2024 – Page 9 – AMSAT (2024)

AMSAT News Service

ANS-007
January 7, 2024

In this edition:

• Welcome to the New Look AMSAT News Service
• 2024 President’s Club Coins Now Available
• W2RS Memorial AMSAT CW Activity Day Summary
• VUCC & DXCC Satellite Standing as of January 1, 2024
• Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for January 5, 2024
• ARISS and Amateur Radio Featured on the TODAY Show
• Assistance Requested With CubeSat History Project
• ARISS News
• Upcoming Satellite Operations
• Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
• Satellite Shorts From All Over

The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information service of AMSAT, 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 https://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

You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/ans.amsat.org/

Welcome to the New Look AMSAT News Service

For over 30 years, the AMSAT News Service has been a text only service. Initially, ANS was distributed via dial-up modems and packet networks. As technology has moved on, the text only format has become a significant limitation. In particular, the text only format was often not responsive on mobile devices in many email clients. We hope this new format improves the readability for our users and makes the content more engaging. We do plan to continue tweaking this format as the year goes on.

We welcome feedback on this change at ans-editor [at] amsat.org

[ANS thanks the AMSAT News Service Team for the above information]

2024 President’s Club Coins Now Available

The 2024 President’s Club coins are now available! This year’s coin features an image of AMSAT’s next satellite – GOLF-TEE.

At all levels of membership – beginning with annual donations of $120 or more – President’s Club donors receive the following recognition:

• Listing in the AMSAT News Service and The AMSAT Journal
• Commemorative Coin – A unique 2” metal coin with a highly polished gold finish and four-color accents. Each year’s coin will feature a different color scheme and different OSCAR satellite.
• Membership Certificate – An 8.5” x 11” full-color personalized certificate.

Donors at the Silver or higher levels receive even more benefits such as a handsome personalized acrylic desk plaque, tickets to the annual AMSAT Symposium, luncheons and dinners. See the table below for complete details. (Note that recognition items are provided by an anonymous donor and no member dues are used. 100% percent of your donation is used for AMSAT activities.)

For persons or clubs wanting to make a contribution by check or electronic transfer, please contact Frank Karnauskas, VP-Development at f.karnauskas [at] amsat.org. Remember, AMSAT is a 501(c)3 corporation and your contribution may be tax deductible. Check with your tax advisor.

For more information and to donate today, visit the AMSAT President’s Club.

[ANS thanks Frank Karnauskas, N1UW, AMSAT Vice President – Development, for the above information]

The 2024 Coins Are Here Now!
Help Support GOLF and Fox Plus.
Jointhe AMSAT President’s Club today!

W2RS Memorial AMSAT CW Activity Day Summary

The W2RS Memorial AMSAT CW Activity Day occurred on January 1st. Reports of activity were received on the AMSAT-BB from several stations. Steve Nordahl, NS3L, in Nazareth, PA reported making 13 CW QSOs on RS-44 and JO-97:

Steve Greene, KS1G, in northern Virginia, reported that he worked NM3B, N8MR, and WA3FIR on the 1350Z pass of RS-44. He did hear NS3L work NM3B, but didn’t find him later in the pass to work him too.

Scott Davis, K5TA, reported working N6UA and KA0WKQ on RS-44 and WA8FXQ on AO-7.

Doug Tabor, N6UA, operated portable with a key attached to his leg. He operated on two passes of RS-44 – one from the back deck and one from the driveway. He worked NS3L, K5TA, and NA1ME and heard both WB7VUF and KE8RJU/7.

Thanks to all for participating in this annual event!

In March 2022, the AMSAT community lost one of our pioneers when Ray Soifer, W2RS, became a silent key. In addition to his numerous contributions to AMSAT and the worldwide amateur satellite community, Ray was also the long time organizer of AMSAT’s CW Activity Day – previously AMSAT Straight Key Night – held in conjunction with the ARRL’s event on New Year’s Day. In recognition of Ray’s long time service to AMSAT and his keen interest in CW operating via satellite, AMSAT’s CW Activity Day is now known as the W2RS Memorial AMSAT CW Activity Day.

[ANS thanks Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, AMSAT Executive Vice President, for the above information]

VUCC & DXCC Satellite Standing as of January 1, 2024

VUCC Satellite Award/Endorsem*nt Change Summary
December 01, 2023 to January 01, 2024

Congratulations to the new VUCC holders!
HL1WP is first VUCC Satellite holder from PM37
N8XHF is first VUCC Satellite holder from FM16

DXCC Satellite Award/Endorsem*nt Change Summary
December 01, 2023 to January 01, 2024

Congratulations to the new DXCC Satellite holders!
UW8SM is first DXCC Satellite holder from KN59

[ANS thanks Jon Goering, N7AZ, for the above information]

Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for January 5, 2024

Two Line Elements or TLEs, often referred to as Keplerian elements or keps in the amateur community, are the inputs to the SGP4 standard mathematical model of spacecraft orbits used by most amateur tracking programs. Weekly updates are completely adequate for most amateur satellites. TLE bulletin files are updated Thursday evenings around 2300 UTC, or more frequently if new high interest satellites are launched. More information may be found at https://www.amsat.org/keplerian-elements-resources/

The following satellite has been added to this week’s AMSAT-NA TLE distribution:

BeliefSat-0 NORAD Cat ID 58695 IARU coordinated downlink on 145.980 MHz

The following satellite has been removed from this week’s AMSAT-NA TLE distribution:

VENTA 1 NORAD Cat ID 42791 Decayed from orbit on or about 03 January 2024

[ANS thanks Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, for the above information]

Need new satellite antennas?
Purchase an M2 LEO-Pack from the AMSAT Store!

When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space.

ARISS and Amateur Radio Featured on the TODAY Show

On January 5, 2024, the TODAY Show featured Harry Smith of NBC News going behind the scenes of last month’s QSO between Harbor Creek School in Pennsylvania and the ISS. Video of the segment can be seen on YouTube.

ARISS International Chair Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, said of the segment: “What a phenomenal story of a breathtaking ARISS educational experience. Our heartiest congratulations to the Harbor Creek School: the Advanced Technology Group students, educators, families and Leader/Assistant Principal/ARISS Educator Drew Mortensen. WOW!!”

[ANS thanks the TODAY Show and ARISS for the above information]

Assistance Requested With CubeSat History Project

A general announcement to the AMSAT community!

Prof. Robert “Bob” TwiggsKE6QMD and Dr. Aaron Zucherman KM6CHY (a former student of his) are working on gathering and publishing a series on the history of the creation and adoption of the CubeSat, including its direct SmallSat forebears (AMSAT, WeberSat, OPAL, etc.) and educational picosat successors (CanSats, PocketQubes and ThinSats).While outstanding technical accounts have been written on the subject, we plan on focusing on the underreported human stories and drama during this early history.

[ANS thanks Aaron Zucherman, PhD, KM6CHY, for the above information]

ARISS News

Amateurs and others around the world may listen in on contacts between amateurs operating in schools and allowing students to interact with astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station. The downlink frequency on which to listen is 145.800 MHz worldwide.

No contacts have been scheduled from 2023-12-21 to 2024-01-14. The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2023-12-21 05:00 UTC.

The Service Module radio is temporarily stowed.

As always, if there is an EVA, a docking, or an undocking; the ARISS radios are turned off as part of the safety protocol.

The crossband repeater continues to be active (145.990 MHz up {PL 67} & 437.800 MHz down), If any crewmember is so inclined, all they have to do is pick up the microphone, raise the volume up, and talk on the crossband repeater. So give a listen, you just never know.

Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time.

The latest information on the operation mode can be found athttps://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html

The latest list of frequencies in use can be found athttps://www.ariss.org/contact-the-iss.html

[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team mentors for the above information]

Upcoming Satellite Operations

No scheduled operations are listed at this time.

A growing number of satellite rovers are currently engaged in sharing their grid square activations on https://hams.at. By visiting the website, you gain easy access to comprehensive information about the operators responsible for activating specific grid squares. Additionally, you have the ability to assess the match score between yourself and a particular rover for a given pass, while also being able to identify the upcoming satellite passes that are accessible from your location.

[ANS thanks Ian Parsons, K5ZM, AMSAT Rover Page Manager, for the above information]

Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition?
Get an AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff from our Zazzle store!
25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space

Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events

AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events.

AMSAT Ambassador Clint Bradford, K6LCS, says,

“Think a 75-minute presentation on “working the easy satellites” would be appropriate for your club or event? Let me know by emailing me at k6lcsclint (at) gmail (dot) com or calling me at 909-999-SATS (7287)!”

Clint has NEVER given the exact same show twice: EACH of the 150+ presentations so far has been customized/tailored to their audiences.

Scheduled Events

ARISS 40th Anniversary Conference: Celebrating the Positive Impact of Amateur Radio on Human Spaceflight

Center for Space Education, Adjacent to NASA Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Center, Florida, USA
February 22-24, 2024

More information is available at https://www.ariss.org/overview.html

[ANS thanks Clint Bradford, K6LCS, and AMSAT for the above information]

Satellite Shorts from All Over

+ The ARRL has published Logbook of the World configuration file version 11.27, adding support for QSOs made through SO-121.

+ The SaxaVord Spaceport on the Scottish island of Unst in the Shetland Islands was approved to launch rockets in 2024, the first fully licensed orbital spaceport in Western Europe. (ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information)

+ China launched 4 weather satellites and a pair of Beidou satellites… but again dropped a booster full of highly toxic hypergols on someone’s house. Video athttps://bit.ly/3vo9mhu(ANS thanks The Orbital Index for the above information)

Join AMSAT today at https://launch.amsat.org/

In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership to:

• Societies (a recognized group, clubs or organization).
• 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 student rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status.
• Memberships are available for annual and lifetime terms.

Contact info [at] amsat.org for additional membership information.

73 and remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space!

This week’s ANS Editor,

Paul Stoetzer, N8HM
n8hm [at] amsat.org

ANS is a service of AMSAT, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, 712 H Street NE, Suite 1653, Washington, DC 20002