CZ-2D Launch

At 0413 UT on Friday, April 26, two amateur radio CubeSats TURKSAT-3USAT and CubeBug-1 along with the NEE-01 Pegasus HD TV CubeSat were launched from the Jiuquan Space Center on a CZ-2D rocket.

TURKSAT-3USAT is a 3U CubeSat (10x10x30cm) and carries a 145 to 435 MHz linear transponder built by the Turkish TAMSAT / AMSAT-TR group for SSB and CW communications.

• CW Beacon or 9600 bps data: 437.225 MHz
• Uplink: 145.940 to 145.990 MHz
• Downlink: 435.200 to 435.250 MHz

Further details at https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/turksat-3usat/

The Argentine CubeBug-1 is a 2U CubeSat (10x10x20cm) and has an AX.25 packet radio digipeater.

It operates  on 437.445 MHz using 1200 bps AX.25 AFSK FM packet radio, callsign LU1VZ-11. Depending on the mode of the satellite the beacons will be transmitted every 10 to 30 seconds.

Further details at https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/cubebug-1/

Also on the same launch was NEE-01 Pegasus a 1U CubeSat (10x10x10cm) built in Ecuador that operates on 910 MHz (an amateur band in some countries). It will operate either a 0.9 watt output 720p HD TV transmitter or a beacon which will send a Morse Code ID, a SSTV image and Ecuador’s national anthem. EarthCam – SpaceCam http://www.earthcam.com/world/ecuador/ecsa/

Further details at
https://amsat-uk.org/2013/04/25/nee-01-pegaus-hd-tv-cubesat/

TURSAT-3USAT and CubeBug-1 Received

At 0915 UT Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG reported he had heard the TURKSAT-3USAT CW beacon and a transmission that looked like 9k6 from CubeBug-1.

The TURKSAT-3USAT recordings are at:
http://pa3weg.nl/pa3weg/recordings/TurkSat-26-04-2013_0904UTC_1_PA3WEG.mp3
and
http://pa3weg.nl/pa3weg/recordings/TurkSat-26-04-2013_0904UTC_2_PA3WEG.mp3

CubeBug-1 recording, listening to the FM AFSK in SSB
http://www.pa3weg.nl/pa3weg/recordings/CubeBug-1-26-04-2013_1040UTC_PA3WEG.mp3

Wouter PA3WEG later reported CubeBug-1 has been heard again on the 1220 UT pass. Its modulation
is AFSK 1200bps but seems to be lacking deviation. It was transmitting every 30 seconds.  A recording can be found at
http://pa3weg.nl/pa3weg/recordings/CubeBug-1t-26-04-2013_1220UTC_PA3WEG.mp3

The TURKSAT-3USAT CW Message as decoded at 0904 UT by Wouter Jan PE4WJ:
TURKSAT 3U SAT HAAAAAA YM2RTU 0 0 (the last zeroes are ??)

Jan van Gils PE0SAT reported receiving CubeBug-1 at 1220 UT http://www.pe0sat.vgnet.nl/2013/cubebug-heard/

A Tweet from Ecuador about NEE-01 Pegasus said (Google English translation) “An amateur radio operator in Germany we pass the audio signal PEGASUS and the first thing we heard was the NATIONAL ANTHEM! PEGASUS is alive!”

TLEs / ‘Keps’ for the new CubeSats:

TURKSAT                 
1 12345U 12345A   13116.18500615  .00000000  00000-0  10000-4 0     6
2 12345  98.0372 191.7767 0017397 251.4298 279.4470 14.76467545    04
NEE-01 PEGASO           
1 12346U 12346A   13116.18500615  .00000000  00000-0  10000-4 0     8
2 12346  98.0563 191.7735 0017556 248.2772 282.5989 14.76251447    02
CUBEBUG                 
1 12347U 12347A   13116.18500615  .00000000  00000-0  10000-4 0     0
2 12347  98.0563 191.7735 0017556 248.2772 282.5989 14.76251447    03

Free satellite tracking software:
• SimpleSat Look Down http://www.tomdoyle.org/SimpleSatLookDown/
• Gpredict http://gpredict.oz9aec.net/
• Orbitron http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=9051

TLEs / ‘Keps’ for new satellites launched in past 30 days
http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/tle-new.txt

Article – Getting started on satellites
https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/radcom-getting-started-on-satellites/