoba): The feeds for all 3 bands and the 2304 MHz hardware are being provided by VE4MA. WB0DRL is providing the 1296 RF hardware and W3IWI the 432 hardware. The 1296 and 2304 100 watt power amplifiers are coming from WA2FGK with help from K2TKN. K5JL is coordinating on-the-air schedules. Telescope activities are being handled by engineers and radio astronomers from NRAO (AA4TJ, K2AOE, N4FWA, WB3DZC, WA4ZJO and others) and from NASA/Goddard (W3IWI and W8MIF). * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 3.(N) 1987 AMSAT-NA Annual meeting and space symposium information Larry Koziel, K8MU, has released a tentative schedule of events at the AMSAT-NA 1987 SPACE SYMPOSIUM to be held November 6-8 at the Southfield Hilton Hotel in Southfield, Michigan. This two-track schedule of educational and ham radio topics includes: Friday November 6, 1987 Socialize at AMSAT's Hospitality Suite, Cash bar, 7:00 PM Saturday November 7, 1987 Morning Plenary Session, 8:00 AM, Ballroom CD Welcome and Introductory Remarks "Spacecraft Technology Trends in the Amateur Satellite Service" Dick Jansson WD4FAB "NUSAT: A Student Satellite Project of Weber State College" William G. Clapp A Proposal for Inclusion of Amateur Radio on the Space Station William Tynan W3XO Morning Amateur Radio Session, 10:00 AM, Ballroom CD "Two-way Fast Scan Television Proposal for the Space Shuttle" Andy Bachler N9AB "Amateur Radio Satellite Marketing During National Science and Technology Week" Robert J. Diersing N5AHD "QRP EME" Ray Soifer W2RS "Digital Signal Processing Modems" Bob Mc Gwier N4HY Morning Education Session, 10:00 AM, Ballroom A "An Introduction to Amateur Radio" Jan Jellema W8SWN "Simple Techniques for Determining Satellite Visual Observation Windows" Vern Riportella WA2LQQ "Classroom Applications of Satellites in the UK" Craig Underwood TBD Dr. Tony England W0ORE Lunch 12:00 Noon, Ballroom B Afternoon Amateur Radio Session, 1:00 PM, Ballroom CD "Spread Spectrum Ranging and Non-Linear Filtering for Orbit Determination" Bob McGwier N4HY Phil Karn KA9Q "Doppler Correction Techniques and Their Relation to QRM" Vern Riportella WA2LQQ "Fluid Momentum Attitude Control for Phase IV" Bob McGwier N4HY Steve Robinson W2FPY Gordon Hardman KE3D Brent Helleckson Jeff Zerr Dave Cowdin WD0HHU Afternoon Education Session, 1:00 PM, Ballroom A "70,000 Feet over Ohio, An Amateur Radio Balloon Experiment" Richard Ensign Bill Brown WD8ELK "The University of Surrey Amateur Scientific Satellites" Richard Ensign Teaching Science and Social Science with Amateur Radio Douglas L. Smith "Project SPARC at Northeast High - Two Decades of High School Space Science" Howard I. Ziserman WA3GOV Afternoon Plenary Session, 3:00 PM, Ballroom A AMSAT/National Space Society Space Education Network K.O. Learner, II K9PVW Greg Barr "Building WEFAX Groundstations: A Practical Approach" Jeff Wallach N5ITU Phase 4 Status Report Jan King W3GEY Dick Jansson WD4FAB Entertainment/Social Hour/Cash Bar, 5:00 PM, Ballroom A Banquet 6:30, Ballroom B Keynote Speaker Dr. Tony England W0ORE Annual Meeting Sunday November 8, 9:00 Reserved for Additional Presentations Board of Directors Meeting Note: Check-in and registration will open at 7:30 AM Saturday morning. Exhibits may be open from 7:30 AM until 6:00 PM. Hotel reservations should be directed to the Southfield Hilton at 313-557-4800. Mention AMSAT for symposium rates of $45-single and $48-double. Discount airfares are available through NORTHWEST AIRLINES by calling NORTHWEST Meeting Services at 800-328-1111 (in Minnesota 800-272-1408) (in Canada 800-378-7747) or local travel agents and by mentioning MEETING CODE 12738. This could yield ticket prices 5% lower then NORTHWEST's lowest rate or 35% less than their regular coach fare. The symposium registration fee is $15. The Saturday luncheon cost is $12. Saturday's evening banquet fee is $22. Send registration fees to AMSAT, PO Box 1091, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1091. Include information as to arriving date, time and flight if transportation is desired to the hotel. A talk-in service will be available on the 147.16 (+600) repeater. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 4.(R) U.S. Groups To Participate In Moscow Space Future Forum A combination of official U.S. government representatives, private groups and individual citizens will be among many international delegations attending a Space Future Forum in Moscow October 4 and 5. The meeting is being sponsored by the Space Research Institute of the USSR. A team of at least 6 senior NASA managers, scientists and astronauts will attend the forum in Moscow according to informed sources. The meeting will be held at the Space Research Institute in Moscow and is timed to coincide with the 30th Anniversary of the launch of the first artificial earth satellite, Sputnik, October 4. U.S. officials have been reluctant to openly and strongly support the meeting. Some have privately remarked they see the potential for considerable Soviet gloating and propagandizing in the offing. Others said they fear the timing of the event will further emphasize the continuing disparity in space launch capabilities between the U.S. and the USSR. (The U.S. launch program, flat on its back in 1986, is now on the mend, although the Soviets continue to out-launch the rest of the world by a ten-to-one ratio.) Still others have voiced the view that with several joint U.S.-Soviet space science programs already negotiated, the October meeting could set the stage for still further inroads. NASA has apparently opted to support the meeting at a senior level and avoid what would otherwise be seen as an overt snub. Academician Roald Sagdeev, Director of the Space Research Institute, was at NASA's Washington Headquarters a couple of weeks ago and is thought to have personally invited NASA Administrator Dr. James Fletcher to attend the Moscow meeting. Although Dr. Fletcher, will not attend, the attendees will include several individuals on Fletcher's senior staff. As one of several private groups attending from the U.S., AMSAT has been invited to participate in support of a project called SatelLife. According to Dr. Malcolm Maclure of the Harvard University School of Public Health, SatelLife is a program originated by Harvard Medical School's Dr. Bernard Lown, co-holder of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize, to advance space telecommunications use in health-information-related projects. Dr. Lown is a Professor of Cardiology at the Harvard Medical School. AMSAT is providing technical guidance based on its familiarity with small satellite capabilities and inexpensive ground terminals. As with similar programs, SatelLife seeks a low cost approach to humanitarian telecommunications commensurate with its limited resources. In addition to supporting the SatelLife program, AMSAT leaders are exploring the possibility of future cooperative Amateur Satellite projects involving some coalition of teams from America and Europe including the Soviets. Some AMSAT officials see the upcoming Moscow meeting as a window through which to explore possible implications of "Glasnost" on Amateur Radio. "Glasnost" is Russian for "openness", a term applied to a purported policy of General Secretary Gorbachov towards general relaxation of traditional Soviet secretiveness. According to AMSAT President WA2LQQ, (now is Moscow) "Amateur Radio traditionally and fundamentally seeks to remain apolitical. We'll see where this initiative goes". * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 5.(R) Launch Success Catalyzes Phase 3C Launch Campaign With the successful launch of the Ariane V-19 mission on September 16, AMSAT's Phase 3C satellite launch campaign is under way. If all goes according to plan, AMSAT's newest, biggest and most powerful satellite ever will be lofted into a Molniya elliptical orbit within 6 months. The launch campaign features Phase 3C familiarization articles and information brochures as well as a launch insurance fund raising program. Phase 3C contains four separate transponders including two modes never before used: Mode S with 70 cm uplink and 13 cm downlink and RUDAK, the packet radio experiment developed by the Munich contingent of AMSAT DL. In addition, the new Mode JL will be aboard Phase 3C. Mode JL combines 2 meter and 24 cm uplinks to generate a 70 cm downlink. The fourth Phase 3C transponder is a Mode B device very similar to AO-10's Mode B. Preliminary frequencies for all four Phase 3C transponders are found in ASR #149. AMSAT NA will join with its Phase 3C collaborator, AMSAT DL, to purchase launch insurance for Phase 3C. The insurance would cover the loss of the spacecraft if the worst should happen. AMSAT NA has set $10,000 as its Launch Insurance Fund goal and is inviting donations to the program. Every donation of $10 or more to the P3C Insurance Fund will be acknowledged with a special Phase 3C QSL card and by having the donor's name and callsign printed in Amateur Satellite Report. Donors of $30 or more will receive a handsome AMSAT certificate suitable for framing and have their name and callsign in ASR. The certificate will feature a special "ghosted" image of Phase 3C overprinted with the donor's name and callsign. Donors of $100 or more will receive the certificate, the QSL card and, if they wish, have their photograph appear in ASR. Donors of $1000 or more will get their choice of a complete, leather-bound set of 7 years of ASR or a special recognition plaque from AMSAT and in addition, will have their photograph prominently featured in ASR if they desire. Mail your donations to: Phase 3C Insurance Fund, AMSAT, P.O. Box 27, Washington, D.C. 20044, or call, 301-589-6062. Donations may be put on your major credit card. AMSAT is a non-profit scientific, educational corporation and is treated as a charitable organization for tax purposes. Your donation may be tax-deductible. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 6.(R) FO-12 Schedule Reinstated Fuji OSCAR 12 has returned to its previously announced schedule and the schedule is being closely followed by FO-12 controllers. The following operating schedule was recently released by JARL: FO-12 will operate: From To Date Time Date Time Mode ============================ October 03 03:14 05 01:26 JA 07 01:39 08 02:47 JD 09 01:53 10 01:00 JD 11 17:00 12 16:07 JD 14 01:26 15 00:32 JD ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Following suitable primarily for BBS.] 16 00:?6 17 23:52 JD 20 12:58 21 14:05 JA 22 13:11 23 12:18 JA 24 13:25 26 11:37 JA 28 11:50 28 13:45 JD Note 1 28 13:52 29 12:58 JD 31 11:10 01 10:16 JD November 02 11:23 03 10:30 JD 04 11:37 05 10:43 JD 07 08:55 08 10:02 JD The transponders will be off at others times. The schedule may be changed at any time due to unexpected power situations. Note 1: On October 28 from 11:50 through 13:45 UTC a special telemetry software package will be loaded to permit telemetry transmission every 2 seconds instead of every minute. The mailbox will be unavailable during this period but the digipeater will be operational. Telemetry reports will be appreciated. Send to JARL via the FO-12 mailbox. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 7.(R) NASA Seems Likely To Win Space Station Funding The National Aeronautics & Space Administration should win its battle to fund the space station project in the 1988 budget, even though Sen. William Proxmire (D-Wis.) is still trying to rally support for his plan to kill the program. The senator has opposed the space shuttle and other high-profile space programs in the past without result, and an aide to the HUD-Independent Agencies Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which Proxmire chairs, concedes this fight is likely to be another losing effort because the space station enjoys bipartisan support. Proxmire maintains that the $767 million earmarked for the space station in the 1988 budget would go a long way toward cutting the federal deficit while leaving money for other space-science projects. He calls the space station "ill-conceived" and says it "has no mission." NASA calls the space station "essential." Senator William Proxmire is pushing for a privately funded alternative to the space station - the Industrial Space Facility - as a replacement for the long-term expense of NASA's project. A team made up of Boeing, Lockheed, Westinghouse, and Houston's Space Industries is developing the "man-tended" research platform, and could deploy it with a single space shuttle mission as early as 1990 - five to seven years before NASA's space station is operable. The consortium will pay for construction and launch, and it plans to lease the facility for research - but like NASA, it sees its program as an adjunct to the space station. Comparing the two, says a NASA spokesman, "is like comparing a rowboat to the Queen Mary." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 8.(N) N4HY QUIKTRAK V3.1 now ready for distribution QUIKTRAK V3.1 has now been "fully tested" and is ready for distribution. SIMCGA, a public domain utility, is included so QUIKTRAK V3.1 can be used with Hercules boards while you have the TSR SIMCGA running. Thanks to Hasan N0AN. Support for the KLM/MIRAGE and ARRL antenna controllers have been fully tested. Thanks to Dave Filmer, WB9QPG. This support allows you to control antennas in real time or load a table in the controller so that you may go off and do other things with the computer while control goes on in background. You do not need any of the TSR's for com-port support for the antenna controller but both MB-BIOS and COM-BIOS are included as some problem with the League controller and MB-BIOS has cropped up. You need these for GATHER support when realtime tracking. The New functions in QUIKTRAK V3.1 are: (1) In Realtime-1 Sat graphics mode: You may now do a groundtrack and control the time between dots. Pause is implemented. The sun position is indicated by a "cross hair" as well as the terminator now allows one to be able to tell daylight from dark. (2) A totally new function under multisat-1 observer. A graphics mode where ALL the satellites are displayed at once on the standard zoom 1 map. The satellite is modified on the screen so as to easily identify which satellite is having its numbers displayed and a pause function is also available. (3) Fully tested support for Hercules cards via SIMCGA. (4) Fully tested support for the KLM and ARRL controllers. (5) WB5IPM controller support has been added and is available via the customization process (see QEX May and June, 1987). (6) A new proprietary controller that is being done for ENCOMM by KB2CST with aid from N4HY has the same functionality as the League/KLM controller and is configured as a bus board for the IBM PC. The price will be considerably less than the current KENPRO controller which ENCOMM is having trouble getting from Japan. This will come with a slew of TSR's to give you pop up rotor control panels on your screen and table loaded "offline" support for the antennas. (7) Minor annoyances fixed: the program now alerts you to the fact that you have G(ather) turned on in the tabular realtime mode, and active antenna control in both tabular and graphics realtime modes. A bug that clobbered the interrupt driven I/O support has been fixed. All unsold copies of QUIKTRAK 3.0 should be returned to Keith, W5IU, for remake. There will be an extensive revision to the manual. Update instructions for V3.0 onwers is included in their manual. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 9.(U) Short Bursts AO-10 remains in hibernation. It has been off since power availability fell below required levels. Engineers estimate it will be late autumn when power levels return to required levels. Restoration of AO-10 Mode B operation is anticipated on or about December 1. *** The AMSAT-NA Technical Journal made its debut last July. Now the second issue is being assembled for publication before the end of 1987 and editor Bob Diersing has issued a call for papers. He says there is a particular need for articles related to the Phase 4 project. Complete details on this call for papers appears in ASR #159 which is in the mail. *** AMSAT now has self-adhesive decals for Sustaining Life Members and regular AMSAT members. These handsome decals make a proud addition to your QSL card. Inquire at AMSAT HQ. *** The new ARRL video "The New World of Amateur Radio" produced by Roy Neal, K6DUE, will be available from the AMSAT-NA Video Tape Library shortly. Contact Tom Larson, N1CHM, for further details. *** Dick Jansson, WD4FAB, remarks that many operators are using far too much uplink power on FO-12 because they can't hear their own downlink. This can be due, he concludes to a strong polarization sense shift from Right Hand Circular Polarization (RHCP) to Left Hand Circular Polarization (LHCP). Thus, operators should have the ability to switch between the two to be successful and consistent with FO-12. *****************************************************************************