
SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0918
* SpaceNews 18-Sep-95 *


BID: $SPC0918


			       =========
			       SpaceNews
			       =========


			MONDAY SEPTEMBER 18, 1995


SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA.  It is
published every week and is made available for unlimited free distribution.


* ASTRONAUTS VISIT LONG ISLAND *
================================ 
John Delaney, N2JUX, has the pleasure of meeting the crew of STS-70 on
08-Sep-95 when they visited Monitor Aerospace on Long Island, New York.
The astronauts came to Monitor Aerospace to thank the company for their
work on the shuttle.  Monitor makes the parts that connect the shuttle
to the main fuel tank, and John is one of their employees.

The crew of STS-70 presented a brief videotape with highlights of their
flight in July.  John reports that the videotape was very interesting and
even featured a scene or two about SAREX.  The crew also presented an award
to one of the factory managers, Brian Sadlo who received a "Silver Snoopy",
an award given out by the astronauts to people in the aerospace industry.

After that, the crew had a brief question and answer period, but because
of the crowd they decided to come off the stage and talk with people.
After they did this it soon became a mob scene with everyone surrounding
them for autographs and picture opportunies.  John commented that the
astronauts were all very polite and considerate and would sign autographs
and answer any and all questions.
 
John asked Kevin R. Kregel if he had done anything with SAREX and he replied
that he talked to his wife on a few orbits, but Donald Thomas and Nancy
Currie were the ones who were really involved with that.
 
John then made his way through the crowd and found Donald Thomas, KC5FVF.
Donald was easy to talk to and seemed to be genuinely interested in Amateur
Radio.  During the course of his conversation with John, Mr. Thomas stated
that what one hears on the 2 meter band in space on a SAREX uplink frequency
sounds very much like a DX pile-up here on earth.  He said that many times
only parts of callsigns can be copied and groundstations can always be
heard talking on top of each other.  At times it is difficult to have a QSO.
 
John then made it across the room and got Nancy Currie's (KC5OZX) autograph,
but didn't get much of a chance to talk to her because of the crowd.

[Info via John Delaney, N2JUX]
 

* EUROMIR FREQUENCIES *
=======================
Uplink and downlink frequencies of the Amateur Radio Station SAFEX II aboard
the Russian Space Station MIR during the EUROMIR '95 Mission with the German
ESA Cosmonaut Thomas Reiter, DF4TR (SAFEX: Space AmateurFunk EXperiment)

2m-Band
-------
Voice:         Downlink   145.850 MHz
               Uplink     145.250 MHz
Packet Radio:  Downlink   145.550 MHz
               Uplink     144.625 MHz
                          145.550 MHz
addtional Uplinks:        145.200 MHz
                          145.225 MHz
                          144.675 MHz
                          144.725 MHz
70cm-Band
---------
Voice:         Downlink   437.925 MHz
               Uplink     435.725 MHz
Packet Radio:  Downlink   437.775 MHz
               Uplink     435.775 MHz
additional Uplinks:       435.800 MHz
                       to 436.000 MHz
                   with 25 kHz spacing

Orbit Operations:
Thomas Reiter, DF4TR
Onboard Station Call DP0MIR

Ground Operations:

   Amateur Radio Station R3K at ZUP control center,
   Kaliningrad, Moscow, Russia

        Sergej Samburov, RV3DR
        P.O. Box 73
        Kaliningrad-10 City
        Moscow Area, 141070, Russia

   Amateur Radio Station DF0VR at GSOC control center,
   Oberpfaffenhofen, Munich, Germany

      Thomas Kieselbach, DL2MDE
      Joerg Hahn, DL3LUM
      DLR Amateurfunkstation Oberpfaffenhofen
      P.O. Box 1116
      82230 Wessling, Germany

Reference:  CQ-DL Nr. 8/95
(monthly magazine of German Amateur Radio Club DARC e.V.)

[Info via John McKay, WD4HOY]


* HAM RADIO TO MARS *
=====================
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California will be launching a
replacement for the ill-fated "Mars Observer", called the "Mars Global
Surveyor", in the latter part of 1996.  Among the many experiments carried
on the spacecraft, the Mars Global Observer will carry a 1.3 watt continuous
carrier beacon transmitter on 437.100 MHz.  Amateur Radio Operators will
have the ability to receive this beacon using their OSCAR satellite
groundstations while the spacecraft heads off to Mars.

[Info via Michael R. Owen, W9IP]


* SABLE ISLAND DXPEDITION PLANNED *
===================================
Wayne, VE1CBK; Ken VE1RU; Gary, VE1RGB and Don, VE1AOE will be active as
CY0TP from Sable Island October 1 - 10, 1995, weather permitting.  Sable
Island is located at 60 degrees 2 minutes WEST Long., 43 degrees 56 minutes
NORTH Lat with a Maidenhead Locator Square of FN93xw.

Don, VE1AOE will be the principle Satellite Operator and will be active on
AO-10 and AO-13 along with most of the LEO analog satellites (including
Mode K on RS-12/13.)  Don expects to be very active on the satellites
throughout the whole DXpedition period.

Further details on this event will be forthcoming.

[Info via Donald Roland, VE1AOE]


* MORE WINDOWS 95 NEWS *
======================== 
In last week's issue of "SpaceNews", a report was presented on a new
feature of the Windows 95 operating system called "Registration Wizard"
that automatically scans a user's hard disk in response to questions asked
when connected to the Microsoft Network.  This report was presented because
of the large number of PCs that are used by those involved in Amateur space
activities, and the number of Amateur Radio Operators who spend considerable
amounts of time and effort developing software applications on computers
they would like to consider "secure".

The Electronic Newsletter "WinNews" published by Microsoft debunked many
of the rumors that have been circulating in magazine articles and on the
Internet regarding "Registration Wizard".  The 05-Jun-95 issue called the
report in the May 1995 issue of "Information Week" magazine false.  The
newsletter pointed out that "Registration Wizard" is not a "virual
routine" and that although PC configuration and directory structure
information is scanned, NO information is sent to Microsoft without the
full consent of the PC user.  The information gathered is used to "help
Microsoft build better products, as well as offer customers better
information on their programs and better product support".  What benefit
this is to a customer who frequently changes the contents on his hard disk
and experiences software conflicts long after having his system scanned by
"Registation Wizard" remains to be seen.

While the facts surrounding "Registration Wizard" may have become
distorted through well-intentioned, but mis-informed news reports, it
should be pointed out that both the U.S. Department of Defense and the
Military are critical of the "Registration Wizard" routine and are taking
the matter seriously.  The October 1995 issue of "Linux Journal" reports
that U.S. Consumer Advocate Ralph Nader has expressed concern over this
matter in a letter to U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Regardless of what news reports and magazine articles have to say about
"Registration Wizard", anyone with a second computer can determine what
information is sent to Microsoft when running the on-line registration
routine by monitoring the serial data sent to the modem from the serial
port of the PC running Windows 95.  Although one report from Germany
indicated that a disk directory is actually sent, the report failed to
indicate whether or not this occurred after the user explicitly chose
to have this information sent to Microsoft.


* FEEDBACK/INPUT WELCOMED *
===========================
Comments and input for SpaceNews should be directed to the editor (John,
KD2BD) via any of the paths listed below:
 
FAX       : 1-908-747-7107
FTP       : pilot.njin.net  cd to /pub/SpaceNews
WWW       : http://www.njin.net:80/~magliaco/
PACKET    : KD2BD @ KS4HR.NJ.USA.NA
INTERNET  : kd2bd@amsat.org -or- magliaco@pilot.njin.net
SATELLITE : AMSAT-OSCAR-16, LUSAT-OSCAR-19
 
MAIL      : John A. Magliacane, KD2BD
	    Department of Engineering and Technology
	    Advanced Technology Center
	    Brookdale Community College
	    Lincroft, New Jersey  07738
	    U.S.A.
 
 
       <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>> 
 
/EX
