Jun 04

General Assembly 2022

Annual General Assembly

The members of AMSAT Belgium, non-profit association, are invited to attend the annual general meeting.

The annual general assembly will take place on Monday, June 20, 2022 at 20:00.
Radio Club Leuven – Diestsevest 39 at Leuven. (The meeting room is located in the basement)

Agenda general assembly :
1. New members and outgoing members.
2. Financial report 2021
3. Discharge to the board of directors.
4. Approval of the 2022 budget.
5. Composition of the board.

Candidate board members must register before Saturday, June 18, 2022.
Persons who are in order with their membership contribution are entitled to vote.
After the closing of the general meeting there is an opportunity to exchange ideas informally.

Correspondence about this extraordinary general meeting can be sent by email to jan.poppeliers@online.be

Extraordinary General Assembly

The members of AMSAT Belgium, non-profit association, are invited to attend the extraordinary general assembly. The extraordinary general assembly will take place on Monday, June 20, 2022 after the general meeting – Radio Club Leuven – Diestsevest 39 at Leuven. (The meeting room is located in the basement)

Agenda extraordinary general assembly:
1. Change of statute – in accordance with the new law (1 May 2019) on associations..

Persons who are in order with their membership contribution are entitled to vote.
After the closing of the general meeting there is an opportunity to exchange ideas informally.

Correspondence about this extraordinary general meeting can be sent by email to jan.poppeliers@online.be

Dec 21

Berufliche Schule Direktorat 1 Nürnberg, ARISS telebridge contact via ON4ISS

An ARISS telebridge contact via Amateur Radio, performed with students of “Berufliche Shule Directotaat 1 Nurenberg” on Wednesday 21 december 2021 at 08:21 UTC with OR4ISS and ARISS telebridge ground station ON4ISS (Aartselaar, Belgium) was successful. Matthias Maurer, amateur radio call sign KI5KFH, answered 12 questions. Stefan Vogl DL1STV coordinated the ARISS contact in the school in a safe CORONA way. Several classes and outside spectators followed the contact in the school through Teams. Due to COVID, there was no mass media on contact site.

Matthias Maurer
Matthias Maurer KI5KFH operates the Kenwood D710GA in the Columbus Module

The moderator Bertus Hüsken PE1KEH presented the contact. Stefan Dombrowski ON6TI had taken care of the preparation. The ARISS telebridge station ON4ISS (Amsat Belgium club station) was used by Jan Poppeliers ON7UX (lead ON4ISS operations). The amateur radio contact went smoothly for more than 11 minutes with a maximum elevation of 81°. The students thanked Matthias with a strong applause and Matthias Maurer KI5KFH acknowledged our “thank you” warmly.

Media source:
Youtube report M0IGW
Youtube report YO3RAK

Jun 08

AMSAT-Belgium – General Assembly 2021

annual general meeting 2021 – video conference – Tuesday, June 22, 2021 at 20:00 CEST

A photo of the AMSAT-ON annual meeting in 2012 – location UBA section LVN – Radio Club Leuven

The members of AMSAT Belgium, non-profit association, are invited to attend the annual general meeting. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, this meeting cannot take place in the usual cozy atmosphere. The meeting is organized with a video conference.

The video conference is accessible with a password that is sent to all members in an invitation. Everyone can still settle with their membership until the day before.

Agenda:
1. New members and outgoing members.
2. Financial report 2020.
3. Discharge to the board of directors.
4. Approval of the 2021 budget.

Persons who are in order with their membership contribution are entitled to vote. After the closing of the general meeting there is an opportunity to exchange ideas informally.

Correspondence about this general meeting can be sent by email to jan.poppeliers at online.be

Support:
The GoToMeeting normally install an app. If you don’t want to install an app, you can follow the meeting with a Google Chrome or a Microsoft Edge browser.
Do you need support: https://support.goto.com/meeting/help/how-to-join-a-meeting-g2m030001

Oct 07

UHF multi-point telebridge: McConnell Middle School, Loganville, GA & Chris Cassidy KF5KDR

On Wednesday, October 7 2020 at 14:18 UTC, there was a successful ARISS contact between students from McConnell Middle School, Loganville, GA, USA and ISS Commander Chris Cassidy, amateur radio call sign KF5KDR. For this multi-point telebridge contact Chris Cassidy used the ARISS Interoperable Radio System (IORS) which is installed in the Columbus module. Exceptionally, this ARISS contact was made on UHF frequency 437.525 MHz with ISS callsign OR4ISS and telebridge station ON4ISS (Aartselaar, Belgium).

ISS Commander Chris Cassidy, amateur radio call sign KF5KDR, operates
the Kenwood TM-D710GA in the Columbus module.

The multi-point telebridge school contact with McConnell Middle School happened simultaneously with the ARISS SSTV event on 145,800 MHz. Therefore, the UHF frequency was used for this telebridge contact. Telebridge station ON4ISS operators were Jan, ON7UX and Stefan, ON6TI.

Micol, IU2LXR received both the multi-point telebridge school contact and
SSTV transmission in the park from Milano, with two transceivers.

ARISS is pleased to receive reports on its activities. As you can see in Mic’s report, this can be done with a simple setup. Due to the low elevation from where Mic IU2LXR received the ARISS radio contact, she was able to monitor both the SSTV activity and the ARISS contact for 7 minutes. After this ARISS contact with McConnell Middle School, the IORS in the Columbus module was set to 145.825 MHz in APRS packet mode.

Media source:
Youtube: McConnell Middle School Space Chat 10-7-2020
ARISS News Release No. 20-19
ARISS Interoperable Radio System (IORS)

Jul 30

American School of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Multipoint telebridge via ON4ISS

A Multipoint Telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio, developed for distance learning while worldwide education institutions are closed due to COVID-19 that took place on Thursday 30 juli 2020 at 16:41 UTC with OR4ISS and ARISS telebridge ground station ON4ISS (Aartselaar, Belgium) was successful.. ISS Commander Chris Cassidy, amateur radio call sign KF5KDR, answered 12 questions from students of American School of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

American School of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Toni PY1AX and Kenneth Horrocks greeted Chris Cassidy on behalf of the school and Chris was delighted to greet the school from Rio. He still remembered his visit to the American School of Rio de Janeiro in November 2016. The moderator for this ARISS contact was Brian Jackson VE6JBJ in Airdrie, Alberta Canada, ON4ISS operators were Jan ON7UX with the assistance of Stefan ON6TI.

Media source:
Youtube stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSyfzEHYwrE
ARISS News Release No. 20-09
report received signal F4HTZ

Jul 10

Multipoint ARISS internet bridge with students of Don Bosco, Haacht, Belgium via AB1OC.

A Multipoint ARISS Internet Bridge via Amateur Radio, was performed using videoconference over internet with students on Friday 10 juli 2020 at 10:52 UTC with NA1SS and ARISS telebridge ground station AB1OC (Hollis, NH) was successful. ISS Commander Chris Cassidy, amateur radio call sign KF5KDR, answered 12 questions from students of Don Bosco secondary school in Haacht Belgium.

Fred AB1OC calling NA1SS

As you are well aware, the school was closed and gatherings with audience in the classic way could not take place. Fred Kemmerer AB1OC was part of the videoconference and provided amateur radio contact between the ISS and every student at home.

The students, teachers and astronauts during the ARISS contact.

This was the first ARISS contact using Internet videoconference. The conference was also broadcasted over YouTube and it had 1800 viewers during the live event. The moderator was Stefan Dombrowski ON6TI. The school originally hoped to establish direct radio contact with their club station ON1DB.

Media source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj6gkCtKAwg
https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf20200710_95863411
https://www.uba.be/nl/actueel/flash/ARISS-EU505-DonBosco-Haacht

Jun 16

Villanueva de la Serena, Spain, Multipoint telebridge via ON4ISS

A Multipoint Telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio, developed for distance learning while worldwide education institutions are closed due to COVID-19 that took place on Tuesday 16 juni 2020 at 12:25 UTC with OR4ISS and ARISS telebridge ground station ON4ISS (Aartselaar, Belgium) was successful.. ISS Commander Chris Cassidy, amateur radio call sign KF5KDR, answered 11 questions from students of I.E.S. Pedro de Valdivia in Villanueva de la Serena, Spain.

Chris used the onboard ham radio to talk with the students on their phones at home. It was a very pleasant contact and Chris Cassidy took his time to answer the questions in great detail. Prior to COVID-19, the students had studied and observed ISS passes, participated in NASA’s EarthKam program, and built communication equipment to listen to ARISS contacts and make ARISS APRS contacts, and downloaded ARISS SSTV images from the ISS. Sr. Pepe Pineda, the teacher said, “Our school emphasizes languages and cultures and gives special importance to science and technology.”

Media source:
ARISS youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpvSU3-t2CQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au8yZEI4K3s
ARISS News Release No. 20-06

Jun 12

General Assembly 2020

annual general meeting 2020 – video conference – Monday, June 29, 2020 at 20:00 CEST

A photo of the AMSAT-ON annual meeting in 2012 – location UBA section LVN – Radio Club Leuven

The members of AMSAT Belgium, non-profit association, are invited to attend the annual general meeting. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, this meeting cannot take place in the usual cozy atmosphere. The meeting is organized with a video conference.

The general assembly will take place on Monday, June 29, 2020 at 20:00 CEST.
The video conference is accessible with a password that is sent to all members in an invitation. Everyone can still settle with their membership until the day before.

Agenda:
1. New members and outgoing members.
2. Financial report 2019 and discharge to the board of directors.
3. Approval of the 2020 budget.

Persons who are in order with their membership contribution are entitled to vote. After the closing of the general meeting there is an opportunity to exchange ideas informally.

Correspondence about this general meeting can be sent by email to jan.poppeliers at online.be

Support:
The GoToMeeting normally install an app. If you don’t want to install an app, you can follow the meeting with Google Chrome. Do you need support:
https://support.goto.com/meeting/help/how-to-join-a-meeting-g2m030001

Jan 05

QARMAN ready to deployed from ISS.

QARMAN is a satellite from the Von Karman institute in Sint-Genesius-Rode, Belgium. It is a 3U cubesat with dimensions 10x10x30 cm and the last satellite of the QB50 experiment.

It will orbit Earth for around 4 months before reentering the atmosphere. It will survive reentry but not its fall to Earth. Instead its data will be transmitted to Iridium telecom satellites.

Reentry test of QARMAN CubeSat
Reentry test of QARMAN CubeSat

The satellite was lifted-off from Cape Canaveral has been on board the ISS since 5 December 2019 with the SpaceX 19 resupply cargo. In-Orbit deployment from the ISS is preliminary scheduled on 12 Februari 2020.

QARMAN with callsign ONØ5BE has a telemetry beacon at 437.350 MHz – GMSK 9600Bd – AX.25 frames. In normal mode telemetry is transmitted every 2 minutes, in save mode / low power mode every 10 minutes. The definition of the different telemetry data is described in this document and you can easily decode the telemetry with this Excel file.

You can report receiving reports from the satellite to operations@qarman.eu

Media source:
VKI News: Successful Launch of QARMAN to the ISS
Description of the QB50 project
QARMAN spacecraft successfully survived to SCIROCCO test
QARMAN Homepage

Sep 23

The Children’s Inn at NIH speaks with astronaut Nick Hague via ON4ISS

The ARISS contact on Monday 23 September 2019 at 20:09 UTC (22:09 CEST) 89 deg with OR4ISS and the Children’s Inn at NIH, Bethesda, Maryland via ARISS telebridge ground station ON4ISS (Aartselaar, Belgium) was successful. Astronaut Nick Hague, KG5TMV answered 11 questions from children at the Children’s Inn at NIH (National Institutes of Health’s ). The Children’s Inn is an independent nonprofit that provides “a place like home” to families of children with rare or critical illnesses whose best hope is a clinical research trial at the NIH Clinical Center, the world’s largest hospital dedicated to biomedical research.

All the children got to speak, including one from a child who was too sick to be in the room, which was videotaped.

The ARISS contact was fabulous from AOS to LOS. Nick provided some very detailed, outstanding answers to the children’s questions.  And there was sufficient time for a back and forth thank you with Nick at the end. Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, was moderator for this event, a partnership with NIH’s NCATS, The Children’s Inn at NIH, ISS U.S. National Laboratory, and ARISS.

Media source:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheChildrensInn/videos/2531091400548997/
The Children’s Inn: https://childrensinn.org/you-give-children-experiences-that-are-out-of-this-world/
National Institutes of Health: https://ncats.nih.gov/alliances/nasa/ask-an-astronaut