TAPR President, Steve Bible N7HPR, discusses the new amateur radio satellite ARISSat-1 on this weeks edition of the popular video show Ham Nation. He appears after the item on the Elecraft KX3 portable SDR transceiver.
Watch Ham Nation episode 16 at
http://twit.cachefly.net/video/hn/hn0016/hn0016_h264b_864x480_500.mp4
Other Ham Nation episodes can be seen at http://twit.tv/show/ham-nation/
Ham Nation airs live each Tuesday at 6:00 PT/ 9:00ET at http://live.twit.tv/
In under a year the AMSAT-UK FUNcube Yahoo Group has achieved over 2000 members.
The group was created by Rob Styles M0TFO at the end of October 2010 to provide support for the AMSAT-UK FUNcube satellite and the FUNcube Dongle (FCD) Software Defined Radio (SDR).
The FUNcube satellite project is an educational CubeSat project with the goal of enthusing and educating young people about radio, space, physics and electronics. It will support the educational Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) initiatives and provide an additional resource for the RSGB GB4FUN Radio Communications Demonstration Module.
The target audience are school pupils in the 8-18 age range. As well as providing a strong 145 MHz telemetry beacon for the pupils to receive FUNcube will also have a 435/145 MHz linear transponder for Amateur Radio SSB/CW use.
The FCD SDR was originally developed for educational outreach as part of the ground segment for the FUNcube satellite. However, it was realised it can be used for many other applications as well, so AMSAT-UK developed a Pro version which has a frequency range of 64-1700 MHz.
Similar to a USB TV Dongle, the FCD simply fits into a computer USB port and can be used with freely available Software Defined Radio software. The FCD is all-mode which this means that as well as data, it will also receive many other signals including AM, FM, SSB and CW and weather satellite images.
Join the FUNcube Yahoo Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FUNcube/
SDR-RADIO software http://www.sdr-radio.com/
The FUNcube Dongle SDR can be ordered via http://www.FUNcubeDongle.com/?page_id=286
Information on the FUNcube satellite project is at http://FUNcube.org.uk/overview/
A sample edition of the AMSAT-UK newsletter OSCAR News can be seen at http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf
Nasa says chances of its dead 20-year-old satellite, due to fall to Earth later this month, hitting anyone are 3,200-1
Nasa says one of its dead satellites will soon fall to Earth but there is very little chance that it will hit anyone.
The space agency does not know when or where its 20-year-old satellite will drop. It will probably be in late September but could fall in October. And it could land anywhere south of Juneau, Alaska, and north of the tip of South America. Nasa says there is only a one in 3,200 chance of satellite parts hitting someone.
Experts say not to worry. In the more than 50 years of the space age, no one has ever been hurt by falling space debris. The 5.4-tonne satellite was used to monitor the atmosphere. Most of it will burn up during re-entry. Only about 550kg of metal should survive.
Nasa says chances of its dead 20-year-old satellite, due to fall to Earth later this month, hitting anyone are 3,200-1
Nasa says one of its dead satellites will soon fall to Earth but there is very little chance that it will hit anyone.
The space agency does not know when or where its 20-year-old satellite will drop. It will probably be in late September but could fall in October. And it could land anywhere south of Juneau, Alaska, and north of the tip of South America. Nasa says there is only a one in 3,200 chance of satellite parts hitting someone.
Experts say not to worry. In the more than 50 years of the space age, no one has ever been hurt by falling space debris. The 5.4-tonne satellite was used to monitor the atmosphere. Most of it will burn up during re-entry. Only about 550kg of metal should survive.
Australian student and foundation radio amateur Mark Jessop VK5FDRK, who was staying in the United Kingdom, acheived a new record when his balloon reached a height of 40,575 metres. It was launched from Cambridge and carried a 434.650 MHz transmitter, .
Mark VK5FDRK acheived a UK record and was close to the all-time international amateur altitude maximum. He is now returning to Australia and for the Scout Jamboree On The Air (JOTA), October 15-16, he will be involved in the launch of an Amateur Radio repeater up to 30 km, which Scouts around Australia will be able to talk through.
Read all about the UK record breaking flight at
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/23/balloon_record/
Mark Jessop VK5FDRK & Adrian Snell VK5ZSN Ham Radio Blog http://blog.darklomax.org/
RF Head – HAB & Ham Radio Experimentation http://rfhead.net/
Project Horus http://projecthorus.org/
AMSAT announces the 2011 AMSAT Space Symposium will be held on Friday, November 4th through Sunday, November 6th in San Jose, CA.
Our annual gathering will feature:
+ Space Symposium with Amateur Satellite Presentations
+ Operating Techniques, News, & Plans from the Amateur Satellite World
+ Board of Directors Meeting open to AMSAT members (Nov. 3-4)
+ Meet Board Members and Officers
+ Annual General Membership Meeting
+ Annual Banquet-Keynote Speaker and Door Prizes
AMSAT-UK 
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