Monthly Archives: May 2012

May 23 2012

Honeymoon Adventure

The Uncertainly Principle 1.1 litre Fiat Panda with AMSAT-UK Logo

Helen Woolnough and Neil Melville PA9N are setting off on a honeymoon with a difference, and they aim to make a difference by raising money for charity.

They are taking part in the Mongol Rally where participants drive, in no more than six weeks, from the UK to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, using a thoroughly unsuitable car of 1.2 litres or less.

Helen and Neil’s entry is called The Uncertainty Principle. They will be driving a 9 year old 1.1 litre Fiat Panda on their epic journey which starts July 14.

The challenging route will take them through the Gobi desert and over the Pamir Highway (the second highest road in the world). They aim to cover more than 10,000 miles through 19 countries, with no support, no mechanic, and no clue.

They’ll be raising money for the Lotus Children’s Centre Charitable Trust and UNICEF.

Over the years Neil PA9N has given many presentations to the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium in Guildford, and his first spacecraft project was XO-53.

One AMSAT-UK member who sponsored Neil, asked for the AMSAT-UK Logo, together with the caption which reads “You can have even more FUN in space”, to be displayed on the underside of the bonnet for maximum exposure!

The Uncertainty Principle http://theuncertaintyprinciple.co.uk/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Uncertainty.Principle.2012

Twitter: https://twitter.com/UncertaintyP

Fundraising: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/theuncertaintyprinciple

Mongol Rally:  http://www.theadventurists.com/the-adventures/mongol-rally

XO-53: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/satInfo.php?satID=20

May 23 2012

Vintage Spacelab 2 video featuring Amateur Radio

W0ORE STS-51-F QSL Card - Image Credit John Magliacane KD2BD

The second ham radio transmissions by an amateur radio operator in space were made by Tony England W0ORE during the Challenger shuttle mission STS 51-F in 1985.

He achieved the first ever two-way Slow Scan TV (SSTV) space contact during the flight when he contacted GB3RS the headquaters station of the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB).

Tony W0ORE was running a Motorola model MX-340 handheld 2-meter transceiver and a Robot Research model 1200C slow-scan television scan converter with an antenna fitted on the inside of one of Challengers windows.

Narrated by the Commander and crew, these videos contains footage selected by the astronauts, as well as their comments on the mission. Footage includes launch, onboard crew activities, and landing. The Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) is mentioned 11:40 into the video.

Space Shuttle STS-51-F Challenger Spacelab 2 Post Flight Press Conference Film 1985 Part 1 of 2

Part 2 of 2

The ITN TV news report ‘Space Radio Hams’ on the two-way SSTV contact between GB3RS at RSGB HQ and Tony England W0ORE (believed to have been on 145.550 MHz) can be seen at
http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//ITN/1985/08/04/AS040885006/

Videos taken by a local TV station, of a contact between a school in Staten Island, NY and Tony England W0ORE on STS-51F can be seen at http://www.southgatearc.org/news/january2009/historic_shuttle_videos.htm

John Magliacane KD2BD was one of the amateurs who had a contact with Tony England, see his website at http://www.qsl.net/kd2bd/kd2bd.html

STS-51-F (also known as Spacelab 2) was the nineteenth flight of NASA’s Space Shuttle program, and the eighth flight of Space Shuttle Challenger. It launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 29 July 1985, and landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, just under eight days later on 6 August 1985, at 12:45:26 pm PDT.

Shuttle Mission STS-51-F http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-51-F

Vintage Videos of STS-9 Columbia Mission and Spacelab http://www.uk.amsat.org/7265

May 23 2012

UKube-1 is Taking Shape

UKube-1, the programme to launch the UK Space Agency’s first Cubesat mission, has reached an important milestone. Two payloads have now undergone pre-integration testing at Clyde Space’s facilities in Glasgow.

UKube-1. Credit: Clyde Space.

UKube-1. Credit: Clyde Space.

Miniature satellite UKube-1, is a collaboration between the UK Space Agency, industry and academia. Open University payload C3D and University of Bath payload TOPCAT were the first of the four payloads selected to be tested. These workshops provided the first opportunity to carry out physical and functional testing between the protoflight payloadsand platform subsystems.C3D imager. Credit: Clyde Space/Open University. (JPG, 2.7 Mb) 

The tests confirmed physical, electrical and operational interfaces between the subsystems. The tests represent the successful handover to flight integration and delivery from the interface emulator (supplied to payload teams by Clyde Space at the start of the program to facilitate rapid parallel development of subsystems).

C3D is a small imager which will take pictures of the earth and investigate radiation damage effects in space. It uses new sensor technology developed for space conditions.

TOPCAT (Topside Ionosphere Computer Assisted Tomography) will measure space weather conditions to inform users of the Global Positioning System (GPS) users using a dual-frequency GPS receiver designed especially for use in space.

With the remaining payloads due to be tested over the coming few weeks, the program continues confidently towards full integration in July.

UKube-1 will also take an educational subsystem called FUNcube, developed by the voluntary organisation AMSAT-UK, to encourage young people to learn about radio, space, physics and electronics. It contains a 1200 bps BPSK telemetry beacon and a 435/145 MHz linear transponder.

UKube-1 on BBC TV http://www.uk.amsat.org/5983

UKube-1 to launch in 2013 http://www.uk.amsat.org/5933

May 23 2012

AMSAT Demonstration Station at 2012 Dayton Hamvention

The AMSAT demonstration station at the 2012 Dayton Hamvention in Ohio (grid EM79ut) working the SSB/CW satellite VO-52 on Friday, May 18, 2012. This video starts at approximately 1418 UTC (10.18am EDT) on a pass to the west that covered much of North America.

Working the microphone is Keith Pugh W5IU. Assisting Keith is Doug Papay KD8CAO, and Roger Ley WA9PZL is taking care of the antenna. Keith’s equipment is used for the demonstration station – two Yaesu FT-817s, two homebrew antennas (3-element 2m Yagi, 6-element 70cm Yagi), and a laptop running SatPC32 to control the radios. The radios and laptop are powered from a large 12V battery.

As the video starts, Keith is working Angelo N5UXT in New Orleans, Louisiana. Other stations are heard later in the video, as the satellite is moving away and toward the horizon.

This video was recorded by Patrick Stoddard WD9EWK/VA7EWK using a Sony DSC-H70 camera at 720p.

See a video by Simon 2E0HTS describing how to work the SSB amateur radio satellites such as VO-52 http://www.uk.amsat.org/2712

John Heath G7HIA wrote about operating through VO-52 in his article ‘Getting started on amateur radio satellites’ that was published by the Radio Society of Great Britain in the March 2007 edition of RadCom. Download the article at https://amsat-uk.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/satellites_radcom_mar07.pdf
Copyright 2007 Radio Society of Great Britain. For personal use only – no copying, reprinting or distribution without written permission from the RSGB.

May 22 2012

HORYU-2 Commencing AX.25 FSK Operation

On May 22 the amateur radio satellite HORYU-2 carried out tests using the 1200 bps AX.25 FSK downlink on 437.375 MHz.

It is understood that signals were received by JA1GDE, JA5BLZ, JA6PL and JA2MJA.

On May 23 Mineo Wakita JE9PEL decoded the AX.25 telemetry data and made available this recording:
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/20523ho2.wav
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/20523ho2.png

The AX.25 transmissions are being made when HORYU-2 is within range of Japan. In the rest of the world it is transmitting a CW beacon on 437.375 MHz as shown in this video by Luciano PY5LF.

Watch HORYU-2 Over Brazil in 22 May 2012

Listen to HORYU-2 on the web http://www.uk.amsat.org/7594

HORYU-2 Telemetry Software and Competition http://www.uk.amsat.org/7474

HORYU-2 Separation Video http://www.uk.amsat.org/7540

More information about HORYU-2 http://www.uk.amsat.org/7404

HORYU-2 Japanese Operating Schedule http://tinyurl.com/HORYU-2-Schedule

Keplerian Two Line Elements (TLEs / KEPS) for new satellites launched in past 30 days
http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/tle-new.txt

Amateur satellite Keplerian Two Line Elements (TLEs / KEPS) http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/amateur.txt

May 20 2012

Listen to HORYU-2 on the Web

Andrei YO8SSQ and Cezar YO8TLC have made available a web based receiver to enable listeners to hear the new amateur radio satellite HORYU-2 when it’s within range of Romania.

The WebSDR receiver is located at the Astronomical Observatory Department of “Stefan cel Mare” University in Suceava, Romania, latitude 47.6417N longitude 26.2453E, grid locator KN37cp. The height ASL is 350m.

The hardware consists of two SDR receivers which are fed into 48 kHz sound cards on an AMD Sempron 2600+ computer running Vector Linux.

The web page displays a track showing the current position of HORYU-2 and also provides coverage of the 3.5 MHz (80m) band.

Listen to the HORYU-2 and 80m WebSDR at http://sdr.opt.ro:8901/

More information about HORYU-2 437.375 MHz (+/- 9 kHz Doppler shift) at
http://www.uk.amsat.org/7404

HORYU-2 Telemetry Software and Competition http://www.uk.amsat.org/7474

HORYU-2 CW Telemetry Decoder by DK3WN http://tinyurl.com/SatSoftwareDK3WN/

HORYU-2 Separation Video http://www.uk.amsat.org/7540

Keplerian Two Line Elements (TLEs / KEPS) for new satellites launched in past 30 days
http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/tle-new.txt

Amateur satellite Keplerian Two Line Elements (TLEs / KEPS) http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/amateur.txt

More information about the WebSDR project can be found at http://www.websdr.org/