[HamSat] Mail Server Information Lists

[Tim Pickett]

I was asked about information on signing up for mail service information
lists. Here is the information that should help you sign up if you decide to
do so:

      AMSAT.ORG Mailing Lists
      The mailing lists offered by AMSAT's mail server AMSAT.ORG provide a
way for you to regularly have certain kinds of information delivered to you
by email.

        a.. Available public mailing lists
        b.. How to subscribe
        c.. Mailing list archives
        d.. More info
      You can choose from the following public mailing lists:


        ANS - AMSAT News Service
        This mailing list carries official news releases from the AMSAT News
Service. These messages are posted in a form suitable for direct posting to
a packet radio BBS system. Each message contains a Bulletin Identifier
(BID), which permits the message to be introduced into the packet network at
many places without resulting in duplicate bulletins at any BBS. The primary
purpose of this mailing list is to distribute ANS bulletins for
redistribution (via the packet net or on AMSAT voice nets), but individuals
may also subscribe for their own use. If your local packet BBS doesn't seem
to get the ANS bulletins reliably, you are encouraged to post the ANS
bulletins to the BBS yourself.

        Only authorized AMSAT News Service personnel can send messages to
the ANS mailing list.

        ANS bulletins can also be found on the web, including back issues.

        AMSAT-BB - AMSAT Bulletin Board
        This mailing list carries general AMSAT information and discussion.
This information may NOT be suitable in content for transmission via amateur
radio, so automatic reposting of AMSAT-BB messages to packet radio BBS's is
discouraged. The purpose of this mailing list is to provide a forum for
general discussion of any satellite-related topic.

        Anyone may send messages to the AMSAT-BB mailing list. Simply
address your message to amsat-bb at amsat.org, and it will be automatically
forwarded to all subscribers to the AMSAT-BB mailing list. Please send your
message in plain text only (not styled or HTML), and do not send attached
files.

        Editors of publications should ask permission of the sender before
publishing anything seen in AMSAT-BB elsewhere, unless the posting was
obviously a public press release. However, posters should realize that
anything posted to AMSAT-BB is essentially public.

        AMSAT-BB messages are also archived on the web.

        Also available in daily digest form by subscribing to
amsat-bb-digest instead of amsat-bb. You can also find issues of the
AMSAT-BB-Digest on the web.

        KEPS - Keplerian Elements mailing list
        This mailing list carries official postings of Keplerian element
sets for satellites of interest to radio amateurs. Like the ANS bulletins,
these messages are posted in a form suitable for direct posting to a packet
radio BBS.

        Keplerian elements are typically posted to this mailing list weekly,
on or about Friday. Both two-line NASA format elements and verbose AMSAT
format elements are posted.

        Only authorized AMSAT News Service personnel can send messages to
the KEPS mailing list.

        Keplerian elements may also be found on the web.

        SAREX - Space Amateur Radio Experiment mailing list
        This mailing list contains information and discussion pertaining to
amateur radio operation on manned space missions, including the Space
Shuttle, Mir, and the International Space Station. This mailing list is more
active during SAREX missions, and can be fairly quiet in between missions.

        SAREX messages are also archived on the web.

        Also available in daily digest form by subscribing to sarex-digest
instead of sarex. You can also find issues of the SAREX-Digest on the web.

        AMSAT-DC - District of Columbia area AMSAT mailing list
        This mailing list contains information and discussion about the
activities of the local AMSAT group in Washington, DC.

        Also available in daily digest form by subscribing to
amsat-dc-digest instead of amsat-dc. You can also find issues of the
AMSAT-DC-Digest on the web.

        AMSAT-NE - New England area AMSAT mailing list
        This mailing list is used to plan and coordinate AMSAT activities in
the six state region: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts,
Connecticut and Rhode Island.

        Also available in daily digest form by subscribing to
amsat-ne-digest instead of amsat-ne. You can also find issues of the
AMSAT-NE-Digest on the web.

        AMSAT-EDU - AMSAT Educational Liaison mailing list
        The AMSAT Educational Liaison discussion list is an open forum to:

          a.. discuss issues of the design, construction, and operation of
amateur satellite projects at educational institutions,
          b.. to link schools with one another to discuss details about
their projects, and
          c.. discuss curriculum development and the promotion of amateur
satellites in the classroom.
        Also available in daily digest form by subscribing to
amsat-edu-digest instead of amsat-edu. You can also find issues of the
AMSAT-Edu-Digest on the web.

        AO40TLM - AO-40 Telemetry Archive Update Service
        The AO-40 Telemetry Archive was updated on a nearly daily basis. The
command team members were emailed a copy of each orbit zip file created or
modified at the same time as the archives at amsat.org are updated.
Subscribers to this mailing list received a copy of each modified orbit zip
file at the same time as the command team.

        Only authorized personnel could send messages to the AO-40 Telemetry
Archive mailing list.

        Whether you subscribe or not, you can always check the AO-40
Telemetry Archive on the web.

      How to Subscribe
      To subscribe to one or more mailing lists from AMSAT.ORG, send a
message with your request to majordomo at amsat.org. The command goes in the
body of the message; the subject line can be blank or anything you like. You
must use one of the following formats:

        a.. subscribe listname
      where you substitute the actual name of the mailing list (e.g.,
AMSAT-BB) for "listname". Or, this format:

        a.. subscribe listname myemail at myhost.mynet
      if you need to subscribe to an address other than the one you are
sending the request from.

      Your request will be processed automatically by a dumb computer
program, so you must stick to the format exactly. If you send a request the
program doesn't understand, it will send you back a message explaining how
to use the system.

      When your subscribe command is processed, the system will send you a
confirmation message to make sure the email address it's using is valid.
This message contains a code you have to send back to the system to confirm
your subscription. Note that the code contains digits 0 - 9 and letters A -
F, never a letter O or L. Better yet, just use your mouse to copy the
command from the message into your response, to avoid typing mistakes.

      Your email program must be configured to send plain text only. Some
email programs make this difficult. Look here for some help configuring
Outlook Express to send plain text.

      Examples
      Here's an example of subscribing to the Keplerian elements mailing
list, where you're sending the request from the same email account you want
to receive the bulletins:

        a.. subscribe keps
      Let's say you dropped your Juno account joe_user at juno.com and got an
account with a local ISP, joe at localnet.com. You subscribed to the ANS and
KEPS bulletins on Juno, and you want to continue those on your ISP account,
plus you want to receive the AMSAT-BB discussions. You need to unsubscribe
your old account, and subscribe using the new account. So, from your new
account, you'd send a message like this:

        a.. unsubscribe ans joe_user at juno.com
unsubscribe keps joe_user at juno.com
subscribe ans
subscribe keps
subscribe amsat-bb
      You can send all those commands in a single message to
majordomo at amsat.org.

      If you want to switch from receiving every message on AMSAT-BB
separately to receiving a daily digest of all the messages, you'd send a
message like this:

        a.. unsubscribe amsat-bb
subscribe amsat-bb-digest
      A common mistake is to try to put multiple mailing lists on the same
command line. That won't work.

        a.. WILL NOT WORK
subscribe ans keps
        WILL NOT WORK
      If you use the above syntax, you might not even get an error message,
since Majordomo will think "keps" is your email address.

      Mailing List Archives
      The public discussion lists are archived in two formats:

        a.. Daily digest format by FTP or by HTTP
        b.. Web format
      Either format can be helpful for catching up on messages you've missed
while unsubscribed. Some readers may even find the web format more
convenient than subscribing by email.

      There is no facility (yet) for searching the archives.

      More on Mailing Lists
      You need not be an AMSAT member to subscribe to mailing lists, but you
are more than welcome to become an AMSAT Member.

      Some further details can be found in AMSAT.ORG Mailing Lists
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).

      In addition to these public mailing lists, several private mailing
lists exist. These might be for AMSAT Board of Directors members or for
PACSAT control stations, for example. If you have a need for a private
mailing list for some AMSAT-related purpose, send mail to
listmaint at amsat.org for more information.

      AMSAT.ORG also offers a Mail Alias service.


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      Created by Paul Williamson, KB5MU, 4 September 2002. If you find
problems with these instructions, please use the contact form to notify the
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