|OPERATIONS of RAFT IN THE AMATEUR SATELLITE SERVICE         22 Nov 2004
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|                                                                 WB4APR
|
|This paper addresses the licensing of RAFT in the Amateur Satellite
|Service.  It extracts the pertinent sections of the IARU (International
|Amateur Radio Union) guildelines for INFORMATION FOR PROSPECTIVE OWNERS
|AND OPERATORS OF SATELLITES UTILIZING FREQUENCIES ALLOCATED TO THE
|AMATEUR-SATELLITE SERVICE  which helps assure compliance with the ITU
|rules.   This document may be viewed in its entirety at:
|http://www.iaru.org/satellite/prospective.html
|
|RULES:
|  "Amateur-Satellite Service: A radiocommunication service using space
|  stations on earth satellites for the same purposes as those of the 
|  amateur service." [RR S1.57]
|
|  "Amateur Service: A radiocommunication service for the purpose of 
|   self-training, intercommunication and technical investigations 
|   carried out by amateurs, that is, by duly authorised persons 
|   interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without 
|   pecuniary interest." [RR S1.56]
|
|RAFT COMMENT:
|
|Sponsoring Organization:     US Naval Academy
|Operating Organization:      US Naval Academy Amateur Radio Club W3ADO
|Station Trustee:             Bob Bruninga, WB4APR
|Satellite Station Licensee:  Ryan Johnson, K3FOR
|
|Bob Bruninga is the senior research engineer in the Naval Academy Student
|project lab who gives engineering guidance to student satellite projects.
|
|Ryan (Skip) Johnson is an active friend of the Academy, a past president 
|and Officer Representative of the Amateur Radio Club, who still meets with 
|it regularly.  He is an unpaid Naval Reservest with NO PECUNIARY association 
|with the US Naval Academy, NRL, NASA nor any other Organization involved in 
|this project.
|
|RULES:
|
|  "VI. OPERATIONAL GUIDELINES. The following operational guidelines, based
|   on interpretations by IARU of the Radio Regulations and good amateur
|   practice, are intended to help in planning the missions, management, and
|   control of satellites planned to operate in the amateur-satellite service.
|
|   Organisations building satellites should compare their mission plans to
|   the requirements of the amateur-satellite service. Then, they should
|   determine if it is possible to comply with the requirements of the
|   amateur-satellite service or if licensing and operation should be in some
|   other radio service which is more consistent with the nature and
|   requirements of the mission.
|
|   A. The purposes of an amateur satellite should be:
|
|      (1) To provide communication resources for the general amateur radio
|          community and/or
|      (2) To conduct technical investigations in all respects consistent with
|          the Radio Regulations. [See RR S1.56 and RR S1.57.]
|
|   Technical investigations carried out using frequencies allocated to the
|   amateur-satellite service should be relevant to the development of "radio
|   technique," that is, have a reasonable possibility of application to the
|   development of radio communication systems.  [See RR S1.56 and RR S1.57.]
|
|   Examples of such technical investigations include: propagation studies,
|   operational analysis of protocols used for digital voice and data
|   communication, development of attitude determination methods, development
|   of command and control procedures, studies of radiation effects on various
|   electronic components, studies of meteor trail reflection, and measurement
|   of the orbital environment useful in designing future amateur satellites.
|
|   While many other types of technical investigations are conceivable, those
|   not having a reasonable possibility of application to radio communication
|   systems are probably not in accordance with the treaty requirements. An
|   administration can reject whatever it decides is inappropriate use of the
|   amateur-satellite service or questions may be raised by other
|   administrations.
|
|RAFT COMMENT:   RAFT is fully in compliance with the purposes above.
|
|1) RAFT communications system is designed as a PCsat follow-on AX.25 packet
|radio UI packet digipeater for all users in the Amateur Satellite Service.
|
|2) Secondly, the Naval Space Surveilance System Radar transponder experiment
|is a dire need for small satellites operating in the Amateur Satellite 
|Service because of the difficulty in tracking these small objects.  Develop-
|ment of a low cost small radar fence transponder will have direct benefit
|for use in future Amateur Satelites.
|
|RULES:
|
|   B. Station Control.
|
|   All stations operating in the amateur service and the amateur- satellite
|   service, including space and Earth stations, must be controlled by "duly
|   authorised persons," that is, licensed amateur radio operators who must be
|   acting "solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest." [See
|   RR S1.56 and RR S1.57.]
|
|   AMSAT-NA, for example, is an organisation which owns and builds space
|   stations to operate in the amateur-satellite service. But, because it is
|   an organisation and not an individually licensed radio amateur, it may not
|   control an amateur station. Licenses under which AMSAT-NA owned amateur
|   stations are operated are issued either in the name of an individually
|   licensed amateur radio operator or an amateur radio club... where a 
|   licensed amateur radio operator is named on the license as trustee
|   for the club station.
|
|   In every case, an individual licensed amateur radio operator, who is
|   neither employed nor paid by [the club or organization], is legally 
|   responsible for the operation of every amateur station or amateur-satellite 
|   station.  Commonly, the licensee is an unpaid member of the organisation...
|
|   Thus, the individual responsibility of the licensed amateur radio
|   operator, effectively imposed by the Radio Regulations, works as a kind of
|   legal safety check for the organisation and the amateur to protect both of
|   their interests as well as that of the amateur satellite service itself.
|
|RAFT COMMENT:  RAFT's organizational structure and operators are
|compliant with these rules.  The operating organization is the school's
|Amateur Radio Club with WB4APR as the licensed trustee of the station 
|and the licensed control operator for the satellite will be Skip Johnson,
|K3FOR as noted above.  The interest of these individuals is in the
|operation of the satellite for personal training and intercommunications 
|with other satellite experimenters in the amateur satellite service and 
|without pecuniary remuneration for such interest.  Bob Bruninga has a 20
|year non-pecuniary history with the Amateur Satellite Service, the author 
|of dozens of related papers in AMSAT and other Amateur Radio publications,
|and the instigator of Packet Radio APRS position reporting via SAREX, MIR, 
|ARISS, SUNSAT, SAPPHIRE, and PCSAT for purely personal aims of promoting
|the Amateur Satellite Service.
|
|
|RULES:
|   D. Plain Language. The amateur-satellite service, by its nature, involves
|   stations of more than one country. International communi- cation between
|   amateur stations in different countries must be in plain language. [See RR
|   S25.2.] The plain language requirement includes telemetry and data
|   exchanged between users.
|
|   To meet the plain language requirement, technical descriptions of all
|   emissions, codes, and formats must be made publicly available.  No system
|   intended to conceal the meaning of a transmission may be used.
|
|   NOTE: Space telecommand transmissions for critical spacecraft functions
|   are generally accepted as exempt from the requirement to use plain
|   language.
|
|RAFT COMMENT:  The design, telemetry, data and all aspects of RAFT are
|in plain language (AX.25 protocol) and all details are published and 
|maintained current on the following WEB page:
|http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/raft.html
|
|RULES:
|   E. Open Access. All telecommunication facilities, except telecommand,
|   operating in amateur-satellite service allocations should be open for use
|   by amateur radio operators world-wide. All experiments utilising
|   frequencies allocated to the amateur-satellite service should be freely
|   available for use by radio amateurs world-wide and for reception by
|   students and educators.
|
|RAFT COMMENT:  All communications modes (except command) and all telemetry
|will be available to all amateur radio operators worldwide in accordance 
|with the published user operating recommendations.    There is no other
|usage of these communications transponders, nor circuits beyond what has
|been described here for use in the Amateur Satellite Service.  There may
|be periods when the transponder is commanded off for the purpose of
|saving power, or keeping temperatures under control, but such OFF times 
|will apply to all users equally.  When communications modes are activated, 
|they are open to all radio amateurs worldwide who adhere to the recommended 
|user station requirements and uplink parameters.
|
|Bob Bruninga, WB4APR
|Trustee,
|US Naval Academy Amateur Radio Club
|410-293-6417