Recent News on MIR

Note: See Fact Sheet if you are not familiar with the new SAFEX amateur radio project on MIR.

MIR Repeater is back for the moment.

[It was off for awhile until they fixed their packet/voice antenna on Mir, and for the moment, the 2M/70cm split experiment is at least on hold. Here's an explanation from an active AO-27 operator on how to use it, as well. The squelch tail is much longer now, so it's easier to tune by ear with the programming method noted below. -- KD6PAG]

Date: Wed, 5 Nov 97 12:57:34 MST
From: [email protected] (Chuck Duey)
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: SAFEX Repeater is UP!!!!

Randy, N7SFI told me that the MIR repeater was up, and sure enough the next
pass of MIR, I made contact with him and VE6ITV.  I was expecting the SAFEX
to be down for a while longer due to the power problems on Mir.  I think this
shows that things are getting back to 'normal'.  

Just for a refresher on the frequencies:

For Repeater mode: Uplink 435.750 with 141.3 PL tone
                   Downlink 437.950

2KHz scheme for FT-736,TS-790,and IC-82x

Program memories with the following splits:

Don't forget the 141.3 Hz tone for transmit.

Downlink   Uplink
437.960    435.740 < Start of the pass (high elevation)
437.958    435.742
437.956    435.744
437.954    435.746
437.952    435.748
437.950    435.750 < Center of pass 
437.948    435.752
437.946    435.754
437.944    435.756
437.942    435.758
437.940    435.760 < End of pass

I should be on the 12:42 UTC pass Thursday morning Nov. 6th. (A nice visible
pass in Colorado)

			Catch Ya' on the Birds

				73

			Chuck (KI0AG)

From http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ftp/news/spc0922.txt, September 22, 1997.

* MIR STATUS * ============== The following is from Michael Foale on-board the space station Mir: Stat : PR Posted : 09/16/97 10:27 To : ALL From : R0MIR @ BBS : BID : Subject: Mir Status Since the EVA with Anatoli and me, we have been getting the station back into a condition to receive the shuttle, and its payload, for which we will have to find space. Priroda has intermittent power, and most likely tomorrow will be turned on permanently. Safex will not be turned on until we are given permission by TSUP in Moscow. Priroda will be sharing the energy from the two Spektr solar arrays, with Krictal, and first priority will be given to complete US and French science experiments that require power in Priroda, starting tomorrow. I have completed the second harvest of Greenhouse, of Brasica Rapa, and will be planting both original earth seeds, and space produced seeds, today, in a new root module. I will harvest all these plants during the docked phase of STS 86, in late September. We have had in the course of a week or so, two GNC control problems with the guidance computer. It consists of 3 identical blocks, which vote. Last week, the computer failed and was switched out in 24 hours with an older unit, still on board. On sunday, the older unit also failed, and yesterday a block from the earlier failed unit was placed into the currently installed computer. Today we again have attitude control, solar pointing, and a margin of power. Mike. R0MIR. [Info via N6CO and WF1F] * UNPROTO PACKET VIA MIR * ========================== The Mir PMS (Personal Mail System) supports a digital repeating mode called UNPROTO. Without getting into too much detail, UNPROTO is a way of sending packet data frames without requiring an acknowledgment from the receiving station. This mode is similar to RTTY in that it is possible to have several stations in one big QSO at the same time. Set the UNPROTO command in your TNC using the command: "U CQ V R0MIR". Switch to converse mode, and everything typed on the packet terminal will be transmitted in UNPROTO mode. If the Mir station hears your transmission, the Mir PMS Digi will rebroadcast your packet within a range of over a 1000 miles. Below is a short UNPROTO contact between a station in Massachusetts and Alabama, using the Mir Digipeater. The stations were arranging to meet on OSCAR 13 when the Mir pass was over. WF1F>CQ,R0MIR*/V [04/21/93 22:22:09]: : hi Tim can you work OSCAR 13? N8DEU>CQ,R0MIR*/V [04/21/93 22:22:30]: <>: Hi miles, yes what freq? WF1F>CQ,R0MIR*/V [04/21/93 22:22:40]: : 145.895 The UNPROTO mode does not guarantee your packet frames will be successfully copied by any other ground station, but if the Mir digipeater does re-transmit your line of text, then you can be assured that someone will see it. The line of text you send will be repeated with an asterisk after it, "R0MIR*". If you do not see the asterisk, then Mir did not hear your packet. UNPROTO does have its drawbacks, but it is much more efficient to use on Mir than the direct two-way connect method. Full two-way packet connects via the Mir PMS are not recommended because they use up too much resources and excessive retires. You can pass 20 times more data using UNPROTO than the full-two-way connect method. Before you try UNPROTO on Mir, it is recommended that you practice using a terrestrial digipeater first before attempting to use the Mir station for Digipeating. (Editor's note: Many terrestrial packet nodes do not pass UNPROTO frames since they frequently add to channel congestion, and do not take good advantage of the node's capabilities.) If you make a few UNPROTO calls and do not get any echo's back from Mir, it is probably because UNPROTO is turned off or because of a collision between packet frames. Everytime the Mir's Paccom HandiPac TNC is reset, UNPROTO defaults to OFF. Also, there is a right time and a wrong time to use the UNPROTO mode with Mir PMS. Do NOT use UNPROTO when: 1. The Mir crew is operating in voice mode. 2. When the Mir PMS is connected to another station that is actively sending/receiving information from the mailbox. The only real safe time to use UNPROTO is when the Mir PMS is in its 5 minute time-out mode when the station connected to the Mir PMS is out of range and cannot log out of Mir. No one can log into PMS mailbox until the connected station times out. Time-outs are the best time to use UNPROTO. Before using UNPROTO, monitor Mir's downlink to see who is using the PMS mailbox port R0MIR-1. If you do not seen any information packets being transmitted from the Mir PMS to any ground station using the R0MIR-1 port for 90 seconds, you can assume the connected station is out of range of the Mir PMS and its UNPROTO time. The shorter the UNPROTO sentence, the greater your success of a PMS repeat. Long sentences may get clobbered by other stations. If you are in the middle of an UNPROTO QSO and you see someone connect to the PMS mailbox R0MIR-1, you should end your UNPROTO QSO, and let the mailbox user have access to the PMS. Good luck and lets be courteous to everyone. Remember, only 1 station can connect to Mir's PMS at a time, and try avoid using UNPROTO when someone is actively using the PMS. [Info via Miles Mann, WF1F]
From AMSAT news, September 21,1997.

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-152.05 WEEKLY SATELLITE REPORT PT 1 HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 257.05 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, SEPTEMBER 21,1997 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-264.05 MIR (Simplex 437.650 MHz. FM voice and packet.) MIREX will be running the test from September 6, until September 28 1997 world wide. After the completion of the test, they will switch the MIR PMS frequency back to the current 2-meter frequency on September 29th. See ANS Bulletin ANS-250.02 for more information. Test frequency is 437.650 MHz. MIR 70 cm experiment programming for an FT-736r Start of pass at 60 end at 70 channel RX repeater offset freq offset resulting TX 60. 437.660 minus 00.020 437.640 MHz 61. 437.658 minus 00.016 437.642 62. 437.656 minus 00.012 437.644 63. 437.654 minus 00.008 437.646 64. 437.652 minus 00.004 437.648 65. 437.650 simplex 00.000 437.650 66. 437.648 plus 00.004 437.652 67. 437.646 plus 00.008 437.654 68. 437.644 plus 00.012 437.656 69. 437.642 plus 00.016 437.658 70. 437.640 plus 00.020 437.660 [ANS thanks Richard L. Elverum, KB0VBZ , for this information.] SAFEX, MIR 70 cm Repeater (Uplink 435.750 MHz FM, Downlink 437.950 MHz FM, Subaudible tone 141.3 Hz) Not operational at this time.
From AMSAT news, October 6, 1996.
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-280.01 MIR Information HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 280.01 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD October 6, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-280.01 The following is provided as a synopsis of MIR information presented over the past few months. SAFEX Experiment SAFEX II, the Space Amateur Funk EXperiment, is an Amateur Radio repeater which has recently been activated aboard the Russian MIR Space Station Complex. The equipment has been powered on since July 12, 1996. The first hardware tests involved the station*s digital speech recorder. Pre-recorded messages from the MIR crew were copied by many groundstations on 437.925 MHz. The messages have even been received with simple 70 cm hand-held radios. The following message was copied of US astronaut Shannon Lucid, who recently returned from her stay aboard MIR: "Thanks for the radio SAFEX. We just turned it on. And best wishes from the crew of MIR 21. Hope this is of use to you. Many thanks for the experiment." Joerg Hahn, DL3LUM, the SAFEX-International Coordinator, reported that the repeater was operational on July 19. A short contact was achieved by Matt Bordelon, KC5BTL, operating as W5RRR (the call sign of the NASA Johnson Space Center ARC) with one of the MIR cosmonauts. The first use of the repeater to establish a ground-to-ground QSO was performed between DF0VR, IV3WLQ, and LY3BH. Dave Larsen, N6JLH, performed the first ground-to-ground QSO in North America with Scott Avery, WA6LIE. SAFEX II is a project of the German Amateur Radio Club (DARC), and managed by the Ham Radio Group, DF0VR, at the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen. The project is supported by DARC, DLR, NPO Energia (Russia*s equivalent of NASA) and Russian radio amateurs. The equipment was built by SAFEX Principal Investigator, Thomas Kieselbach, DL2MDE. Installation on MIR began during the EuroMir 95 mission. That crew included German astronaut Thomas Reiter, DF4TR (European Space Agency) and Russians Sergei Avdeev and Yuri Gidzenko. The three arrived at MIR on September 5, 1995, and remained aboard the space complex for 180 days. Reiter operated as DP0MIR throughout his stay, but SAFEX equipment problems and a power supply failure kept the repeater off the air. The SAFEX team installed new equipment in the Priroda module, which was launched to become part of the MIR Space Station complex on April 23, 1996. The new equipment was powered-on by the MIR-21 crew, which included Shannon Lucid, and cosmonauts Yuri Onufrienko, and Yuri Usachev. The current (MIR-22) crew includes Valery Korzun (Commander), Aleksandr Kaleri (Flight Engineer), and John E. Blaha, KC5TZQ (Mission Specialist). SAFEX II expands the existing 2-meter operations that have taken place from MIR for the past couple of years. SAFEX II is primarily a FM repeater with 70 cm uplinks and downlinks. The 30 kilogram payload is supported by three external antennas. The new capabilities address the busy work schedule of the cosmonauts by permitting Amateur Radio activity from MIR without active crew operation. SAFEX II also addresses the team*s commitment to future technologies. There are plans to improve the station by adding a 23 cm to 13 cm transponder capable of broad-bandwidth modes (such as amateur television). The repeater operates under the call sign RR0DL. CTCSS tones are required to communicate through the SAFEX II experiment. After the repeater has been activated by someone with CTCSS, other stations without CTCSS can also work through the repeater. It is even possible to use the repeater to contact the MIR crew if one of them is at the microphone. In order to involve the largest numbers of amateurs, SAFEX contacts should be kept as short as possible. Operators should adjust their frequency to account for the plus/minus 10 KHz Doppler shift. The following are the SAFEX 70 cm frequencies for the three SAFEX operating Modes. Mode 1: FM repeater with CTCSS sub-tone 141.3 Hz. Downlink 437.950 MHz Uplink 435.750 MHz CTCSS Mode 2: 9600 Baud (G3RUH compatible) Packet Operation. Downlink 437.975 MHz Uplink 435.775 MHz No CTCSS Mode 3: Pre-recorded digital voice beacon, and may be used for contacts with the MIR crew. Downlink 437.925 Uplink 435.725 CTCSS The 2-meter frequencies used for MIR (preferably in split-mode operation) are 145.800 MHz (uplink), 145.200 MHz (downlink), and 145.550 MHz (up/downlink). These frequencies were adopted for MIR and Shuttle activities at the IARU session of the 1995 AMSAT-UK Colloquium. The SAFEX II team is very interested in reception reports, and any technical measurements or oscilloscope plots of the repeater*s signals. Send reports to Joerg, DL3LUM, [email protected] on email or DL3LUM@DB0AAB.#BAY.DEU.EU on packet. Special thanks goes to DL3LUM, DL2MDE, DB2OS, DF5DP, N6JLH, WF1F, AMSAT and AMSAT News Service Bulletins, and SpaceNews (published by John Magliacane, KD2BD) for information used to assemble this report. MIR QSL Cards Dave Larsen, N6JLH, is the US MIR QSL manager for contacts made with MIR crew members. QSL cards must include date, time, and mode of contact. Cards for SWL reports will not be handled by Dave. If a contact is made with the MIR packet radio personal message system (PMS), then the message number issued by the PMS should be included on the QSL card. QSLs must be sent along with a business-sized self-addressed stamped envelope (the card will not fit in a regular-sized envelope). QSLs should be sent to: David G. Larsen, N6JLH PO Box 1501 Pine Grove, CA 95665 USA MIR and Third-Party Rules Russian rules have historically permitted unlicensed MIR crew members to operate using the Russian club call sign R0MIR. Amateurs are reminded that there are, however, some limitations for hams in the US. The US does not currently have a third party traffic agreement with Russia. The lack of this agreement means that Amateur Radio stations in the US may talk to Russian licensees aboard MIR, but they may not involve unlicensed third parties in these communications. This agreement does not affect MIR crew members, but it does affect US Amateur Radio stations. ARRL gives special thanks to DL3LUM, DL2MDE, DB2OS, DF5DP, N6JLH, WF1F, AMSAT and AMSAT News Service Bulletins, and SpaceNews (published by John Magliacane, KD2BD) for information used to assemble this report. ANS thanks Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R Assistant to the Manager Educational Activities Department at ARRL for compiling and providing this information. /EX SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-280.02 R0MIR-1's Personal Message System HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 280.02 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD October 6, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-280.02 The following is provided for those interested in MIR's BBS commands. Timing is important. If one monitors the 145.550 MHz and sees a disconnect message from R0MIR-1, then it is time to call. There are many stations calling, so the fastest, and just on time, gets the contact. It is noted that many stations seems to be calling all the time even R0MIR-1 is already contacted to one station. This makes a lot of QRM and busy-messages and wastes time. Markku Korhonen, OH8UV, says that the best opportunity to make a contact is to be QRV on that time when everybody is sleeping. He reports making a 6 minute QSO a few nights ago. It helped that there were no other stations QRV at the time as MIR was flying over Russia and not visible from western Europe. He logged on and back came the answer: Logged on to R0MIR=B4s Personal Message System CMD(B/H/J/K/KM/L/M/R/S/SR/V/?)> These commands mean: B(ye) B (Enter) disconnects you from PMS. H(elp) H (Enter) or ? (Enter) displays this help file J(log) J (Enter) displays a list of callsigns heard (optional date/time) K(ill) K n (Enter) deletes message number n (only to/from your callsign). KM(ine) KM (Enter) deletes all READ messages addressed to your callsign. L(ist) L (Enter) lists the 10 latest messages. M(ine) M (Enter) lists the 10 latest messages to/from your callsign. R(ead) R n (Enter) reads message number n. S(end) S (callsign) (Enter) begins a message addressed to (callsign). Subject: ending with (Enter) Text: End each line with (Enter). End message by typing /ex (Enter) or CTRL-Z (Enter) at the beginning of a new line. SR(eply) SR n (Enter) Sends a reply to message n prompting only for text. V(ersion) V (Enter) displays the software version of the PMS system. F.ex. Command j gives a list like this: 09/27/96 23:41 EB1HLI 09/27/96 23:33 EA1EFD-8 09/27/96 23:33 F1PAO 09/27/96 23:32 etc Markku believes that this should be enough for a QSL. he further notes that if you have a message ready on your disc it's better to send it first and then get a message number. You should put it on your QSL. Markku says that during the week he has been lucky enough to get QSOs with R0MIR-1 almost every night as well as FM voice contacts with Valery R0MIR on three nights. His rig is n FT225RD with a 130 Watt amplifier and a 2 x 14 el. Cue Dee antenna. He notes that no elevation control is needed as his location is so far north that MIR never gets to an elevation of more than 9 degrees. The grid is KP34VJ. ANS thanks Markku Korhonen, OH8UV, of PALTAMO, Finland for this instructive information. He can be reached at: oh8uv@paltamo. /EX
[According to this posting, once someone has at least 'kerchunked' MIR with the correct PL, everyone else can then use it, whether or not they have PL enabled. Note that, MIR is no longer operating in simplex on 145.55, and now uses a relatively standard repeater split (145.2 uplink, 145.8 downlink, or as we notate this in the 'States', 145.80- no pl. The 'third party' rules probably mean that your (unlicensed) daughter can probably talk on your radio to an U.S. astronaut if he is at the control point on MIR, but directly not any of the comsmonats. -- KD6PAG]

From AMSAT News, August 3, 1996.

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-216.03 SAFEX REPEATER CTCSS INFO HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 216.03 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, AUGUST 03, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-216.03 [Down]link 437.950 [Up]link 435.750 CTCSS 141.3 Doppler compensation is required on both the uplink and downlink. (+/- 10 KHz) ,The uplink doppler is opposite from the downlink doppler. You simply see what your adjusting on the receive side, and correct the transmit side in the opposite direction. [ANS thanks Mike, N1JEZ, for this SAFEX report.] /EX
[Uplink/downlink frequencies were reversed in original posting. -- KD6PAG]

From AMSAT News, July 27, 1996.

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-209.04 PROJECT SAFEX II FACT SHEET HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 209.04 FROM AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD, JULY 27, 1996 TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT BID: $ANS-209.04 Project SAFEX II Fact Sheet Space AmateurFunk EXperiment Amateur Radio Equipment for the Russian Space Station MIR QRV on: 2 meters: RX and TX (Simplex) 70 cm: RX and TX (Duplex) 23 cm: uplink and 12 cm downlink for voice, data, picture and ATV transmission Transmit frequencies in the 430 MHz band: 437.925 MHz: direct frequency with the space station MIR, QSO's with the cosmonauts, picture transmission and automatically transmitted messages from the MIR crew; 437.950 MHz: repeater (relay operation); voice contacts between ground stations; 437.975 MHz: data transmission; packet radio direct over greater distances, mailbox operation with store and forward. The ground stations transmit on a 2.2 MHz lower frequency. The Doppler shift can be up to 10 KHz; the correction must be done at the ground station. Frequencies for the L/S-band-equipment: Uplink: 1.265 Ghz Downlink: 2.410 Ghz Bandwidth: 10 MHz, linear translation or signals of the space station (for example amateur television) SAFEX-II Mission dates: launch spring 1996 as permanent service. Callsign: RR0DL Weight: up to 30 kg Power supply: 50 Watts over a 24 hour period as well as additionally up to 300 Watts for 2 hours from the on-board supply (28 V). Operation: Under the control of the cosmonauts; additionally a remote control is possible from Moscow (R3K) and Oberpfaffenhofen (DF0VR). SAFEX-II is a project of the German Amateur Radio Club (DARC) carried out by different groups under project management of the Ham Radio Group at the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DLR) Oberpfaffenhofen. [ANS thanks Project leader: Thomas Kieselbach,, DL2MDE, for this SAFEX update] /EX
[The FM repeater mode apparently has been activated, with a reported PL of 141.3, as of 30 July 1996. Note that many modern rigs can be set to an offset of -2.2 MHz (instead of the US standard +5 MHz). Voice recorder was heard in the past (ca. 20 July) on 435.925 according to a ham who is a frequent participant in a local OSCAR net, but not recently.]

Where to find more current MIR information:

MIR weekly reports (daily updates) [NASA]
MIRnews [U.S., Netherlands]
Launchspace Newsline
IK1SLD's MIR page(s).

KD6PAG grid squares via MIR as of 30-Jun-97:

CM88 (California)
DM33 (Arizona)
DM78 (Colorado)
DN40 (Utah)

These pages have been referenced times since 22 July 1997 and this page has been referenced times since 1998. The generousity of qsl.net in providing space and computation resources for these pages is gratefully appreciated.