HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 355.07 FROM AMSAT HQ

SILVER SPRING, MD, DECEMBER 21, 1997

TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT



MIR

MIREX chief Dave Larsen, N6CO, reports that an announced crossband

''experiment'' has been abandoned for now because of problems with the

antenna on MIR.  The crossband test was to have begun December 1 and was to

have involved a 70 cm uplink and a 2-meter downlink. US astronaut Dave

Wolf, KC5VPF, has been on 145.985 MHz FM simplex from the Russian space

station, but only sporadically.



A space walk at the end of December will check and--if

necessary--repair the 2-meter/70-cm antenna that might have been

damaged during a space walk in November. The Kenwood TM-733 aboard

Mir has been connected to the spacecraft's SAFEX repeater antenna.



The Russian MAREX team and North American based MIREX team are aware of

the problem with the new TNC on Mir. They know exactly what the problem is,

They just need to wait for the crew to have time to make the adjustments.

Mirex has had detailed discussions with MAREX on which settings need to be

changed to  restore full operations. The MIREX team was informed that the

crew was very busy and it may take a few days for them to make the changes.

When they do have time, they will make the adjustments. So, everyone is

asked to be patient in the meantime.

[ANS thanks the ARRL and MIREX  team for this information]



SAFEX, MIR 70cm Repeater  (Uplink 435.750 MHz FM, Downlink 437.950 MHz

FM, subaudible tone 141.3 Hz)

The SAFEX activity is very intermittent.

[ANS thanks the MIREX  team for this information]