The RAFT and ANDE satellites are due to be launched from Shuttle Discovery after it undocks from the ISS. Like PCSAT and PCSAT-2, they will be transmitting telemetry and digipeating APRS packets on 145.825. We are in need of stations around the world to receive this telemetry and gate it to the APRS-IS.

You do not need a complex station to help out! A 2-meter receiver and omni-directional antenna will work just fine. If we have many stations with omni antennas that participate, it will be just as effective as a smaller number of stations that have full tracking antennas. When you are away from your home 2M station, put it to good use by setting it to 145.825 and gate the packets heard to the APRS-IS using software such as UI-View32 http://www.ui-view.org. You can also use ALogger which was designed for this purpose. You can download ALogger here: http://www.billdiaz.dynip.com/Alogger204.zip

The first Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) school contact in Swedish delighted both students and onlookers this past weekend. European Space Agency astronaut Christer Fuglesang, SA0AFS/KE5CGR, chatted in his native tongue Sunday, December 17, with youngsters at Thunman School in Knivsta, Sweden. ARISS-Europe Chairman Gaston Bertels, ON4WF, said everyone enjoyed hearing the Swedish language from space.

Complete story at arrl.org

We ask that ALL radio amateurs (except for command stations) refrain from any transmissions until after the spacecraft have been opened for general use. There are many stations involved in the checkout, so wait until you see specific authorization for general use before using the digipeater. If all goes well in a few days, we hope to open the satellites up for general use in accordance with the User Service Agreement. See: http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/ande/ANDEcontract.txt The success of these digipeaters is protocol driven and depends on user adherence to published operating parameters. Please check the User Service Agreement before operating and periodically throughout the short life of these satellites.

Astronauts will spend much of today getting ready for a fourth spacewalk during Discovery's mission to the International Space Station.

On Saturday, Mission Specialists Bob Curbeam and Expedition 14 Flight Engineer Sunita Williams finished rewiring the International Space Station during a 7-hour, 31-minute spacewalk.

After planned tasks had been completed smoothly and ahead of schedule, they also shook a balky solar array wing in hopes of completing its retraction. That helped gain some ground - the wing is about 65 percent retracted, compared to less than 50 percent before the spacewalk. About 11 bays remain deployed, compared to about 17 before.

Hello all,

what about a IFC meeting in NYC? I should be in Manhattan during the first week of 2007.
I dont have a clue about how many users we have from around there so If you're interested please drop me a line.
Alternatively we could organize a HF net on 40 meters but we need a control station. All I will eventually have is a TS-50S and a dipole. Is anybody interested?

Alain