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STS-37 Success!
Some exciting amateur radio
firsts were achieved during the
lastesl flight 01 the space shuttle
Atlantis. Astronaut Ken Cameron
KB5AWP reported seeing good
video from KC6A in Los Angeles,
WA4NZD al Ihe Marshall Space
Flight Center, N9AB in Ihe Chicago
area (Ihe farthest north contact),
and WA3NAN al Ihe Goddard
Space Flight Center (linki ng via the
40-1001 dish at Ihe U .S . Naval
Academy, show n i n the May
" QRX" ). In addition , Andy N9AB
sent up a video tape 01 the 5T5-37
launch. This is tne first lime live television
has been uplinked to any
U.S. spacecraft. and the first lime a
snume crew could watch the ir own
launch while still in space.
II is uncertain at this writing
whether the other two uplink sites
were successful. KE4PT at the Motorola
club in Florida, and the John·
son Spac e Cente r r ad io club
(W5AAA), made several attempts,
whiCh may be on the second video
tape recorded on board the orbiter.
In another first , a brief contact
was completed between Ken
Cameron KB5AWP on board the
Atlantis and Musa Manarov U2MIA
on the Soviet space station Mir.
Musa later confirmed the contact via e message
on his orbiting packel BBS. On the tape
recorded on the shultle, Musa cou ld be heard
clearly.
A number of scboot contacts were established
via a telephone bridge during several of
the passes. Each of the all-ham crew answered
questions from members of the selected
schools.
A problem occurred in the audio path of the
SAREX modul e which prevented any packet
contacts or SSTV uplinking. However, eueest
a few S5TV downlinks were successful.
Watch for the complete 5T8-37
story in the Ju ly issue of 73 . Thanks
to Lou McFadin W5DID, Andy
Bachler N9AB and Dick Christiansen
KK4HF for the above info.
Amateur Radio Talk
Show on Satellite TV
" O SO Amaleur Radio. " a
weekly TV show hosted by Jack
Smith WA20YT, has been active
over the past few months to an
ever increasing audience. The
video portion of the show airs every
Photo A. Members ofthe Marshall Amateur Radio Club pose in front
of antennas for sending ATV to Atlantis. Left to right: Terry Jones
NZ8C, RandyGalloway KN4QS, Gene Marcus W3PM, Don Heidiger
N4MSN, Larry Savage WA4CAX, Ed Stluka W4QAU, Tim Cunning..
hamN8DEU.
Monday night from 10 p.m. to midnight on
Spacenet One, transponder 15 (51 .15). Plans
are for a call-in talk show from 9 p.m. till mid·
night, Mondays through Fridays, on the same
channel. The nightly talk shows will cover topcs
on amateur radio, specially modes, snortwave
listening. and eerenne TV.
You don 't need a satellite dish to tune in to
the program. All amateur radio operators have
permission from QSO Amateur Radio to retransmit
the show over both audio and ATV
repeaters. Also, every Tuesday night from 9 to
Photo B. Moody T. Law W06I, the 22nd president otOMIK, will serve
the 39-year-old organization for the next two years.
Number 3 on your Feedbadt eat'd
EDfTED BY LINDA RENEAU KA JUKM
10 p.m., the ATV net on 3.871 MHz
will actually be uplinked to the satellite.
Check into the net and hear
your signal via the satellite as well!
Bill WB8ELK will host an ATV talk
shaw alter the net until 11 p.m.
The talk shows can be heard on
the standard 6.8 MHz subcarrier,
except Mondays between 10 p.m.
and midnight when the talk show will
operate on the 6.2 MHz suocarrier
(concurrent with the video show).
For more information, contact
Jim Bass at (315) 673-3752.
Videos Needed
Tapes of t he recent SAREX
hams-In-space mission are needed
to produce a new educational
video. Speciflca.lly sought is footage
of youngsters in schools making
contact with the all-ham crew on the
shuttle. It may be in Betacam, 3/4 "
U-Matic, M-II or r - Type C. Also acceptable
are tapes on the Super
VHS (S-VHS) and Hi·8 home video
formats. NOT wanted are standard
8, VHS or VH8-HQ, Betamax, or
home movie film. Producers Roy
Neal K6DUE and Bill Pasternak
WA61TF will use as many sncts as
possible in the finished video, due
out in late summer or early fall. Include
a sell-addressed, stamped
mailer, jf you want your video back.
Send all videotapes to SAREX '91 VIDEO,
% BiH Pasternak WA6ITF, 28197 Robin Ave .,
Saugus CA 91350. TNX Westradio.
Power Audit Results
As a result of "power audits" of 209 amateur
radio stations last winter, the FCC has
come to three conclusions. First. that most
amateurs are not operating at minimum power
as required by Rule 97.313(a). Second, that
reduced power can alleviate signifi.
cant reception interference problems
in consumer electronics gear
without serious degradation to cernmunication
capabilities. And third,
that in addition to lowering output
power, installing Inters at either the
transmitter or receiver might be required
to eliminate interference.
FCC Field Operations Bureau
Chief RiChard Smith said that 75%
of the stations surveyed experi.
enced no degradation when their
output power was reduced by more
than 50 percent. However, even
running low power cannot solve lnterterence
problems in many cases.
The study is being forwarded to
73 Amateur Radio Today · June, 1991 7