Mir Amateur Radio Status: June 1, 1999 By Miles Mann WF1F, MAREX-NA (Manned Amateur Radio Experiment, North American Division) SSTV Update from Mir crew: Over the weekend MAREX-NA engineers Farrell Winder , Don Miller and Miles Mann were able to upload 3 SSTV images to the Mir crew. Miles, Don and Farrell, coordinated their efforts on 20 meter H.F. to synchronize the upload sequence of the SSTV images. This maximized our contact time with the Mir crew, who were expecting our SSTV schedule. Don and Farrell each SSTV images of the Shuttle ISS mission, which is currently taking place. I think this is the first time an Active NASA mission images were sent to Mir via SSTV in almost real-time. Cosmonauts Jean-Pierre Heignere and Cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev took turns sending new images of them selves back to the hundreds of stations monitoring the frequency (145.985 MHz). Jean-Pierre and Sergei thought it was very interesting to see the semi-live images of the International Space Station being built. Next it was my turn, I sent an images, that I had been saving for several weeks. A fellow ham from France ( Gerard F6FA0) had sent me a picture of Jean-Pierre's wife, while she was visiting Russia. I converted the images to be compatible with SSTV and then sent it directly to Mir. Jean-Pierre was very pleased when he saw the image of his wife slowly appeared on the MAREX-NA SSTV system screen. His first comments were, Where did you get this, and how can I save the image. I explained to Jean-Pierre where the image came from and then gave him the news that this prototype version of SSTV on Mir does not have the ability to save images. MAREX-NA is currently working hard on an upgrade, which may allow the SSTV system to send stored images and received new images and store them (that work is still pending). We had planed this feature for ISS, but are attempting to move up the schedule to test the hardware on Mir before the MAREX-NA SSTV ISS project is completed. The Mir crew then began to send Random images of the Interior of the Mir Priorida module and some out-side shots. We even got a few shots of Jean-Pierre playing his Saxophone. We did have a few problems with the SSTV system. It seems the camera portion keeps loosing signal or power. A few times over the weekend, the image went black or Null and began to send a black image with many random noise bursts. We are studying this problem. I would like to ask everyone to please be patient regarding Amateur Radio operations on Mir. The Amateur Radio portion of the Mir experiments are primarily OFF-Hours experiments. The Mir crews do have a very busy schedule and only have a very limited amount of FREE-Time to use the educational Amateur Radio experiments. SSTV hardware location: In my March issues of Mir news, I stated that we thought he crew had moved the PMS and SSTV from the Priroda module to the Mir-Core module. The crew informed me Saturday that he PMS and SSTV are still located in the Priroda module. I am sorry for any confusion on this issue. The PMS and SSTV projects in the Priroda Module only have access to the 2-meter band, via a series if filters and duplexors. I still expect all operations, SSTV and Packet to stay on 145.985 FM simplex, until we are able to run both projects simultaneously. Because of the antenna and power limitations (only enough power to run one project at a time), there is no reason to use the 70cm band at this time, nor do we have access to 70cm at this time. MAREX-NA ISS projects: At the present time the MAREX-NA SSTV International Space Station project is in the proposal / consideration stage. If the project is selected, we hope to deliver the final systems by the end of the year. The project will be a joint project involving several satellite clubs. Each club will be responsible for a different part of the project (antennas, power supplies, etc.). Last year MAREX-NA delivered three Kenwood/Tasco SSTV systems to Energia in Russia. One of the systems is currently on the Russian Space Station Mir. The other two SSTV systems are in Energia Russia and are being used for Demonstrations and testing system. A demonstration of the MAREX-NA SSTV system was given to the First cosmonaut ISS crew. The comments from the cosmonaut ISS crew were (I want this on my mission). Current Mir Crew Members: SOYUZ TM-29 arrived at Mir on February 20, 1999. Mir Soyuz TM-29 crew consisted of French cosmonaut Jean-Pierre Heignere, Viktor Afanasyev and Slovakian Cosmonaut Ivan Bella On February 28, some of the crew returned to earth, they were: Slovak Ivan Bella and Gennadiy Paldalko. Gennadiys mission lasted approximately 6 months (August 16 1998 ? February 28 1999) The remaining crew consists of: The French cosmonaut Jean-Pierre Heignere (aprox 6 months) Cosmonaut Viktor Afanasyev (aprox 6 months) Cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev. Sergei mission began August 16, and is expected to last a total of 12 months. The next Mir crew will be departing earth in August 1999 I do not have all of the full names at this time. PMS Status (Personal Message System): The PMS activity was a little intermittent last week. MAREX-NA Web Page: The MAREX-NA web page is temporally off line due to a server move. I will send out a new memo, when its back. For more information about MAREX-NA and out past, present and future project, please visit our new home page: www.marex-na.org Tracking Mir: For current tracking data, try the CelesTrak web page at http://celestrak.com/ Copyright 1999 Miles Mann, All Rights Reserved. This document may be freely distributed via the following means - Email (including listservers), Usenet, and World-Wide-Web. It may not be reproduced for profit including, but not limited to, CD ROMs, books, and/or other commercial outlets without prior written consent from the author. Images received from the MAREX-NA SSTV system on the Russian Space Station Mir are considered public domain and may be freely distributed, without prior permission. Miles WF1F ---- Via the sarex mailing list at AMSAT.ORG courtesy of AMSAT-NA. To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe sarex" to Majordomo@amsat.org