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K5ARH > SAREX 15.07.97 09:24l 141 Lines 7235 Bytes #-10395 (0) @ AMSAT
BID : STS-94.022
Read: GUEST OE7FMI
Subj: STS-94 SAREX Bulletin 22
Path: DB0RGB<DB0MAK<DB0SON<DB0SIF<DB0SRS<DB0MW<DB0AIS<DB0NDK<DB0ACH<ON4RAT<
ON1ANR<PI8HWB<ON6AR<F6CNB<WB0TAX<K5ARH
Sent: 970715/0031z @:K5ARH.#LFT.LA.USA.NOAM #:48347 $:sts-94.022
Silver Spring, Maryland USA
Monday, July 14, 1997 @ 1600 UTC
SAREX Schools Update II
As reported in a previous bulletin, $STS-94.017, the education aspects
of the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) are flourishing on this
MSL-1 mission. Here are some more results of the school contacts.
Four SAREX schools on STS-94 were not scheduled on the shortened STS-83
mission in April and had a lot of catching up to do in preparation for
their contact opportunity. One of these groups was the Foursquare Radio
Amateur Youth in Oxnard, California. The Foursquare club station at
Oxnard High School, callsign KE6SWH, was phonepatched in to the AMSAT
Telebridge Network by Dan Lechliter, AC6NZ, on Rev 126 at MET 07/20:14.
Contact was established by volunteer Johnson Space Center ARC member
Larry Dietrich, WD8KUJ, staffing the W5RRR ground station. Eight
students spoke with CDR Jim Halsell, KC5RNI, who was a last minute
replacement for PLT Susan Still.
The Foursquare contact AOS occurred about 1 minute after rise time and
LOS occurred at set. About 60 people were in attendance, with 30
students among them. Local news media included KEYT-TV and the Los
Angeles Times and the Ventura County Star newspapers. On line in the
SAREX CSR in Houston, Don Pierson, KE5GJ, remarked "Congratulations to
the Foursquare Radio Amateur Youth for rising to the challenge and
on your successful contact!"
On orbit number 127, the students of Lawrence Intermediate School in
Lawrenceville, New Jersey spoke with the space shuttle commander through
telebridge station AH6NM in Honolulu, with Nancy Rocheleau, WH6PN, at
the controls. Lawrenceville was telebridged into the contact by Jim
Millner, WB2REM, coordinating at the school. The school reported 11
questions answered. The audience consisted of 400, including 150
science teachers in for a summer symposium. Philadelphia and Newark
news media on hand included three commercial radio stations, five
newspapers and four television stations. An amateur repeater
retransmitted the contact live. After the contact Jim WB2REM
exclaimed to the AMSAT Telebridge Moderator in Greenbelt, "Fantastic!
The audio was better than expected!"
The Lawrence Intermediate School contact started about three minutes
after rise time in Hawaii and became rough copy more than a minute
before set, attributed to the orbiter antenna squint angle with
Honolulu. On a SAREX telebridge listen-only line, a relieved AMSAT
Technical Mentor, Howard Ziserman, WA3GOV, was filled with smiles.
Howard had worked with the Lawrenceville school during the months
leading up to their contact day.
At MET 9/02:30 (20:32 UTC July 9), the Alvin C. York Agricultural
Institute in Jamestown, Tennessee had a difficult contact with
hometown product PS1 Roger Crouch using KC5RNI. Nonetheless, the
school reported five questions successfully answered. Contact was
established by AH6NM in Hawaii, again with WH6PN at the controls.
York Agricultural was telebridged into the contact by Homer Delk
coordinating at the school. In the audience were 30 people,
including Roger Crouch's mother. Local media included two radio
stations and several newspapers.
Analysis continues at the time of this report for the Jamestown contact
about a question that the antenna may have been left in Window 6 (far
righthand window, as viewed from the cockpit) on Rev 146 from a prior
personal contact and was not in Window 1 as scheduled. The orbiter
antenna for all educational contacts except for Tsinghua University
were planned for Window 1. Students are advised that rare incidents
such as these can contribute to the many variables in the experiment.
In fact, the AMSAT Technical Mentor Terry Jones, W8JE (ex-NZ8C) for
York agrees and says, "The 'EX' in SAREX stands for 'experiment'".
Terry often stresses the importance of keen observation and
experimentation in SAREX opportunities.
Another "recently" added school for the MSL-1 reflight, Dunn's Corners
Elementary School in Westerly, Rhode Island had a very successful
contact with PLT Susan Still using KC5RNI. The contact was established
by volunteer Bob Diersing, N5AHD, in Kingsville, Texas using W5ZD, the
Rawles Memorial Amateur Radio Club of Texas as the AMSAT Telebridge
Network ground station.
Rise time at W5ZD was at MET 09/18:53 (12:55 UTC July 11) with Ken
Chaffee, WA1QXR, coordinating at the school in Rhode Island. Ken
reported 16 questions answered. In the audience were 300 people,
including 100 students. Local news media included one commercial
radio station, three newspapers, one cable TV and two television
stations.
The Center Street School in El Segundo, California had an outstanding
direct contact on Rev 158 with PLT Susan Still who was a last minute
replacement for CDR Jim Halsell. Contact was established by Katie
Reeves, KE6UYC, with Dave Reeves, AC6PP, assisting at the school.
The school reported an STS-94 high of 22 questions answered.
Volunteer AMSAT Technical Mentor Randy Hammock, KC6HUR, reports on
the scene of the success in El Segundo:
The Center Street School contact went off with out a hitch. We had
AOS about one minute past rise time, which was within the time
advised in advance. The SAREX CSR in Houston said there could be
as much as a three-minute delay. Towards the end of the contact,
the students ran out of questions and they were being fed questions
on the fly. We just did not think we would get that far.
Randy continues:
There were lots of news media there. The FOX camera crew went live
during the contact. The students produced their own television
program, one done much like a news broadcast hosted by Gordon West.
It started airing a half-hour before the contact and then covered
the contact. The student program was broadcast over the cable
company's local access channel which has substantial coverage.
The STS-94 crew had an interesting personal contact on Rev 170.
CDR Jim Halsell chatted with Dr. Larry Pepper, 5X6A. Dr. Pepper, a
a former NASA flight surgeon, is doing missionary work in Uganda.
Graham Ratcliff, VK5AGR, in Australia provided the ground station
connection.
Most of these school results were provided by AMSAT Representative
Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, in the SAREX payload Customer Support Room at
the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The AMSAT Telebridge Network telephone segment is provided by
MCI/Darome Telecommunications in Chicago as a public service.
ADDENDUM: Radio Amateurs please note! For each school that obtains
a scheduled contact with the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment,
they are required to have an Amateur Radio operator or club on
their technical committee. Why not be the one? Approach the
science teacher at your local school and ask if his or her
students might be interested in running an experiment to speak
with an astronaut in orbit. You may obtain a SAREX application by
mailing your request to the ARRL Education Activities Department,
225 Main Street, Newington, Connecticut 06111 USA. Or you may
obtain an electronic application under "Information" at the ARRL
SAREX website http://www.arrl.org/sarex/.
Submitted by Pat Kilroy, WD8LAQ, for Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO, and the
SAREX Working Group.
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