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1993-05-23
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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-135.01
ARSENE LAUNCH A SUCCESS
HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 135.01 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD MAY 15, 1993
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-135.01
ARSENE Successfully Launched 12-MAY-93 At 00:56 UTC
After a nominal launch from the Kourou, French Guiana spaceport on 12-MAY-
1993 at 00:56 UTC, a new satellite has joined a proud family of satellites
serving the amateur radio community. After some initial dificulties in
establishing command of ARSENE after launch, a Paris ground command station
did successfully command the Mode-S transmitter on late Thursday, 13-MAY-
93, and started the flow of spacecraft telemetry from ARSENE. The capture
of this telemetry is a very important step inorder to ensure that all of
ARSENE's subsystems are performing nominally in preparation for the firing
of the ARSENE rocket motor. Once the telemetry has been analyzed, ground
controllers will issue the command for ARSENE to fire its "apogee-kick-
motor" inorder to raise its dangerously low perigee to a considerably
higher and safer altitude. The current "geostationary transfer orbit" is
about 205 KM by 36,000 KM in altitude. After the first motor firing,
ground controllers will study ARSENE's telemetry and then later fire the
motor for a second time to achieve an orbit of 20,000 KM by 36,000 KM.
At the time that this AMSAT News Service (ANS) bulletin was written, there
was no further news of the status of the ARSENE motor firing. Please stay
tuned to the various AMSAT HF and VHF nets for more information about
ARSENE in the upcoming week.
[The AMSAT News Service (ANS) would like to thank G0SUL (formerly G0/K8KA)
of the University of Surrey and LW2DTZ of AMSAT-Argentina for the inform-
ation which went into this bulletin item.]
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-135.02
SAREX SUMMARY: PART I
HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 135.02 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD MAY 15, 1993
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-135.03
KA3HDO Discusses The Issue Of SAREX General QSO Ops On STS-55 and STS-56
The SAREX Working Group has received several inquiries regarding the low
number of general QSO contacts made during the STS-56 and the STS-55 SAREX
missions. Because of these concerns, I felt it necessary to respond to
this issue so that you are not left in the dark.
The Working Group, consisting of the ARRL, AMSAT, and the JSC ARC, was
initially caught by surprise at the low number of general QSO contacts
during these missions. We understand your concerns; however, it is very
important that we all put the activities of these past two SAREX missions
into perspective.
Please remember that SAREX is a SECONDARY payload. During both these
missions, the shuttle crews were working various payload issues. For
example, the shuttle crew on STS-56 was very busy working primary payload
issues; particularly a high data-rate communications problem between the
shuttle and the TDRSS and an Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI) problem on
the flight deck. Moreover, power conservation was a main concern on STS-55
in an effort to extend the mission for the PRIMARY payload. Remember that
when a problem or issue arises, SAREX will get a "back seat".
I have stated before that "The primary goal of SAREX is to spark student's
interest in the science, technology, and communications fields by allowing
them to talk to Space Shuttle astronauts using amateur radio." (See
article entitled "SAREX Hardware Configurations and Flight Operations
Support" in the September/October 1992 issue of the AMSAT Journal).
Remember, our prime sponsor of this activity is NASA's Office of Education.
Moreover, I wrote in the article "As time permits, members of the SAREX
flight crew will make random QSO contacts with hams on the ground." We
cannot and should not guarantee a large quantity of random QSOs with the
crew on any specific Shuttle mission. This is asking too much from the
SAREX Working Group and NASA.
As I stated in the above mentioned article, SAREX is a multifaceted program
which includes student education (prime goal), ham radio DXing, technical
experimentation and crew-family contacts. You are aware from your own
experiences that as you do more, you tend to focus less on one specific
activity. As such, when SAREX flys all the operating modes (Voice, packet,
SSTV and ATV-uplink) -- as was the case on STS-56 -- there is less time to
do one specific mode. Please keep this mind in the future.
Packet radio operations are primarily performed when the Shuttle crew is
busy with the primary or other secondary payloads. Because of the EMI
issues on the flight deck and also the operations of other SAREX modes
(school groups, ATV, etc.), the packet robot was only on 10-15% during the
STS-56 mission. In addition , the critical power conservation measures on
STS-55 resulted in the shutdown of the SAREX robot for more than half of
this mission. Once we were given permission to turn on the packet robot,
the SAREX antenna connector failed. Within 36 hours, the SAREX team
requested and got permission from NASA to move the packet system into the
German spacelab module and use the SAFEX shuttle bay-mounted antenna. This
was quite a feat because we had to prove to NASA that flight safety would
not be compromised if the system was left in the spacelab module during a
real emergency. (Remember, during landing, the Shuttle flies like a glider
and weight and balance is critical to ensure flight safety). Although the
packet robot was on for a small percentage of these missions, over 300
international packet QSOs were accumulated on each mission.
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-135.03
SAREX SUMMARY: PART II
HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 135.03 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD MAY 15, 1993
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-135.03
KA3HDO Discusses The Issue Of SAREX General QSO Ops On STS-55 and STS-56
>From a mutifaceted standpoint, the STS-56 and STS-55 SAREX flights were a
resounding success. The SAREX Working Group is quite proud of the accomp-
lishments of the crew and the SAREX support team for all their efforts. In
particular, we had an improvement in the success rate of the school groups
on these missions as compared to past missions. All the schools had good
station setups and all but a small few made outstanding horizon-to-horizon
contacts on their first attempt. This success rate was largely the result
of the AMSAT technical support team that was developed to improve the
school success rate. STS-56 Commander Ken Cameron surprised the Cap Com in
Houston when he reported that he could see them from the Orbiter (via the
ATV uplink). In addition, the first confirmed ship-to-ship contact between
the Space Shuttle and MIR occurred on STS-56 on April 10, 1993 at a Mission
Elapse Time (MET) of 2 days, 17 hours and 32 minutes. Mike Foale, KB5UAC,
was the Space Shuttle crew member at the microphone to accomplish this
historic first. This was followed up by a 1 minute 45 second conversation
with the MIR crew from the Space Shuttle Columbia on STS-55 using the
externally mounted SAFEX antenna. On STS-55, hams and students in the
southeastern U.S. participated in a highly successful A/B antenna test
using the SAREX window mounted antenna for one orbit and the externally
mounted SAFEX 2M antenna on the next orbit.
The SAREX Working Group has discussed the need to provide very limited
scheduled opportunities for general QSO operations in addition to any
random times the crew can afford to operate. One or two opportunities per
mission would allow hams and nonscheduled school groups to hear and poten-
tially work the Shuttle astronauts on a pre-defined schedule. We will
carefully consider this option in the months ahead. Please note, however,
that the earliest that this could be accommodated is on the STS-58 mission
this summer. We will keep you posted.
Effective and reliable communications is always important in this hobby. I
hope the above bridges that gap and helps you better understand the
activities that transpired on these two missions and the priorities of the
Space Shuttle and SAREX missions. If you have any further questions or
comments, please direct them to me at ka3hdo@amsat.org or via my callbook
address. I will try to respond to you as best I can. On behalf of the
SAREX Working Group, we invite you to continue your pursuit of the ultimate
DX contact -- that with a crew member on the Space Shuttle!
73,
Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO
AMSAT-NA V.P. for Manned Space Programs
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-135.04
AMSAT OPS NET SCHEDULE
HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 135.04 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD MAY 15, 1993
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-135.04
AMSAT 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 Mode J/L
on a downlink of 435.970 MHz.
Date UTC Mode Phs NCS Alt NCS
23-May-93 0030 B 156 VE2LVC W9ODI
30-May-93 0000 B 62 N7NQM W5IU
Any stations with information on current events would be most welcome.
Also, those interested in discussing technical issues or who have questions
about any particular aspect of OSCAR statellite operations are encouraged
to join the OPS Nets. 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 Downlink 435.980 MHz
Mode B after J Downlink 145.960 MHz
OPS NETS will take priority, look for SSTV activity immediately after the
net. SSTVer's are invited to join the Net to make schedules at other
times if desired.
/EX
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-135.05
WEEKLY OSCAR STATUS REPORTS
HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 135.05 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD MAY 15, 1993
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-135.05
Weekly OSCAR Status Reports: 15-MAY-93
AO-13: ATTITUDE CHANGE
L QST *** AO-13 TRANSPONDER SCHEDULE *** 1993 May 10 - May 31
Mode-B : MA 0 to MA 130 ! Omnis MA 250 - MA 60
Mode-BS : MA 130 to MA 180 !<- S transponder; B trsp. is ON
Mode-S : MA 180 to MA 190 !<- S transponder; B trsp. is OFF
Mode-LS : MA 190 to MA 195 !<- S beacon + L transponder
Mode-JL : MA 195 to MA 210 ! Blon/Blat 210/0
Mode-B : MA 210 to MA 256 ! Move to attitude 120/0, May 31
Please don't uplink to Mode-B during MA 180-190. Doing so will interfere
with Mode-S operations. Mode-S will be ON for nearly 3 hours, from MA 130
to MA 195. New Mode-S stations appear daily. During MA 130-180, Mode-S
stations will have to endure the coupling from Mode-B users operating
between the downlink passband between 145.880 - 145.920 MHz. Either work
between them, use them as test signals or go X-band. From MA 180-190 is
Mode-S transponder exclusive (plus Mode-B beacon). MA 190-195 is Mode S
beacon (plus Mode-L transponder). [G3RUH/VK5AGR/DB2OS]
FO-20: The FO-20 Ground Control Station, JJ1ZUT, announced that FO-20's
operational schedule during the month of May will be as follows:
Analog Mode Operation(in UTC):
May 19 10:20 <---> May 20 10:40
May 26 10:50 <---> May 27 11:08
At all other times, expect the digital mode and BBS to be in operation.
[JJ1WTK/3]
AO-16: Operating normally and has a number of interesting educational files
regarding the WO-18 spectrometer experiment. [WH6I]
LO-19: Operating normally. [WH6I]
UO-22: Operating normally. [WH6I]
KO-23: The KITSAT-OSCAR-23 Bulletin Board System (BBS) has been up-and-down
lately. The RAM disk was wiped out and old files were lost. However,
recently, the BBS has been up for a few days now and so files are
accumulating again. There is a pair of new earth images available for
downloading. There have been some questions about the operation of KO-23's
receivers, and opinions differ. If you find that one receiver doesn't
work, then try the other one. This may have been a software problem, since
it seems to have resolved with software re-start. [WH6I]
W0-18: WO-18 is still getting great pictures from the on-board camera. The
spectrometer software has also been uploaded at last. The spectrometer
seems to be working well, and either it or the camera can now be selected
on command. Software for decoding & analysis of the spectrometer data has
reportedly been uploaded onto AO-16 and LO-19. Work is progressing on the
improvements and updates to WeberWare. New code for the spacecraft which
will allow doubling of video fields is also under consideration. If com-
pleted, this would improve the quality of the photos, although it will take
longer to collect 100% of the data. [WD8QCN]
RS-10: RK3KPK, the Ground Controller for all of the RS satellites and
operator RS3A reports an incredible flurry of DX activity on the RS birds
during the past 10 days. RK3KPK reports that he has heard stations from
the US, Russia, Europe, Australia, Brazil, and South Africa on the RS
birds. RK3KPK uses a 100 watt RF output transmiter into a ground-plane
antenna and a 3 element Yagi antenna inorder to receive signals from RS-10.
He invites all to use RS-10's special channel with its uplink frequency of
145.850 MHz and a downlink frequency of 29.350 MHz. In a final note from
RK3KPK, he also reports that RS-15 will be launched later this year. He
added that RS-15 is currently in Moscow and is ready for launch.
[RK3KPK @ RK3KP.#MSK.RUS.EU]
MIR: VE3BRO reported that heard one of the cosmonauts calling stations in
the US on 16-MAY-1993 on a pass that began at his QTH around 18:42 UTC.
The downlink frequency was 145.550 MHz FM. [VE3BRO]
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