Mir Amateur Radio Status: Feb 11, 1999 by Miles Mann WF1F, MAREX-NA (Manned Amateur Radio Experiment, North American Division) Great News From Energia: MAREX-NA was selected as one of the independent clubs chosen to develop Amateur Radio projects for the Russian Modules of the International Space Station. One of the 4 Russian antenna feed-through ports in the Russian Service Module is being reserved for a MAREX-NA project. We are still in the process of reviewing which specific project will be installed. More details later. APRS/MIR School Club Roundup On Tuesday February 9 the SSTV system was activated instead of the PMS. The reason this mix-up occurred is because the MAREX-Russia team at Energia was not properly informed of the MIREX APRS experiment. It is very important that all experiments are properly coordinated between MAREX-NA and MAREX-Russian/Energia with sufficient lead times for all approvals and to inform the crew of the planned changes. The Mir crew was Not aware of the APRS Test. Normally APRS is not allowed to be used on the Mir Personal Message System, because the extra load of packets blocks the Message traffic to the Mir crew. Message Mail traffic to the Mir crew always has First priority. However when properly planed in advance, other tests can sometimes be accommodated. Current Schedule for Packet PMS and SSTV: The Mir crew did not have time to switch on the SSTV last weekend, so they turned on the system for a few hours on Tuesday February 9. The crew will be keeping both projects on 145.985 FM Simplex for the next few months. We do not have access to the 70cm antenna at this time and we do not have enough Power supplies to run both projects simultaneously. Only one project will be active at a time, either the Packet PMS or the SSTV. The crew will, as time permits, turn on one system then after a period of time, switch over to the other system. These changes are only made during the crew free time. It is not possible to develop an exact schedule announcing the times for each project. The people wanting to use Packet and SSTV will just need to be a little understanding and patient. And I know the world appreciates all of the hard work they have invested. SSTV Receiving Software: There are several SSTV software and hardware decoders on the market. Some you can buy while others are shareware. If you are just starting, you may want to try a software version first. I am currently using Pasokon TV Lite for my DOS computer and W95SSTV with my Win95 system. Both systems are easy to use and produce good results. Web pages, SSTV software pages. John Langner , Pasokcon and others http://www.ultranet.com/~sstv W95SSTV http://www.siliconpixels.com/W95SSTV/w95dload.htm Mir School Schedules: MAREX-NA is still running School schedules with the Russian Space Station Mir. The next batch of school schedules have been submitted to Energia for their review. Occasionally when the Mir crews have free time, Energia allows us to set up these pre-arranged school schedules. Over the next 4 months we expect to run school schedules in the USA, Canada and Australia. MAREX-NA currently has a back log of schools waiting for Mir schedules. We are not currently looking for any more schools in the USA at this time. Note: During school schedules days, the SSTV system will usually be active. This allows the Mir crew to see the children they are talking with. Third-Party-Traffic limitations: Some countries have radio laws barring Third-Party-Traffic via Amateur Radio, which means, you can talk unless you have a license, Even if there is a licensed person with you. That’s why most of the MAREX-NA schools schedules are with countries which have flexible Third-Party-Traffic laws. In many countries, all it takes to get a Temporary Third-Party-Traffic waiver is just a letter or short phone call to the national radio authority. In the USA it is a lot more difficult. Five (5) years ago one of the big USA radio clubs started the process of getting Third-Part-Traffic waivers for Mir. They were partially successful and were able to get a waiver for the Americans on Mir, but not for the Russian crew members of Mir. This partial Third-Party-Traffic agreement actually made things worse. Mir Crew Members: The current crew consists of: Current Crew SOYUZ TM-28 arrived at Mir on August 16. Mir Soyuz TM-28 crew consisted of Sergei Avdeyev, Gennadiy Padalko. The new crew will be arriving the Week of February 20-25 (I do not have the correct spellings of the crews names at this time). The crew will consist of three cosmonauts, including one French Cosmonaut. When the 10 day crew change is over, Gennadiy Paldalko and one of the new cosmonauts will be returning to earth. The French cosmonaut will stay on Mir for approximately 3 months. This will make the Mir crew 27 a three man crew. Sergei Avdeyev will stay on board Mir for an extra three months, bringing his mission time up to approximately 9 months in space continuously. Energia informed me that the French Cosmonaut did receive training on the MAREX-NA SSTV project, and is planning on using it during this Mission. Web Page information: The new MAREX-NA SSTV web is under construction but is now ON line check it out.: www.marex-na.org SSTV in the new: There is a good story about the MAREX-NA SSTV project on the MSNBC web. http://www.msnbc.com/news/227580.asp Note: there is a minor typographical error in the article. The total cost of the MAREX-NA SSTV project was less than $25,000 US dollars. MAREX-NA is the most efficient Independent Amateur Satellite club in the world. Tracking Mir The best way to track satellites is to get access to a good satellite tracking program. There are numerous programs on the market, both for sale and share ware. The best place for current satellite position date (Kep’) data is at the CelesTrak web page http://celestrak.com/ Copyright 1998 Miles Mann, All Rights Reserved. This document may be freely distributed via the following means - Email (including listservers), Usenet, and WorldWideWeb. 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