AMSAT President's Letter

Happy Holidays! Best wishes to everyone during this festive
time of the year.

As I write this, a major snowstorm is providing plenty of 'white stuff' in the Midwest and New England, so I presume this means that we will have a white Christmas here in Massachusetts.

While this is certainly a time of economic uncertainty, I also know that our members continue to make a difference for AMSAT.

A number of interesting opportunities and events have developed over the past two months for AMSAT that I would like to briefly share with you:

1. ARISS Silver Anniversary. The first amateur radio two-way communication between the Space Shuttle and amateurs on the ground took place on December 3, 1983 when Owen Garriott, W5LFL made his historic flight on
STS-9. There are a number of opportunities for amateurs to help celebrate this event and the ARISS International Committee, chaired by AMSAT VP-Human Space Flight, Frank Bauer, KA3HDO have arranged for some special events. Please check the AMSAT webpage (www.amsat.org) for the latest information and join the fun!

2. AO-16 operations. As expected, performance of this spacecraft is declining as the spacecraft's temperature is dropping due to longer eclipses resulting in less sunlight and a cooler spacecraft.
This drop in temperature is causing the satellite's hardware timer to reset until the spacecraft warms up (when there is at least 85% illumination). If you're interested in making two-way contacts using AO-16's unique cross mode, cross band voice repeater, with an uplink on 145.920 FM and downlink on 437.026 MHz reduced carrier AM, now is the time to try it! The satellite is expected to 'go silent' shortly when temperatures stay low enough as to not allow
software configuration of the satellite before the hardware timer resets itself again.

3. President's Club. A fundraising appeal letter was mailed this week to all AMSAT members. Please consider donating to the AMSAT President's Club so that we can continue our efforts to maintain amateur radio in space.

4. Near Term Engineering Task Force. I announced at the AMSAT Annual Meeting in Atlanta that a group led by Bill Ress, N6GHZ had been formed to review the 'Rideshare' Proposal developed by Tom Clark, K3IO as well as evaluate AMSAT's ability to develop a modularization strategy to adapt RF packages to various structures.
The committee has been diligently meeting every two weeks via teleconference to discuss future options for AMSAT and to help structure AMSAT's thinking on future spacecraft opportunities. While it is too soon for formal announcements of their findings, it is good to know that we have a formal group actively focused on engineering issues.

5. SuitSat-2. Development work continues to place
SuitSat-2 in service sometime in 2009. Several engineering issues have recently surfaced regarding modulation and transmission schemes and the team is evaluating several options regarding how best to resolve the issues.
Several individuals have recently joined the engineering team to help overcome these challenges by developing potential alternative solutions.

6. ITAR. I announced at the AMSAT Annual Meeting in Atlanta that AMSAT would actively develop a strategy concerning ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) and related export regulations. Our goal is to ensure that AMSAT is in full compliance with ITAR, develop materials to
train our satellite builders on ITAR compliance, and to seek ways where we may continue to work with other AMSAT organizations on satellite projects.

Since the Annual Meeting, Bill Ress, N6GHZ and I have been working with an attorney who specializes in ITAR. We hope to make a formal submission to the State Department regarding ITAR in early 2009.

7. AMSAT Lab. AMSAT is actively seeking a new home for our AMSAT Lab. Unfortunately, due to changes that took place at HISS (Hawk Institute for Space Sciences) in Pocomoke City, MD over the summer, we are forced to remove our equipment and clean room from the current facility.

We are in active discussions with several institutions concerning potential relocation, but no decision has been made. If you are in position to provide contacts with a not-for-profit institution that might be interested in hosting the AMSAT Lab, please contact me.

8. AMSAT 40th Anniversary. AMSAT was incorporated in 1969, so this coming year (2009) is our 40th Anniversary! The 2009 AMSAT Symposium will take place the weekend of October 9 in the Washington-Baltimore area. Look for details in the upcoming AMSAT Journal. Please join us
that weekend as we celebrate a significant milestone for AMSAT and build the foundation for the next 40 years of AMSAT.

As you can see, there are a number of activities that are ongoing within AMSAT. While we are challenged by the impact of current events, we continue to move forward in a number of areas.

As always, I appreciate hearing from the AMSAT membership. Should you have any questions or concerns about AMSAT, please don't hesitate to contact me. I will make every effort to respond to e-mails that I receive, but please keep in mind that I travel extensively which may
limit my ability to respond quickly. Please know that I read every e-mail that I receive from AMSAT members and that I appreciate every person's willingness and time spent to share their thoughts and suggestions.

Seasons Greetings,

Barry Baines, WD4ASW
President-AMSAT