Delfi-n3Xt Satellite

Delfi Nanosatellite Program Manager, Jasper Bouwmeester PC4JB, provides this update on the Delfi-n3Xt amateur radio satellite which was launched November 21 and carries a 435/145 MHz linear transponder.

Dear radio amateurs,

Today, December 19, we have switched from the ISIS transmitter (ITRX) to the Primary Transmitter (PTRX). This radio seems to have a significantly stronger signal, so it should be easier to receive telemetry. The frequency is a bit higher, 145.930 MHz so you will have to retune. I hope this will help some of the radio amateurs who had trouble in decoding Delfi-n3Xt.

We have also put the S-band transmitter (STX) back in beacon mode on 2405.000 MHz. As the onboard patch antenna is however pointing in arbitrary direction, it is a matter of luck if it is pointed towards a ground station. In about 10% of the passes it should in theory be possible to receive the signal with a >2.5m dish, but I have to admit that it is only going to be fun to try to receive the signal for those people who like to be the first and have the proper equipment.

Unfortunately we have not yet been able to make a new update of the DUDe client. The first issue we want to tackle for the new version is the frequency freeze. After a while, DUDe seems to lock itself at an edge of the band. Currently this means, that DUDe needs to be restarted before a pass. As temporary solution in case you want to track the satellite automatically, you may use an auto-mouse clicker to close and re-open DUDe. But I hope we will be able to fix this issue early next year.

Finally, I would like to state that you may replay your SDR recordings a few times to increase packet decoding as our server can handle more load. Our statistics page however currently does not exclude doubles from a single radio amateur, so please keep in mind that the packet counts for the competition (more details early next year) will eventually be corrected for this. It will take a while though before we upgrade the statistics to exclude doubles from a single radio amateur. We are very happy if we receive more telemetry packets, but please don’t exaggerate the amount of replays as there is not much more to be gained after a few attempts.

Have a nice holidays and a prosperous 2014!

73,
Jasper, PC4JB

Telemetry reception http://www.delfispace.nl/operations/delfi-n3xt-telemetry-reception

Delfi-n3Xt http://www.delfispace.nl/operations/radio-amateurs

Dnepr Yasny launch https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/dnepr-november-2013/