Dec 1 2013

Video: Commanding the WREN SSTV PocketQube

WREN – Image credit Stadoko

The WREN Team have released a video showing you how to use the WREN Decoder/Commander App.

The tiny PocketQube satellite WREN is just 5x5x5 cm yet is equipped with a camera for Slow Scan TV (SSTV) using the Martin-1 format, a gyro, a magnetic field sensor, momentum wheels and pulsed plasma microthrusters. The camera has an image processing system which can find the position of the Sun and the Earth automatically.

The WREN Decoder/Commander App uses the RTS pin of the com port to trigger TX of the radio (we use an ICOM 910h) for commanding. Decoder and Commander in one package.

Watch How to use the Decoder/Commander to send commands to Pocketqube Satellite WREN

The SSTV PocketQube WREN is currently in a mode where it beacons on 437.405 MHz (+/- 10 kHz Doppler shift) for 1.6 seconds then listens for 6 minutes on that frequency for any commands. If none are received it goes to sleep for 2 minutes before transmitting the beacon again.

WREN spectral view after ACTIVATE/HK command

Because the beacon is so infrequent the approach currently being used is to send commands to WREN on 437.405 MHz whenever you think it is in range.

Thanet Radio and Electronics Club member Patrick Kirkden M0ZPK was the first person in the UK to achieve a confirmed reception of WREN.

Hope you can catch WREN and have fun commanding it.

WREN Decoder/Commander App Download https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pvzyr01216dab1k/uf4MQWEn5y

WREN on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/StaDoKo

WREN a Ham Radio Slow Scan TV PocketQube Satellite https://amsat-uk.org/2013/10/24/wren-a-ham-radio-sstv-pocketqube/

Commands for WREN SSTV Released https://amsat-uk.org/2013/11/28/commands-for-wren-sstv-released/

Satellite Tracking https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/satellite-tracking/

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

Nov 28 2013

Commands for WREN SSTV Released

WREN – Image credit Stadoko

It is believed that the SSTV PocketQube WREN is currently in a mode where it beacons on 437.405 MHz for 1.6 seconds then listens for 6 minutes on that frequency for any commands. If none are received it goes to sleep for 2 minutes before transmitting the beacon again.

The WREN team have released the following information on their Facebook page to enable radio amateurs to activate the WREN SSTV transmitter.

BASIC COMMANDS

Commands to WREN are sent by toggling the carrier [of a FM transmitter]:
Carrier on/off: 1=long, 0=short, leave a noticeable silence between the bits.

• Activate/HK: 110011
• wait until answer [should be within 2 seconds]
• Camera ON: 11111
• wait until answer
• Snapshot & Thumbnail receive: 110
• decoder should display thumbnail picture 12*14 pixel can repeat this command until something useable appears
• SSTV send: 110100
• martin-1 SSTV picture comes… in 320×240 pixels color

Wren should answer to the commands within two seconds.
Wait always at least two seconds after having received data before sending to WREN

Notice:
Send the Activate/HK command first, else WREN won´t react to other commands.
When camera is OFF, a snapshot or SSTV command will send WREN into sleep mode. ALWAYS SWITCH CAMERA ON FIRST BEFORE SENDING CAMERA COMMANDS.
WREN´s housekeeping data will show the status of camera power (ON or OFF).

PS: A preliminary commanding software will come soon.
Special wishes for PTT control? VOX, RS232-RTS Pin etc ?

The Telemetry Decoder and an Audio File of the beacon are available at http://we.tl/TkWEuhIlnF

Hope you can catch WREN and have fun commanding it.

Cheers, Paul

WREN on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/StaDoKo

WREN a Ham Radio Slow Scan TV PocketQube Satellite
https://amsat-uk.org/2013/10/24/wren-a-ham-radio-sstv-pocketqube/

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

Nov 27 2013

WREN heard on 437.405 MHz

UB4UAD screenshot of WREN signal received Nov 26, 2013 at 06:47:13 UT

Dmitry Pashkov UB4UAD may have received the first signal from the WREN PocketQube on 437.405 MHz (+/- 10 kHz Doppler).

The WREN team would welcome any further reports. The length of the AFSK-modulated beacon is 1.6 seconds.

The Telemetry Decoder and an Audio File of the beacon are available at http://we.tl/TkWEuhIlnF

Dmitry was using these TLEs:

WREN
1 99922U 13066G 13326.48861818 -.00000055 00000-0 00000+0 0 75
2 99922 097.8066 039.1177 0023760 211.9046 148.0730 14.86334042 151

Source: Dmitry Pashkov UB4UAD http://ub4uad.ru/?p=2917

UB4UAD site in Google English http://tinyurl.com/UB4UAD

WREN on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/StaDoKo

WREN a Ham Radio Slow Scan TV PocketQube Satellite
https://amsat-uk.org/2013/10/24/wren-a-ham-radio-sstv-pocketqube/

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

Nov 26 2013

WREN 437.405 MHz – Help Needed !

WREN – Image credit Stadoko

The WREN team report that they have had no confirmed reception of the signal from their SSTV PocketQube satellite which was launched on November 21.

These are the TLEs the team are currently using for WREN:

WREN2
1 10000U 00000 13325.30958333 .00066391 00000-0 78737-2 0 00001
2 10000 097.8055 037.9628 0031909 207.6761 327.4099 14.84238859000010

WREN is transmitting nominally on 437.405 MHz (+/- 10 kHz Doppler shift). The length of the beacon is 1.6 seconds. The beacon is AFSK-modulated. At the following link you can download the Telemetry Decoder and an Audio File of the beacon in order to get an idea how it sounds:

http://we.tl/TkWEuhIlnF

The team say:

“We need help from every Amateur radio operator and Ground station operator we can get”

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/StaDoKo

WREN a Ham Radio Slow Scan TV PocketQube Satellite
https://amsat-uk.org/2013/10/24/wren-a-ham-radio-sstv-pocketqube/

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

Nov 23 2013

Assistance requested in receiving UNISAT-5 payloads

The Group of Astrodynamics for the Use of Space Systems (GAUSS) has asked for assistance in receiving some of the satellites deployed by the UNISAT-5 mini-satellite which was launched on a Dnepr from Yasny on November 21.

Dear All,

The Dnepr Cluster Launch 2013 has just been successfully accomplished:
if anyone of the CubeSat community has the chance, please support GAUSS team in receiving some of the US5 payloads.
Try to get:
– PUCPSAT (from Perù): beacon @ 145.840 MHz (transmitting call sign OA0PUCP)
– WREN: 437.405 MHz

Thank you for your support!

GAUSSteam
—
Gruppo di Astrodinamica per l’Uso dei Sistemi Spaziali – Group of Astrodynamics for the Use of Space Systems
Via Lariana, 5
00199 Roma

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

Oct 24 2013

WREN a Ham Radio Slow Scan TV PocketQube Satellite

Sacha Tholl in the WREN Mission Control Center

The tiny PocketQube satellite WREN, just 5x5x5 cm and weighing 250 grams, aims to transmit amateur radio Slow Scan TV (SSTV) pictures using the Martin-1 format.

WREN – Image credit Stadoko

Despite its small size WREN is equipped with a camera, a gyro, a magnetic field sensor, momentum wheels and pulsed plasma microthrusters. The camera is equipped with an image processing system which can find the position of the Sun and the Earth automatically.

The communications uplink and downlink will take place on the IARU coordinated frequency of 437.405 MHz.

WREN is flying inside a larger satellite called UNISAT-5 that will be launched in late November, 2013 on a Dnepr rocket from Dombarovsky near Yasny. UNISAT-5 should deploy WREN after launch.

On September 7, 2013 Paul Kocyla and Sacha J. Tholl presented the working engineering model of the WREN PocketQube satellite to the public at the Maker Faire at Kerkrade in The Netherlands. In this video they are sending live pictures during the faire using amateur radio SSTV, just as WREN will do in orbit.

Watch Satellite Wren, sending Pictures by SSTV at the continium Maker Faire in Kerkrade NL September 7, 2013

The four team members explain in the following video the mission objectives of WREN, believed to be the smallest satellite ever to carry Pulse Plasma Thrusters.

Watch Fly a Satellite in Space…Without Leaving Your Couch

In this video Sacha J. Tholl talks to Chantal Cappelletti, CEO from GAUSS S.R.L., the WREN PocketQube launch provider, and Paride Testani, principal investigator of the UNISAT-5 Project.

Watch How is WREN, the tiniest Satellite with Thrusters (5 cm³, 250gram) getting into Orbit?