The Phase 3D next-generation Amateur Radio satellite has been tentatively scheduled to launch in late July. The information is included in the “Provisional Ariane Launch Manifest” for February through July of this year that appears in the February edition of the Arianespace newsletter. If the schedule holds, the Phase 3D satellite would be sent aloft on Ariane 507, flight V132. A specific date in July was not available.
The Arianespace manifest identifies the other possible payloads aboard 507 as the PAS-1R or Europe*Star packages and the STRV-1C/1D package.
A launch contract accepting Phase 3D as a payload for the first suitable Ariane 5 launch vehicle was signed last October. The Phase 3D satellite now is at the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Phase 3D will be stored in its shipping container, housed in an air-conditioned integration building at the launch complex until launch preparations commence. All systems have been shut down and the batteries left uncharged.
For more information about Phase 3D, visit the AMSAT-NA Web site, http://www.amsat.org/.
NNNN
The Amateur Radio Spectrum Protection Act bill now has supporting legislation in the US Senate. Idaho Sen Michael Crapo has introduced a bill that mirrors the house bill, HR 783. The Senate measure has been designated S 2183.
“In introducing this bill, we want to do something for Amateur Radio in return for all the good it has done the people of Idaho and elsewhere in the US by providing a reliable means of backup communication in times of emergency,” said Crapo, who pledged to push this bill in the Senate.
Like the House version, the Senate bill, if enacted, would require the FCC to provide equivalent replacement spectrum should it ever be necessary to reallocate Amateur Radio frequencies for some other purpose. The new Senate legislation was introduced with bipartisan co-sponsorship.
So far, the House version of the spectrum bill has drawn bipartisan support, with 140 cosponsors to date, and has met with no opposition. However, Congress, and the all- important House and Senate Commerce committees, have been preoccupied with non-telecommunications matters and the Amateur Spectrum Protection Act has not yet moved out of committee. The new Senate bill provides additional motivation for the Congress to consider the legislation.
NNNN
Citing information provided by Richard Limebear, G3RWL, on the RSGB News Service on behalf of AMSAT-UK, AMSAT News Service reports the cost of transporting the Phase 3D satellite to its launch site approached $25,000. The Phase-3D spacecraft has a tentative launch opportunity aboard Ariane 507, now set for late July.
The satellite is in its packing case in a clean room at the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, awaiting the start of the launch campaign.
The AMSAT-UK Phase 3D fund paid $23,739 to cover costs of shipping Phase 3D from Atlanta to Kourou. The $1000 cost of trucking the satellite from the Orlando Integration Lab to the Atlanta airport was met by AMSAT-ZL. “It is assistance such as this, from these AMSAT organizations, that really makes Phase 3D a truly international effort, not only in technical aspects but also providing a financial partnership,” AMSAT- NA Executive Vice President Robin Haighton, VE3FRH, told ANS.
Last year, the AMSAT-UK Phase-3D fund also presented AMSAT-NA President Keith Baker, KB1SF, with a check for $13,340 to purchase thermal blankets.
NNNN
A bill has been introduced in the New York State Assembly to codify the essence of the limited federal preemption known as PRB-1 in New York State law. Assembly bill A. 9947 would require localities to ‘’reasonably accommodate’’ Amateur Radio antennas and would prevent localities from restricting antenna structures to less than 95 feet above ground level or from restricting the number of support structures.
ARRL Hudson Division Director Frank Fallon, N2FF, says the bill represents two years of work by his Hudson Division PRB- 1 Task Force, which spearheaded the bill’s development as well as a strategy to get it enacted. The Task Force used other successful state PRB-1 bills as models and had assistance from ARRL Headquarters. Fallon said the bill has the support of his staff and all three Hudson Division ARRL section managers. Support also has been obtained from Atlantic Division section managers in New York, and plans are under way for a statewide promotional effort.
The bill, introduced March 7, is in the Committee on Local Governments, which must vote on the measure before it goes to the full Assembly. Assuming the measure makes it past both chambers, it would go to Gov George Pataki for his signature.
Echoing the PRB-1 language, it would provide that any ordinance impacting the placement, screening or height of antennas ‘’must reasonably accommodate Amateur Radio antennas and shall impose the minimum regulation necessary to accomplish the political subdivision’s legitimate purpose.’’ The bill also would prohibit any local ordinance, by-law, rule or regulation, or other local law from restricting Amateur Radio support structure height to less than 95 feet above ground level or from restricting the number of antenna support structures.
Fallon is urging clubs and individuals to contact their NY State lawmakers to cosponsor or support A. 9947.
NNNN
The ARRL DX Advisory Committee and the ARRL Awards Committee have voted to add the Chesterfield Islands of New Caledonia to the DXCC List. For DXCC credit, contacts made on or after March 23, 2000 will be accepted. Cards for this new entity may be submitted after October 1, 2000.
With the admission of New Caledonia to IARU membership, the Chesterfield Islands qualify by reason of separation from New Caledonia. The Chesterfields are more than 350 km from the closest point of New Caledonia.
The recent Chesterfield Islands TX0DX DXpedition team racked up 72,654 Qs before it shut down Mar 29 after six days.
On its way to the Chesterfields, the TX0DX group made a slight detour to the area where intervening reefs are indicated on some older maps. The team reports it was able to confirm the French Navy’s documentation that the claimed islands do not exist, & there is a 350-kmr open-water separation between New Caledonia and the Chesterfields.
NNNN
ARRL Official Observers will be encouraged to play a more regular role in Amateur Radio enforcement, now that the FCC has established a credible Amateur Radio enforcement presence.
“It’s really up to the Amateur community and to the OOs as to how much we want them to come in and start playing a role,” Special Counsel for Amateur Radio Enforcement Riley Hollingsworth said.
His remarks followed a discussion on the role of Official Observers during a recent meeting of the ARRL Enforcement Task Force. The League invited Hollingsworth to attend the meeting to compare notes and to stress that the League wants enforcement to remain an important FCC initiative.
Since taking over the amateur enforcement helm some 18 months ago, Hollingsworth has said he first wanted to re-establish the FCC’s enforcement credibility before encouraging greater participation by the OOs. Hollingsworth told the Task Force that when the ARRL felt the FCC’s credibility was re-established, the FCC would be ready to ask the OOs for more help. The Task Force concurred that the time was right to gradually fold the Official Observers back into the enforcement blend. “The FCC is in this with them—we’re all in the same boat,” Hollingsworth said this week, adding that he’s been able to make good use of information supplied by Official Observers in amateur cases. “The problem has never been anemic OO complaints or a lack of quality, it’s just been a matter of whether the FCC was present on the enforcement front.” Hollingsworth has told the Enforcement Task Force that OOs can often help him to fill the gaps in cases he’s already familiar with.
Hollingsworth noted that while the rate of amateur-related complaints has declined, he’s not planning to let up on the pressure. “We’re still pedaling as fast as we can right now,” he said.”
Hollingsworth also said he’s like to see amateur enforcement viewed more as an FCC effort and less with him personally. “I would like to see amateur enforcement associated more with the Commission as a whole and part of its infrastructure than with some guy named Hollingsworth up there,”
The FCC has proposed keeping the annual regulatory fee for an Amateur Radio vanity call sign at $14 ($1.40 per year for the 10- year license term). That information was released in a Notice of Proposed Rule Making, MD Docket 00-58, proposing Fiscal Year 2000 annual regulatory fees. (FY 2000 began last September; the fees are paid in arrears.) The FCC said it anticipates 8000 applications for vanity call signs during FY 2000. Comments on MD Docket 00-58 are due April 24.
Two cosmonauts—Sergei Zalyotin and Alexandr Kaleri—arrived on the Russian Mir space station this week. It’s the first time in about eight months the station has been occupied. While the possibility exists for Amateur Radio operation, that is not considered to be high on the crew’s list of priorities. Their first job is to locate a slow leak in the aging spacecraft. The cosmonauts did make a transmission via their command channel at 1238 UTC on April 6. To listen to this brief communication, visit http://www.andythomas.org.uk/. Any amateur activity likely would take place on 145.985 MHz FM and could include voice, packet orSSTV.—Bruce Paige, KK5DO