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How new John Glenn airport terminal could affect travel and population in Columbus

News Channel 4 - Thu, 02/29/2024 - 17:00

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – With the new airport terminal coming to Columbus in 2029, would a new facility be the reason Columbus could attract new business, or even land direct flights to destinations in Europe?

NBC4 breaks down why "build it and they will come" is not a guarantee. 

Bill would rid of foreign contributions for issue campaigns in Ohio

Columbus seems to be making an impression on potential residents. A recent study by Bank of America shows Columbus is the fastest growing major city in the nation.

Didi Caldwell serves as president of a consulting firm that helps companies find ideal locations for growth. She recently placed a large client in the Columbus area. She said Ohio's tax structure gives the region an edge. 

"A real economic powerhouse with manufacturing and data centers and headquarters and all of the things that make a really diverse, dynamic economy,” Caldwell said. 

But for companies that need frequent international access, Columbus does not check many boxes. 

“They tend to go to cities where there is a large international airport just for the ease of travel,” Caldwell said. “Until Columbus has something like that, it's going to be difficult to recruit that type of a global or, you know, national headquarters.”

Census data shows Columbus as the 14th most populated city in the nation at more than 900,000 residents. Cleveland ranks 54th, Cincinnati 64th and Pittsburgh 68th. 

Yet Cleveland, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh all offer several direct flights to Europe each week. Columbus offers none. 

Airport officials said it's the airlines who make decisions on when and where to offer flights and their research shows Columbus is not there yet. 

The airport renovation plans call for two international gates. NBC4 spoke with several international companies with central Ohio operations – many said international travel is not a major issue for them, especially with the ease of virtual meetings. 

Categories: Ohio News

Stack Overflow opens API to Google’s Gemini

Info World - Thu, 02/29/2024 - 16:00

Stack Overflow, the popular question-and-answer portal for developers, has partnered with Google’s cloud computing arm to develop an API that will give Google’s Gemini AI model access to Stack Overflow’s knowledge base.

Dubbed the Overflow API, the new offering will inform Gemini’s coding assistance capabilities for Google Cloud, delivered to developers via the Google Cloud Console. The suggestions made by Gemini will cite Stack Overflow sources, the companies said in a statement.

To read this article in full, please click here

Categories: Technology

Bill would rid of foreign contributions for issue campaigns in Ohio

News Channel 4 - Thu, 02/29/2024 - 15:59

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Some lawmakers at the Ohio Statehouse are worried about foreign influence on elections, specifically issue-based campaigns. That is why Senators Theresa Gavarone (R-Bowling Green) and Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) brought forward Senate Bill 215.

“Are we against foreign money in elections or not,” McColley said. “It’s as simple as that.”

Family of hazing victim Stone Foltz to be awarded damages against former Bowling Green fraternity president

“The smell test on this one is that it seems like a sore loser response,” Ohio Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood) said.

State and federal law does already prohibit foreign contributions to candidates. But for issue campaigns like the reproductive rights and marijuana legalization measures in November — the door was left open to overseas donors. SB215 passed the Senate on Wednesday, on partly lines, 25 to seven.

“We want to shut that door and stop foreign interference in all our elections,” Gavarone said. “A no vote says that for them to meddle in our elections is not only acceptable but encouraged.”

Republicans use the latest issue election as an example. Millions of dollars poured into the reproductive rights campaign, including millions of dollars of contributions from the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a group heavily supported by a Swiss billionaire. 

DeMora said he doesn’t have a problem with the group giving money to the abortion-rights ballot issue, because the group didn’t do anything illegal. 

“It is not solely in response to that,” Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said. “But it’s an ongoing problem and I think the practical matter is, for a lot of elections, folks outside of Ohio care about what’s going on.”

Senator Bill DeMora (D-Columbus) said, he agrees, foreign influence is not necessarily good, but said either way, millions of dollars are poured into Ohio elections from out of state. 

“The campaign got money from a foundation that got money from a foreign national, who’s to say that the money the foreign national put in there is the same money the Ohio ballot issue got,” he said. “I don’t know what the difference between a billionaire from Canada and Switzerland is versus a billionaire from Texas.”

Huffman said the bill should be passed to minimize election influence by people outside of Ohio.

The bill also prohibits “a lawful permanent U.S. resident, also known as a green card holder,” from making contributions both to ballot issues and candidates.

DeMora said the language in the bill will discourage participation in the election process, like collecting signatures for ballot issues, even for things as simple as adding a stop sign on a street. 

“They now have to file as a PAC because they’re spending money and collecting signatures for a ballot issue, which is absolutely ludicrous,” DeMora said. “Republicans have passed this whole convoluted mess.”

DeMora, and other Democrats, said they worry this bill will have a chilling effect on grassroots efforts to put issues on ballots.  

“The point of this bill is so that a guy in Switzerland who wants to give $10 million to effect a ballot issue in Ohio won’t be able to do that,” Huffman said.

The bill is still in the statehouse; the next step for approval is the Ohio House. If it passes before August, it will take effect before the November election.

Categories: Ohio News

Fulton County, Security Experts Call LockBit’s Bluff

Krebs on Security - Thu, 02/29/2024 - 15:18

The ransomware group LockBit told officials with Fulton County, Ga. they could expect to see their internal documents published online this morning unless the county paid a ransom demand. LockBit removed Fulton County’s listing from its victim shaming website this morning, claiming the county had paid. But county officials said they did not pay, nor did anyone make payment on their behalf. Security experts say LockBit was likely bluffing and probably lost most of the data when the gang’s servers were seized this month by U.S. and U.K. law enforcement.

The LockBit website included a countdown timer until the promised release of data stolen from Fulton County, Ga. LockBit would later move this deadline up to Feb. 29, 2024.

LockBit listed Fulton County as a victim on Feb. 13, saying that unless it was paid a ransom the group would publish files stolen in a breach at the county last month. That attack disrupted county phones, Internet access and even their court system. LockBit leaked a small number of the county’s files as a teaser, which appeared to include sensitive and sealed court records in current and past criminal trials.

On Feb. 16, Fulton County’s entry — along with a countdown timer until the data would be published — was removed from the LockBit website without explanation. The leader of LockBit told KrebsOnSecurity this was because Fulton County officials had engaged in last-minute negotiations with the group.

But on Feb. 19, investigators with the FBI and the U.K.’s National Crime Agency (NCA) took over LockBit’s online infrastructure, replacing the group’s homepage with a seizure notice and links to LockBit ransomware decryption tools.

In a press briefing on Feb. 20, Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts told reporters the county did not pay a ransom demand, noting that the board “could not in good conscience use Fulton County taxpayer funds to make a payment.”

Three days later, LockBit reemerged with new domains on the dark web, and with Fulton County listed among a half-dozen other victims whose data was about to be leaked if they refused to pay. As it does with all victims, LockBit assigned Fulton County a countdown timer, saying officials had until late in the evening on March 1 until their data was published.

LockBit revised its deadline for Fulton County to Feb. 29.

LockBit soon moved up the deadline to the morning of Feb. 29. As Fulton County’s LockBit timer was counting down to zero this morning, its listing disappeared from LockBit’s site. LockBit’s leader and spokesperson, who goes by the handle “LockBitSupp,” told KrebsOnSecurity today that Fulton County’s data disappeared from their site because county officials paid a ransom.

“Fulton paid,” LockBitSupp said. When asked for evidence of payment, LockBitSupp claimed. “The proof is that we deleted their data and did not publish it.”

But at a press conference today, Fulton County Chairman Robb Pitts said the county does not know why its data was removed from LockBit’s site.

“As I stand here at 4:08 p.m., we are not aware of any data being released today so far,” Pitts said. “That does not mean the threat is over. They could release whatever data they have at any time. We have no control over that. We have not paid any ransom. Nor has any ransom been paid on our behalf.”

Brett Callow, a threat analyst with the security firm Emsisoft, said LockBit likely lost all of the victim data it stole before the FBI/NCA seizure, and that it has been trying madly since then to save face within the cybercrime community.

“I think it was a case of them trying to convince their affiliates that they were still in good shape,” Callow said of LockBit’s recent activities. “I strongly suspect this will be the end of the LockBit brand.”

Others have come to a similar conclusion. The security firm RedSense posted an analysis to Twitter/X that after the takedown, LockBit published several “new” victim profiles for companies that it had listed weeks earlier on its victim shaming site. Those victim firms — a healthcare provider and major securities lending platform — also were unceremoniously removed from LockBit’s new shaming website, despite LockBit claiming their data would be leaked.

“We are 99% sure the rest of their ‘new victims’ are also fake claims (old data for new breaches),” RedSense posted. “So the best thing for them to do would be to delete all other entries from their blog and stop defrauding honest people.”

Callow said there certainly have been plenty of cases in the past where ransomware gangs exaggerated their plunder from a victim organization. But this time feels different, he said.

“It is a bit unusual,” Callow said. “This is about trying to still affiliates’ nerves, and saying, ‘All is well, we weren’t as badly compromised as law enforcement suggested.’ But I think you’d have to be a fool to work with an organization that has been so thoroughly hacked as LockBit has.”

Categories: Technology, Virus Info

Motorcyclist dead in south Columbus crash

News Channel 4 - Thu, 02/29/2024 - 13:47

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A motorcyclist is dead after a crash in south Columbus on Thursday afternoon. 

Law enforcement was called to the 1900 block of Progress Avenue on the report of a crash at about 3:09 p.m., according to the Columbus Division of Police. 

Video: See 100-mph tornado as it nears Madison County homes

A motorcyclist was pronounced dead at 3:18 p.m., police said. Another person was transported to Grant Medical Center in stable condition. 

Police have not released any further information as of 3:45 p.m.

Categories: Ohio News

Kacey Musgraves coming to Columbus for tour

News Channel 4 - Thu, 02/29/2024 - 13:26

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) - Grammy-award winning singer and songwriter Kacey Musgraves announced dates for her upcoming tour, including a stop in Columbus.

The artist kicks off her "Deeper Well World Tour" April 28 and will perform at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus on Nov. 13. Other artists will join Musgraves on tour including Madi Diaz, Father John Misty, Lord Huron and Nickel Creek.

(Courtesy: AEG Presents) Top concerts, shows coming to central Ohio this spring

The 2024 tour comes following Musgraves last tour "star-crossed: unveiled" back in 2022. Other stops for the tour include Nashville, Tennessee, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Tampa, Florida.

Pre-sale starts March 5 at 10 a.m. and general sale kicks off March 8 at 10 a.m. For additional information on tickets, click here.

Categories: Ohio News

Pelotonia 2024 registration now open

News Channel 4 - Thu, 02/29/2024 - 12:51

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Pelotonia, central Ohio's hallmark campaign aimed at ending cancer, is gearing up for another year of fundraising events.

Registration for Pelotonia 2024 is now open for Opening Ceremony on Aug. 2, the 16th annual Ride Weekend on Aug. 3-4 and the second annual Gravel Day on Sept. 28, according to the Pelotonia website. Event volunteers can also register at this time.

Daylight saving time: When will clocks spring forward in Ohio?

Pelotonia 2024 events
• Opening Ceremony - Aug. 2
• Ride Weekend - Aug. 3-4
• Gravel Day - Sept. 28

Ride Weekend, the organization's signature event, includes ride routes ranging from 20 to 190 miles taking place over one or two days. The longest routes have an overnight stay at Kenyon College in Gambier.

Saturday, Aug. 3
• 20-Mile Route, Downtown Columbus to New Albany, $1,250 minimum fundraising commitment
• 50-Mile Route, Downtown Columbus to New Albany, $1,500 minimum fundraising commitment
• 65-Mile Route, New Albany to Gambier, 2,000 minimum fundraising commitment
• 100-Mile Route, Downtown Columbus to Gambier, $2,000 minimum fundraising commitment

Sunday, Aug. 4
• 35-Mile Route, New Albany Loop, $1,250 minimum fundraising commitment

Two-Day Routes
• 155-Mile Route, Saturday 65-Mile Route + Sunday 90-Mile Gambier to New Albany Route, Overnight stay at Kenyon College, $3,000 minimum fundraising commitment
• 190-Mile Route, Saturday 100-Mile Route + Sunday 90-Mile Gambier to New Albany Route
Overnight stay at Kenyon College, $3,000 minimum fundraising commitment
• Any Saturday Route + 35-Mile Loop, Without overnight stay, $3,000 minimum fundraising commitment

Where to find glasses in central Ohio for the April 8 solar eclipse

Gravel Day, which began in 2023, offers riders a different challenge with routes between 22 miles and 52 miles on one day. Riders can take part in both Ride Weekend and Gravel Day without creating a separate fundraising profile.

Saturday, Sept. 28
• 22-Mile Route, Nelsonville Loop, More than 1,400 feet total elevation gain, $1,500 minimum fundraising commitment
• 30-Mile Route, Nelsonville Loop, More than 2,600 feet total elevation gain, $1,500 minimum fundraising commitment
• 52-Mile Route, Nelsonville Loop, More than 4,700 feet total elevation gain, $1,500 minimum fundraising commitment

Guy Fieri’s inaugural Flavortown Festival in Columbus has been canceled Pelotonia's Race Weekend to fund cancer research  will take place Aug. 3-4 in Columbus, Ohio. (File photo)Pelotonia's Race Weekend to fund cancer research will take place Aug. 3-4 in Columbus, Ohio. (File photo)

Volunteers interested in registering for Ride Weekend or Gravel Day can sign up to assist in roles like bike management, first aid, food and beverage, merchandise sales, and more. 

Pelotonia also allows participants to get involved in the movement with their own activities. By registering as a "Challenger," individuals can create five activity goals to raise donations to raise money for cancer research.

This year's tagline is, “Ending Cancer,” chosen to highlight “the real, tangible progress that the Pelotonia community is fueling,” noted organizers.

Categories: Ohio News

OpenJDK proposal would streamline Java records creation

Info World - Thu, 02/29/2024 - 12:30

Java developers would gain an easier way to create records, and more streamlined code for declaring record classes, through derived record creation, a preview language feature being considered by the OpenJDK community.

Derived record creation would allow developers to create new records from existing records, specifying only the components that are different. Goals of the proposal include providing a concise means to create new record values from existing ones and streamlining the declaration of record classes by eliminating the need to provide explicit wither methods, which are the immutable analogue of setter methods.

To read this article in full, please click here

Categories: Technology

Columbus man pleads guilty to attempted murder for Whitehall car shooting

News Channel 4 - Thu, 02/29/2024 - 11:30

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A third Columbus man has been sentenced to prison for a "gang-related" car shooting in 2022 that spurred from a bar fight in Whitehall.

Breon Kelly, 21, entered a guilty plea on Tuesday for his role in the Jan. 23, 2022, incident and was been sentenced to 32 to 33 and a half years in prison, according to Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney Gary Tyack. Kelly marks the third and final person to plead guilty in the shooting after his co-defendants, Larry Latham III, 21, and Mark Smith Jr., 21, pleaded guilty in May and April of last year.

Tyack said the "gang-related shooting" began after a large fight at PKWY Lounge and Grill at 5200 Riding Club Lane, when the three defendants got into a car and chased another car with three people inside. Tyack said Smith and Kelly both fired shots at the other car while Latham drove.

Kelly used a Glock switch to convert his gun to an automatic weapon, and struck the car and two additional cars, including one with a 7-year-old inside. No one was injured in the shooting, Tyack said.

Kelly had chosen to take his case to trial, but pleaded guilty right before opening statements. Tyack said Kelly was immediately sentenced for two counts of attempted murder, one count of discharge over a prohibited premises and one count of having a weapon while under a disability.

Lathan pleaded guilty on May 2, 2023, and was sentenced to 11 to 13 and a half years in prison for two counts of attempted murder, one count of discharge over a prohibited premises and two counts of having a weapon while under a disability.

Smith pleaded guilty on April 27, 2023, and was sentenced to 17 to 20 years in prison for two counts of attempted murder, one count of discharge over a prohibited premises, two counts of having a weapon while under a disability.

Categories: Ohio News

Google delivers Gemini LLM support to BigQuery data warehouse

Info World - Thu, 02/29/2024 - 09:03

Google is integrating its Gemini 1.0 Pro large language model with its AI and machine learning platform, Vertex AI, to help enterprises unlock new capabilities of large language models (LLMs), including analysis of text, image and video.

The Gemini API, which has been made generally available, can also be used in Google’s data warehouse, BigQuery, to develop generative AI-based analytical applications.

To read this article in full, please click here

Categories: Technology

ANS-035 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins for February 4, 2024

AMSAT news - Sat, 02/03/2024 - 17:00

AMSAT News Service ANS-035
February 4, 2024

In this edition:

  • AO-92 Reenters Earth’s Atmosphere
  • The First Amateur Radio Station on the Moon
  • Lunar Excursion Vehicle (LEV-1) Amateur Telemetry Received
  • AMSAT CubeSatSim Beta Release – v1.3
  • VUCC & DXCC Satellite Standing as of February 1, 2024
  • Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for February 2, 2024
  • Request to Reconsider Decommissioning of IO-117 Under Evaluation by Italian Space Agency
  • ARISS News
  • Upcoming Satellite Operations
  • Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events
  • Satellite Shorts From All Over

The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information service of AMSAT, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites.

The news feed on https://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor [at] amsat.org

You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/ans.amsat.org/

AO-92 Reenters Earth’s Atmosphere

After just over six years in orbit, Fox-1D, designated as AMSAT-OSCAR 92 (AO–92), likely re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere on February 3, 2024 (Space-Track had not issued the final decay message as of the time of this writing.)

AO-92 was a 1U CubeSat developed and built by AMSAT. It carried a single-channel transponder for mode U/v in FM and also had an L-band converter (the AMSAT L-band downshifter experiment), which allowed the FM transponder to be switched to an uplink in the 23 cm band.

In addition to the transponders, the satellite carried the following scientific and technical payloads:

  • High Energy Radiation CubeSat (HERCI) built by the University of Iowa
  • Camera Experiment built by Virginia Tech
  • MEMS GYRO Experiment built by Penn State-Erie

The satellite had a single whip antenna for the 70 cm and 23 cm bands (uplink), as well as an antenna for the 2m band (downlink).

AO-92 was launched on January 12, 2018 at 03:59 UTC on an Indian PSLV XL rocket, along with the main payloads Cartosat-2F, NovaSAR-S, and 31 other small satellites from the Satish Dhawan Space Center, India. At 05:17 UTC, the antennas were deployed over the North Pole and the satellite began to operate. At 05:28 UTC the first telemetry was received.

On the 03:25 UTC pass on January 26, 2018, AMSAT Vice President – Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, announced that AO–92 had been commissioned and formally turned the satellite over to AMSAT Operations. AMSAT Vice President – Operations Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, then declared that AO–92 was open for amateur use.

Rick Behma, VE4AMU, working AO-92 in Mode L/v with a Kenwood TM-941 mobile transceiver and Comet CYA-1216E yagi crossed with 2 meter Arrow II elements.

In addition to a very popular U/v transponder, the satellite provided a couple of unique capabilities. First was the L-band downshifter experiment, which was generally activated for 24 hours each Sunday while the satellite was able to support it. Pre-launch estimates suggested that approximately 100 watts ERP would be required to access the satellite, but much lower power outputs proved to be usable. Many stations operated through the satellite with radios such as the Alinco DJ-G7T at 1 watt of output into handheld antennas of between between 10 and 16 elements. At least one station reported accessing the satellite with just a simple whip antenna on 23 cm.

The camera, developed by students at Virginia Tech, also proved to be popular and delivered many good pictures, with the last photos received on September 19, 2020. An archive of all of the photos captured by ground stations can be found at https://www.amsat.org/tlm/showImages.php?id=4.

The distance record on AO-92’s U/v mode was 5,011 km – a transatlantic QSO between F4DXV and VE1VOX that took place on August 10, 2020. The record via the L/v mode was 4,202 km between OA4/XQ3SA and XE1MEX on June 3, 2020.

By early 2021, the aging NiCd cells – having been purchased in the early 2010s along with the rest of the Fox-1 battery cells – had degraded to the point where the satellite was entering safe mode on every eclipse. It was rarely operational in recent months. The transponder was occasionally turned on, but usually defaulted into “Safe Mode” at the next eclipse. The last telemetry frame was received from the satellite on October 27, 2023 at 01:36 UTC.

By every measure, AO–92 was a tremendously successful amateur radio satellite, providing educational and research benefits to AMSAT’s university partners, as well as providing several years of reliable FM communication for amateurs. Its useful life far exceeded the average operational lifespan for commercial or educational CubeSats.

[ANS thanks Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, and Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, AMSAT Executive Vice President, for the above information]

The First Amateur Radio Station on the Moon

A rendering of the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) on the lunar surface. [Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, image]The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) successfully landed their Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) on January 19, 2024. Just before touchdown, SLIM released two small lunar surface probes, LEV-1 and LEV-2.

LEV-2 collects data while moving on the lunar surface, and LEV-1 receives the data.

The JAXA Ham Radio Club (JHRC), JQ1ZVI, secured amateur radio license JS1YMG for LEV-1, which has been transmitting Morse code on 437.41 MHz since January 19. The probe uses a 1 W UHF antenna with circular polarization and is transmitting “matters related to amateur business.”

Radio amateurs have been busy analyzing JS1YMG’s signal, with Daniel Estévez’s, EA4GPZ, blog introducing the method and extraction results for demodulating Morse code from the signal, as well as extracting the code string.

It’s unclear how long signals will be heard. JAXA has said that SLIM was not designed to survive a lunar night, which lasts about 14 days, and is due to return in a few days.

SLIM was launched on September 6, 2023, and landed on January 19, 2024, with the mission of analyzing the composition of rocks to aid research about the origin of the moon. SLIM’s landing made Japan the fifth country to achieve a soft touchdown on the moon. The landing was achieved with exceptional precision — within 180 feet of its targeted touchdown location.

[ANS thanks ARRL News for the above information]

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Lunar Excursion Vehicle (LEV–1) Amateur Telemetry Received

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) confirmed on January 20, 2024, that the Lunar Excursion Vehicle (LEV–1), a small robot deployed from the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), successfully conducted activities on the lunar surface. The telemetry data were sent directly from the small robot.

According to telemetry data, after deployment from SLIM, LEV–1 executed planned leaping movements and direct communication with ground stations, including inter-robot test radio wave data transmission from the Transformable Lunar Robot (LEV-2, nicknamed “SORA-Q”). On the other hand, image acquisition on the lunar surface has not been confirmed as of now.

Currently, LEV–1 has completed its planned operational period on the lunar surface, depleted its designated power, and is in a standby state on the lunar surface. While the capability to resume activity exists contingent on solar power generation from changes in the direction of the sun, efforts will be maintained to continue receiving signals from LEV–1.

Both LEV–1 and LEV-2 have become Japan’s first lunar exploration robots. Additionally, the small LEV–1 with a mass of 2.1 kg (including a 90g communication device), achieved successful direct communication with Earth from the moon. This is considered as the world’s smallest and lightest case of direct data transmission from approximately 380,000 kilometers away.

Furthermore, the accomplishment of LEV–1‘s leaping movements on the lunar surface, inter-robot communication between LEV–1 and LEV-2, and fully autonomous operations represent groundbreaking achievement. It would be regarded as a valuable technology demonstration for future lunar explorations, and the acquired knowledge and experience will be applied in upcoming missions.

Moreover, the transmission of UHF band radio waves from LEV–1 as part of outreach efforts has encouraged participation from amateur radio operators globally, and we have been receiving reports of successful signal receptions. This initiative provided an opportunity for the public to be directly engaged in lunar exploration missions. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to everyone involved in the LEV–1 mission.

LEV–1 has an International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) coordinated downlink frequency of 437.410 MHz. A detailed report on receiving and decoding LEV–1 telemetry has been prepared by Daniel Estevez, EA4GPZ/M0HXM. It can be found at https://destevez.net/2024/01/trying-to-decode-lev–1/  An earlier summary of LEV–1 design and specifications is at https://robotics.isas.jaxa.jp/lev/LEV_HAM_Club.html.

[ANS thanks the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Daniel Estevez, EA4GPZ/M0HXM, for the above information]

AMSAT CubeSatSim Beta Release – v1.3

You might have heard about it or seen it at Hamvention or Symposium, but the official release of the new Beta CubeSatSim hardware and software is finally here!!

The new beta PCB board set v1.3 is shown in Figure 1, the new board stack is shown in Figure 2, and the new frame and solar panels is in Figure 3.

 

Figure 1. AMSAT CubeSatSim Beta PCB Board Set.  From left to right, battery board, STEM Payload board, and Solar board (the replacement for the Main board)

Figure 2. AMSAT CubeSatSim Beta Board Stack

 

Figure 3. AMSAT CubSatSim Beta Frame and Solar Panels

Here are some links to information about the Beta release:

The software for the beta release is here:  https://CubeSatSim.org/beta

The beta wiki instructions are here: https://CubeSatSim.org/wiki-beta

The beta Bill of Materials (BOM) is here: https://CubeSatSim.org/bom-beta

The beta hardware files are here: https://CubeSatSim.org/hardware-beta

The beta frame STL files for 3D printing are here: https://github.com/alanbjohnston/CubeSatSim/tree/beta/hardware/frame/v1.3.2

Information about the latest beta software release is here: https://github.com/alanbjohnston/CubeSatSim/releases/tag/v1.3.2

The AMSAT CubeSatSim is a low-cost, fully functional open source model of a CubeSat nano-satellite.  It has the following features:

  • Working solar panels and rechargeable batteries
  • Multi-channel voltage, current, and temperature telemetry transmitted in the Amateur Radio UHF band generated by a Raspberry Pi Zero single board computer
  • Telemetry decoding using AMSAT’s FoxTelem software or APRS software
  • STEM Payload board with Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller with sensors
  • Tape measure dipole or SMA antenna with integrated Low Pass Filter
  • 3D printed frame

Here is a summary of the changes with the new beta hardware and software:

  • New FM transceiver module for better frequency stability and simple command and control receiver to change telemetry modes using RF
  • More modern and cheaper Raspberry Pi Pico micro controller on STEM Payload board
  • Easily connect additional sensors for the Pico or Pi using the Qwiic connector system (https://www.sparkfun.com/qwiic )
  • SSTV camera images now display callsign and battery status overlay
  • Can be modified to fly as a balloon payload with 500mW FM output for SSTV, APRS, or CW transmissions with software support on Pico for a serial GPS module
  • Lower parts cost and easier to source. All parts can now be sourced from electronics distributors and Amazon including easy to find solar panels.  New BOM uses Octopart electronic part inventory site with one click distributor ordering (https://CubeSatSim.org/bom-beta)
  • Redesigned for blue INA219 voltage and current sensors instead of more expensive purple ones
  • Battery board now has integrated voltage and current sensor
  • Simpler electrical power system with no boost converter or charge control modules
  • Kits can be built with through hole parts except for a few surface mount parts.  Fully assembled boards will hopefully be available in the future using SMT parts
  • Transmit and receive frequencies easily configurable from default 434.9 MHz and 435 MHz

During this beta period, we ask for your help in testing the new hardware and software and making sure that all the instructions and documentation are accurate.  To help with this, I am pleased to announce that past purchasers of the CubeSatSim v1 PCB board sets are eligible for a free beta v1.3.2 set of PCB boards.  Just email me ku2y at arrl.net! I will verify the order and ship you a new set of 3 blank boards.  The boards will have the surface mount components already mounted.  The first one hundred who contact me in the next three months will be eligible to receive them.  For other orders, you will be able to choose between the v1 boards or the new beta v1.3.2 boards.

73,

Alan Johnston, PhD
KU2Y
AMSAT Vice President for Educational Relations

P.S. AMSAT has CubeSatSim Loaners available to ship to your event or presentation or STEM outreach activity – just contact me if you have an upcoming event email at ku2y at arrl.net or on social media at @ku2y@mastodon.radio

[ANS thanks Alan Johnston, KU2Y, AMSAT Vice President  – Educational Relations for the above information]

VUCC & DXCC Satellite Standing as of February 1, 2024 VUCC Satellite Award/Endorsement Change Summary
January 01, 2024 to February 01, 2024 Call 1-Jan 1-Feb WC7V 1451 1457 N8RO 1401 1423 W5CBF 1224 1326 DL5GAC New 1300 DF2ET 1102 1200 KF7R 1075 1100 N0JE 1075 1100 N3GS 986 1038 OZ9AAR 900 1000 N8JCM New 917 EA2AA 875 883 KQ4DO 827 853 W8LR 825 841 W2GDJ 705 822 FG8OJ 737 801 VU2LBW 603 751 WD9EWK (DM43) 734 736 JL1SAM 601 700 N8MR 658 675 AF5CC 646 651 JG6CDH 553 605 N6UTC 551 600 WB7VUF 555 572 N5EKO 500 550 N3CAL 480 525 F6GLJ 400 501 N7ZO 350 501 DL6KBG 331 500 SA0UNX 362 463 LA6OP New 458 AD2DD 356 403 KF2T 111 399 N6PAZ 350 369 JH8RZJ New 328 AG4W 161 314 JI5USJ 236 301 AA0MZ 276 277 NJ2DX 100 260 IK8YTA 162 243 N7GR 205 226 KR7LD New 211 PY2YJ 150 210 WD9EWK (DM22) 198 200 WD9EWK (DM31) 187 195 IK0WRB 123 174 W0SX New 134 WK7G New 118 K7AXA New 104 SP7JS New 104 W6CZ New 103 YO6OEV New 103 BA7LVG New 100

Congratulations to the new VUCC holders!

W6CZ is first VUCC Satellite holder from DM07
W0SX is first VUCC Satellite holder from DM37
LA6OP is First VUCC Satellite holder from JP67
YO6OEV is First VUCC Satellite holder from KN26
SP7JS is First VUCC Satellite holder from KO00
BA7LVG is First VUCC Satellite holder from OL63

DXCC Satellite Award/Endorsement Change Summary
January 01, 2024 to February 01, 2024 Call 1-Jan 1-Feb HB9BZA         158    188 PS8ET         160    178 F4BKV         150    171 G4GIR         163    167 PA3FWP         127    157 EA2AA         154    156 I3BUI         142    155 AC4G         151    152 OZ9AAR         125    151 EA6VQ         127    145 HB9RYZ         141    145 IK4CIE         133    143 HB9GWJ         129    134 RA3DNC         107    131 W5CBF         100    130 DL2QB         100    120 LA0FA         102    109 N3GS         100    108 IK8YTA         New    100

Congratulations to the new DXCC Satellite holders!

IK8YTA is first DXCC Satellite holder from JN70

[ANS thanks Jon Goering, N7AZ, for the above information]

Changes to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution for February 2, 2024

Two Line Elements or TLEs, often referred to as Keplerian elements or keps in the amateur community, are the inputs to the SGP4 standard mathematical model of spacecraft orbits used by most amateur tracking programs. Weekly updates are completely adequate for most amateur satellites. TLE bulletin files are updated Thursday evenings around 2300 UTC, or more frequently if new high interest satellites are launched. More information may be found at https://www.amsat.org/keplerian-elements-resources/

This week there are no additions or deletions to the AMSAT TLE distribution.

[ANS thanks Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P, AMSAT Orbital Elements Manager, for the above information]

Need new satellite antennas?
Purchase an M2 LEO-Pack from the
AMSAT Store! When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space.

Request to Reconsider Decommissioning of IO-117 Under Evaluation by Italian Space Agency

On Thursday, January 25, 2024 S5Lab posted on X that the GreenCube (IO-117) Digipeater would be permanently deactivated on February 5th.

Designed and developed by students of Sapienza University of Rome, IO-117 is the first satellite to carry an amateur radio payload into a Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) of approximately 6,000 km.

The message from S5Lab read:

Dear Friends,

After one year and a half of operations, it is time to conclude the GreenCube operations with the planned de-commissioning activities. After the conclusion of the nominal experiment and with the digipeater payload active for more than one year, we will perform the passivation operations for the satellite.

The planned passivation operations will be executed on Monday, 5 February 2024, at 00:00 UTC. From that day, GreenCube will be completely passivated and the digipeater will be switched off for good.

We want to thank everyone that endorsed, supported or participated in the mission and the radio amateur community that enthusiastically became a true part of our project. We hope that GreenCube will somehow be part of your memories of radio amateurs, space engineering enthusiasts, and we hope to involve you soon in many more adventures.

Thanks once again for the unbelievable memories shared together… See you soon!

The GreenCube Team at S5Lab

That afternoon, AMSAT sent a letter to S5Lab expressing the organization’s desire to leverage our decades of experience and work with S5Lab, AMSAT Italia, other AMSAT organizations, and the amateur satellite community at large to overcome any obstacles, regulatory or otherwise, to keeping IO-117 in service for as long as possible. AMSAT-DL, AMSAT-F, and other amateur satellite organizations also expressed similar sentiments. Peter Goodhall, 2M0SQL, began a petition on change.org that garnered over 1,500 signatures from amateur radio operators around the world in one week.

On the afternoon of Friday, February 2, 2024, AMSAT Italia made the following announcement:

AMSAT Italia would like to inform the amateur community that its request to the Italian Space Agency, the owner of the GREENCUBE satellite, to reconsider its decision of decommissioning the satellite is under evaluation.

Waiting for its decision, IO-117 is still operational.

The GreenCube satellite was born as a scientific experiment placed in MEO orbit which successfully concluded its mission.

IO-117 is the HAM Radio part of the satellite consisting of a digipeter which was promoted by AMSAT Italia and coordinated by IARU-R1.

At the moment AMSAT Italia is committed to promoting the continuation of the mission for the HAM Radio part of Greencube.

AMSAT Italia BoD

During its lifetime, IO-117 has proved to be a popular resource, allowing amateurs all over the world to obtain ARRL’s Worked All States (WAS) and DX Century Club (DXCC) awards via satellite and to boost their VHF/UHF Century Club (VUCC) grid totals. A strong presence by Japanese amateurs has allowed many to work all the Japanese prefectures. A few DXpeditions, such as TX5S to Clipperton Island, have also brought gear for IO-117 along and provided rare DX entities via satellite. Multiple future DXpeditions also plan IO-117 activities. AMSAT is hopeful that the satellite’s lifetime can be extended.

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK, AMSAT-DL, AMSAT-IT, AMSAT, Peter Goodhall, 2M0SQL, and S5Lab for the above information]

ARISS News

Amateurs and others around the world may listen in on contacts between amateurs operating in schools and allowing students to interact with astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station. The downlink frequency on which to listen is 145.800 MHz worldwide.

Lilburn Elementary School, Lilburn, GA, direct via K4RGK

The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS
The scheduled crewmember is Jasmin Moghbeli KI5WSL
The ARISS mentor is K4RGK

Contact is go for: Wed 2024-02-07 14:24:10 UTC 57 deg

School of Telecommunications Engineering, ETSIT Valencia (Universitat Politecnica de Valencia), Valencia, Spain, direct via EA5RKP

The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be OR4ISS
The scheduled crewmember is Loral O’Hara KI5TOM
The ARISS mentor is IKØUSO

Contact is go for: Fri 2024-02-09 08:12:46 UTC 31 deg

School TBD, Russia, direct via TBD

The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS
The scheduled crewmember is Nikolay Chub
The ARISS mentor is RV3DR

Contact is go for 2024-02-15 08:20 UTC

The Service Module radio is temporarily stowed.

As always, if there is an EVA, a docking, or an undocking; the ARISS radios are turned off as part of the safety protocol.

The crossband repeater continues to be active (145.990 MHz up {PL 67} & 437.800 MHz down),  If any crewmember is so inclined, all they have to do is pick up the microphone, raise the volume up, and talk on the crossband repeater. So give a listen, you just never know.

Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed time.

The latest information on the operation mode can be found at https://www.ariss.org/current-status-of-iss-stations.html

The latest list of frequencies in use can be found at https://www.ariss.org/contact-the-iss.html

[ANS thanks Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, one of the ARISS operation team mentors for the above information]

Upcoming Satellite Operations IO-117!!

JR5JAQ/6 will be QRV from PM53 and PM62 in Oita prefecture for a few days. He will also be active from PM62 in Miyazaki prefecture later in the week. Check  hams.at for individual pass times.

JS3KKT/3 will be QRV from PM74 (prefecture unknown) just one day before the planned passivation of Greencube. Refer to hams.at for additional info.

A growing number of satellite rovers are currently engaged in sharing their grid square activations on https://hams.at. By visiting the website, you gain easy access to comprehensive information about the operators responsible for activating specific grid squares. Additionally, you have the ability to assess the match score between yourself and a particular rover for a given pass, while also being able to identify the upcoming satellite passes that are accessible from your location.

[ANS thanks Ian Parsons, K5ZM, AMSAT Rover Page Manager, for the above information]

 Want to fly the colors on your own grid expedition?
Get an AMSAT car flag and other neat stuff from our Zazzle store!
25% of the purchase price of each product goes towards Keeping Amateur Radio in Space

Hamfests, Conventions, Maker Faires, and Other Events

AMSAT Ambassadors provide presentations, demonstrate communicating through amateur satellites, and host information tables at club meetings, hamfests, conventions, maker faires, and other events.

AMSAT Ambassador Clint Bradford, K6LCS, says,

“Think a 75-minute presentation on “working the easy satellites” would be appropriate for your club or event? Let me know by emailing me at k6lcsclint (at) gmail (dot) com or calling me at 909-999-SATS (7287)!”

Clint has NEVER given the exact same show twice: EACH of the 150+ presentations so far has been customized/tailored to their audiences.

Scheduled Events

Orlando HamCation 2024
Friday February 9th through Sunday February 11th, 2024
Central Florida Fairgrounds and Expo Park
4603 West Colonial Drive
Orlando, Florida 32808
https://www.hamcation.com

40th Anniversary Celebration of the Positive Impact of Amateur Radio on Human Spaceflight
Thursday February 22nd through Saturday February 24th, 2024
Center for Space Education: Astronauts Memorial Foundation
Kennedy Space Center, M6-306 405 State Road, FL 32899
https://www.ariss.org/overview.html

2024 CubeSat Developer’s Workshop
April 23-25, 2024
San Luis Obispo, CA
https://www.cubesatdw.org/

Dayton Hamvention 2024
Friday May 17th through Sunday May 19th, 2024
Greene County Fairgrounds and Expo Center
120 Fairground Road
Xenia, OH 45385
https://hamvention.org

[ANS thanks Clint Bradford, K6LCS, and AMSAT for the above information]

Satellite Shorts from All Over

+ NASA announced the crew assignments on January 31 for the SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station. They will join Expedition 71 and 72 crew members no earlier than August, and will arrive at the space station for a short duration handover with NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8. Launching aboard the Dragon spacecraft will be NASA astronauts Commander Zena Cardman, Pilot Nick Hague, KG5TMV, and Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson, KD5DZE, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mission Specialist Aleksandr Gorbunov. The four crew members are preparing to conduct a wide-ranging set of operational and research activities, including ARISS contacts. (ANS thanks NASA for the above information)

+ After more than 3 years in orbit, AO-109 remains operational and usable for QSOs using modes such as FT4 despite extremely low power output. SSB QSOs are also possible with high gain receive antennas. Due to a failed final power amplifier transistor, the total output power of AO-109 is approximately 8 mW.

+ YouTube channel Ham Radio Crash Course has featured IO-117 in two recent videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjW3XOKCmBo and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn_qPVoue3A

Join AMSAT today at https://launch.amsat.org/

In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership to:

  • Societies (a recognized group, clubs or organization).
  • Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate.
  • Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the student rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status.
  • Memberships are available for annual and lifetime terms.

Contact info [at] amsat.org for additional membership information.

73 and remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space!

This week’s ANS Editor,

Paul Stoetzer, N8HM
n8hm [at] amsat.org

ANS is a service of AMSAT, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, 712 H Street NE, Suite 1653, Washington, DC 20002

Categories: Amateur Radio News

Request to Reconsider Decommissioning of IO-117 Under Evaluation by Italian Space Agency

AMSAT news - Fri, 02/02/2024 - 13:04

AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin ANS-033
February 2, 2024

In this edition:

  • Request to Reconsider Decommissioning of IO-117 Under Evaluation by Italian Space Agency

The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and information service of AMSAT, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites.

The news feed on https://www.amsat.org publishes news of Amateur Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to: ans-editor [at] amsat.org

You can sign up for free e-mail delivery of the AMSAT News Service Bulletins via the ANS List; to join this list see: https://mailman.amsat.org/postorius/lists/ans.amsat.org/

Request to Reconsider Decommissioning of IO-117 Under Evaluation by Italian Space Agency

Moments ago, the AMSAT News Service received the following announcement from AMSAT Italia regarding IO-117 (GreenCube):

AMSAT Italia would like to inform the amateur community that its request to the Italian Space Agency, the owner of the GREENCUBE satellite, to reconsider its decision of decommissioning the satellite is under evaluation.

Waiting for its decision, IO-117 is still operational.

The GreenCube satellite was born as a scientific experiment placed in MEO orbit which successfully concluded its mission.

IO-117 is the HAM Radio part of the satellite consisting of a digipeter which was promoted by AMSAT Italia and coordinated by IARU-R1.

At the moment AMSAT Italia is committed to promoting the continuation of the mission for the HAM Radio part of Greencube.

AMSAT Italia BoD

[ANS thanks AMSAT Italia for the above information]

Join AMSAT today at https://launch.amsat.org/

In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership to:

  • Societies (a recognized group, clubs or organization).
  • Primary and secondary school students are eligible for membership at one-half the standard yearly rate.
  • Post-secondary school students enrolled in at least half time status shall be eligible for the student rate for a maximum of 6 post-secondary years in this status.
  • Memberships are available for annual and lifetime terms.

Contact info [at] amsat.org for additional membership information.

73 and remember to help Keep Amateur Radio in Space!

This week’s ANS Contributing Editor,

Paul Stoetzer, N8HM
n8hm [at] amsat.org

ANS is a service of AMSAT, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, 712 H Street NE, Suite 1653, Washington, DC 20002

Categories: Amateur Radio News

AMSAT CubeSatSim Beta Release – v1.3

AMSAT news - Thu, 02/01/2024 - 17:55

You might have heard about it or seen it at Hamvention or Symposium, but the official release of the new Beta CubeSatSim hardware and software is finally here!!

The new beta PCB board set v1.3 is shown in Figure 1, the new board stack is shown in Figure 2, and the new frame and solar panels is in Figure 3.

 

Figure 1. AMSAT CubeSatSim Beta PCB Board Set.  From left to right, battery board, STEM Payload board, and Solar board (the replacement for the Main board)

Figure 2. AMSAT CubeSatSim Beta Board Stack

 

Figure 3. AMSAT CubSatSim Beta Frame and Solar Panels

Here are some links to information about the Beta release:

The software for the beta release is here:  https://CubeSatSim.org/beta

The beta wiki instructions are here: https://CubeSatSim.org/wiki-beta

The beta Bill of Materials (BOM) is here: https://CubeSatSim.org/bom-beta

The beta hardware files are here: https://CubeSatSim.org/hardware-beta

The beta frame STL files for 3D printing are here: https://github.com/alanbjohnston/CubeSatSim/tree/beta/hardware/frame/v1.3.2

Information about the latest beta software release is here: https://github.com/alanbjohnston/CubeSatSim/releases/tag/v1.3.2

The AMSAT CubeSatSim is a low-cost, fully functional open source model of a CubeSat nano-satellite.  It has the following features:

  • Working solar panels and rechargeable batteries
  • Multi-channel voltage, current, and temperature telemetry transmitted in the Amateur Radio UHF band generated by a Raspberry Pi Zero single board computer
  • Telemetry decoding using AMSAT’s FoxTelem software or APRS software
  • STEM Payload board with Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller with sensors
  • Tape measure dipole or SMA antenna with integrated Low Pass Filter
  • 3D printed frame

Here is a summary of the changes with the new beta hardware and software:

  • New FM transceiver module for better frequency stability and simple command and control receiver to change telemetry modes using RF
  • More modern and cheaper Raspberry Pi Pico micro controller on STEM Payload board
  • Easily connect additional sensors for the Pico or Pi using the Qwiic connector system (https://www.sparkfun.com/qwiic )
  • SSTV camera images now display callsign and battery status overlay
  • Can be modified to fly as a balloon payload with 500mW FM output for SSTV, APRS, or CW transmissions with software support on Pico for a serial GPS module
  • Lower parts cost and easier to source. All parts can now be sourced from electronics distributors and Amazon including easy to find solar panels.  New BOM uses Octopart electronic part inventory site with one click distributor ordering (https://CubeSatSim.org/bom-beta)
  • Redesigned for blue INA219 voltage and current sensors instead of more expensive purple ones
  • Battery board now has integrated voltage and current sensor
  • Simpler electrical power system with no boost converter or charge control modules
  • Kits can be built with through hole parts except for a few surface mount parts.  Fully assembled boards will hopefully be available in the future using SMT parts
  • Transmit and receive frequencies easily configurable from default 434.9 MHz and 435 MHz

During this beta period, we ask for your help in testing the new hardware and software and making sure that all the instructions and documentation are accurate.  To help with this, I am pleased to announce that past purchasers of the CubeSatSim v1 PCB board sets are eligible for a free beta v1.3.2 set of PCB boards.  Just email me ku2y at arrl.net! I will verify the order and ship you a new set of 3 blank boards.  The boards will have the surface mount components already mounted.  The first one hundred who contact me in the next three months will be eligible to receive them.  For other orders, you will be able to choose between the v1 boards or the new beta v1.3.2 boards.

73,

Alan Johnston, PhD
KU2Y
AMSAT Vice President for Educational Relations

P.S. AMSAT has CubeSatSim Loaners available to ship to your event or presentation or STEM outreach activity – just contact me if you have an upcoming event email at ku2y at arrl.net or on social media at @ku2y@mastodon.radio

Categories: Amateur Radio News

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