Subj : Amateur Radio Newsline (A) To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Thu Aug 11 2022 20:22:02 Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2337, for Friday, August 12th, 2022 Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2337 with a release date of Friday August 12th, 2022 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a QST. An amateur satellite built by Indian schoolgirls suffers a failed deployment. A South African ham offers a rare chance for an EME contact with Angola -- and ooops, that James Webb telescope image isn't what it seems. All this and more, as Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2337, comes your way right now. ** BILLBOARD CART ** STUDENTS' AMATEUR SATELLITE SUFFERS FAILED LAUNCH NEIL/ANCHOR: Our top story this week was supposed to be a success story for India's new satellite launch vehicle, which had on board a small ham radio satellite built by schoolchildren. Something went wrong in its deployment, however, as Graham Kemp, VK4BB tells us. GRAHAM: Failure and disappointment marked the debut of India's Small Satellite Launch Vehicle which lifted off on Saturday August 6th only to deploy two satellites into the wrong orbits. One of the satellites was a much-anticipated project built by 750 schoolgirls in India as part of SpaceKidz India. It carried an amateur radio payload. The Indian space agency said that the satellites were sent into an elliptical orbit instead of the intended circular orbit 356 kilometres, or 221 miles, above the Earth. The elliptical orbit meant that at some point the satellites' orbits would come as close to earth as 76 km, or 47 miles. Officials from the ISRO said the error was caused by a sensor failure that could not be detected in time. Five hours after liftoff, the mission was declared a failure. The maiden voyage of the launcher was a much-celebrated event which also commemorated India's 75th year of independence. This is Graham Kemp, VK4BB. (SPACE.COM, THE HINDU) ** ANGOLA DXPEDITION PROMISES AMATEURS THE MOON NEIL/ANCHOR: The activation of Angola using EME this month has been years in the planning for one South African amateur. It's expected to be a major first. Jason Daniels, VK2LAW, tells us what's in store. JASON: Going on the air as D2TX from Angola as a portable EME operator is expected to be an unprecedented experience. Bernie, ZS4TX, told Newsline in an email that he is unaware of any of the popular EME bands having been used to activate Angola, as he is doing on 2 metres between the 12th and 16th of August. It's a long road trip - more than 2800 kilometres over the course of four days. The final 220 kilometres is on dirt roads and will take six hours. Bernie said the advantage is road travel means the station will be able to use a larger-than-usual array of 2- by-18 element M2 Yagi antennas. Bernie also said that stations with a 12-element Yagi, 250 watts and a decent low-noise amplifier can likely work him and that recent developments in digital modes available from WSJTX may make it possible for even the most modest stations. With a couple of moon passes, Bernie hopes to be able to work 300 or so stations. Licensed since the age of 17, Bernie learned about 2-metre EME from Hal, ZS6WB, and Chris, ZS6EZ, in the early '90s when he and Chris worked Dave, W5UN, on CW EME from Botswana during a VHF expedition trip. He later worked W5UN from Lesotho for one of his last entities for the first 2M DXCC award ever issued. Bernie urges EME enthusiasts to listen for him. He said [quote] "Use this opportunity. It may be a very long time before Angola is activated again. It could be the chance of a lifetime." [endquote] This is Jason Daniels, VK2LAW. NEIL/ANCHOR: If you are new to working EME, there is some helpful guidance on W7GJ's website, including detailed instructions on how to set up your station and make contacts. Find the link in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org [FOR PRINT ONLY: http://www.bigskyspaces.com/w7gj/emetips.htm ] (BERNIE VAN DER WALT ZS4TX) --- SBBSecho 3.15-Win32 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - Little Rock, Arkansas (618:250/33) .