AO-51 configuration to support Scouting JOTA

AMSAT-NA is supporting the 52nd Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) Scouting event by dedicating AO-51 operation to the Scouts.

AMSAT-NA VP Operations, Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA said, "For October 17th and 18th, the AO-51 QRP repeater will be allocated for JOTA use. All users are requested to give way to JOTA stations or QSOs with JOTA stations."

The frequencies used for this weekend will be 145.880 FM uplink, and 435.150 FM downlink, no PL tone required. The mode change  should occur at ~00:00 UTC on the 17th (Friday evening in the  US) and run for approximately 48 hours.

AMSAT wishes the Scouts good luck operating via the AO-51 satellite for the event.

Reports of your JOTA operations should be sent to the AMSAT-BB or directly to ko4ma@amsat.org.

Photo files up to 5 Mb total are also welcome for possible inclusion in an upcoming AMSAT Journal article.

Keith Pugh, W5IU, reports from Texas, "K2BSA will be operating on  the Amateur Radio Satellites from the National Scouting Museum in  Irving, TX, from 14:00 to 22:00 UTC on Saturday, 17 Oct. 2009. We  will be on as many of the passes listed below as possible. We will be operating as a portable, hand-held station. Bring your Scouts  and join us on the Birds."

Here are the predicted passes for K2BSA:

WinAos QTH: -97.0/32.9 T#: 11612 Sat.: 6 [Standard]

      Day       Object   AOS (U)   LOS    Period maxEl   AZ

17.10.2009   SO-50   14:41     14:50      09 10 356 - 098
17.10.2009   AO-07   14:47     15:06      19 37 005 - 225
17.10.2009   VO-52   15:35     15:48      13 35 023 - 176
17.10.2009   SO-50   16:20     16:33      13 76 330 - 155
17.10.2009   VO-52   17:12     17:23      11 16 348 - 228
17.10.2009   AO-27   19:10     19:23      13 20 129 - 003
17.10.2009   AO-27   20:48     21:03      15 39 185 - 340

There will also be an ARISS Contact with Scouts at the museum that will take place starting at 21:53 UTC. This will be a Telebridge  contact via WH6PN in Hawaii. The contact will be on the EchoLink AMSAT Conference and on a wide area, 442.400 MHz repeater in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

Keith, W5IU and Drew, KO4MA