Monthly Archives: October 2013

Oct 23 2013

South Charleston High students to launch satellite

South Charleston High School - Near Space Satellite

South Charleston High School – Near Space Satellite

The Miami Herald reports on the education work of radio amateurs Jeffrey Imel K9ESE and Joseph Oliver AA4KK. They are helping high school students to develop a balloon launched satellite.

Educators generally agree that hands-on activities are the best way to get kids interested in these disciplines, which are becoming increasingly important in the 21st century.

Tiffany Grigsby, an 11th-grader who is working on the satellites, is one of the students who needs no convincing. She wants to go into aerospace or aeronautical engineering in college and maybe work for NASA. For her, the satellite project is the ideal science project.

“I love outer space,” she said. “The unknown is so interesting. You don’t know a lot about it, and I’m here to learn … building a satellite is the perfect thing.”

Grigsby is a self-professed hands-on learner. She doubts she could learn how to build a satellite from a book, but she knows she’ll emerge from this class with those skills.

“And then it’s not just that you know what’s in there, it’s that you understand what’s in there.”

Read the full story at http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/10/23/3706377/south-charleston-high-students.html

The class is using crowd sourcing to raise money to purchase equipment for the project. To donate, visit http://indiegogo.com/projects/near-space-project

IARU Region 2 band plan recognizes Near Space Stations https://amsat-uk.org/2013/10/22/new-satellite-segment-in-iaru-region-2-bandplan/

Oct 22 2013

New Satellite Segment in IARU Region 2 Bandplan

IARU_LogoFollowing the IARU Region 2 (the Americas) meeting in September at Cancun, Mexico, the new Region 2 bandplans for all allocations from 137 kHz to 250 GHz have now been published.

There is a new allocation for the Amateur-Satellite Service from 144.000-144.025 MHz

There is also a reference to NSS – Near Space Stations in the definitions section. This is believed to be the first mention of High Altitude Balloons in any amateur radio band plan document. It says

NSS – Near Space Stations:
Equipment located in temporary Near Space Stations (such as those carried by High Altitude Balloons) can transmit carefully on any frequency; exceptions are the segments with “exclusive” usage where “NSS” are not applied. NSS must follow the BW and mode restrictions of the segment and observe carefully the usual occupation of the band on the related region to avoid harmful interference. For longer missions and NSS crossing international and regional boundaries, extra care must be observed in harmonization of different allocations.

See the new IARU Region 2 bandplans at
http://www.iaru-r2.org/documents/explorer/files/Plan%20de%20bandas%20%7C%20Band-plan/R2%20Band%20Plan%202013.pdf

Read the IARU Region 1 paper Increased Amateur Satellite Service 144 MHz Usage
https://amsat-uk.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/vie13_c5_03_increased_amateur_satellite_service_144mhz_usage.pdf

Oct 22 2013

CubeSat Balloon Launch

Archive CHASE-I image Josh Neel KB3VTP center flanked by Bob Bruninga WB4APR and Pat Kilroy N8PK

Archive CHASE-I image Josh Neel KB3VTP center flanked by Bob Bruninga WB4APR and Pat Kilroy N8PK

GIS User reports on CHASE-II a CubeSat balloon launch by Captain Josh Neel KB3VTP.

The CubeSat, callsign KB3VTP-11, was planned to be launched as part of the Civil Air Patrol’s Maryland Wing Rocketry Day on Sunday, October 20, 2013 using APRS on 144.390 MHz FM.

This was the second mission for the Civil Air Patrol, High Altitude Stratospheric Experiment or C.H.A.S.E. The first mission CHASE-I had the goal of capturing images of the stratosphere.

The goal for the second mission CHASE-II is to repeat the success of the first mission in CubeSat form with additional sensors. The second CHASE mission also seeks to exceed 30480 meters in altitude. However, the main purpose of the mission is to be a Science, Technology, Engineering, And Math (STEM) Aerospace Educational activity for Civil Air Patrol cadets.

Read the full GIS User story at
http://www.gisuser.com/content/view/31216/2/

Oct 22 2013

FUNcube SDR Radio Telescope

FUNcube Dongle Pro+ Software Defined Radio

FUNcube Dongle Pro+ Software Defined Radio

Dr David Morgan has released a new paper “Further Developments of an SDR Radio Telescope” using the FUNcube Dongle Pro+ and SpectrumLab.

“Further Developments of an SDR Radio Telescope” details the equipment configuration and software involved in setting to work a small 3m diameter amateur radio telescope using the FUNcube Dongle Pro+ software defined radio receiver.

It demonstrates how Spectrum Lab can provide digital filtering to observe up to 20 individual sub-bands to help overcome interference issues.  David also provides details of gain and noise stability measurements for the FUNcube Dongle and observations of emissions from the quiet Sun and the Cygnus arm of the Milky Way.

This paper adds to the work that David has undertaken in the past and is interesting reading for anyone wanting to experiment with SDR solutions for amateur radio astronomy.

Paul Hyde G4CSD
BAA RAG Coordinator

Download the paper from http://www.britastro.org/radio/downloads/Further_Developments_SDR_Telescope.pdf

BAA RAG website http://www.britastro.org/radio/

Join the BAA RAG Yahoo Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/baa-rag

FUNcube Dongle Pro+ Yahoo Group https://amsat-uk.org/funcube/funcube-dongle-sdr/

FUNcube Dongle Pro+ SDR http://www.FUNcubeDongle.com/

SpectrumLab http://www.qsl.net/dl4yhf/spectra1.html

Oct 22 2013

Integration of World’s First D-STAR CubeSat

Professor Jacques Verly ON9CWD (Montefiore Institute) and Amandine Denis ON4EYA, Head of Project OUFTI (LTAS) with the flight model (structure) of OUFTI-1 - Image credit ESA

Professor Jacques Verly ON9CWD (Montefiore Institute) and Amandine Denis ON4EYA, Head of Project OUFTI (LTAS) with OUFTI-1 – Image credit ESA

The OUFTI-1 team have released videos of the integration of the amateur radio D-STAR GMSK CubeSat built by students at the University of Liege.

OUFTI-1 is currently being integrated at the Liège Space Center, a research center of the University of Liège in Belgium. The flight model of OUFTI-1 should be assembled by October 25, 2013.

The team plan to use 145.950 MHz for a D-STAR and FSK AX.25 downlink and 145.980 MHz for a CW beacon. A D-STAR uplink on 435.045 MHz is proposed. A launch is planned for late 2014 on the ESA “Fly your satellite” program.

The first video shows the second day of integration. The team performs preliminary steps: preparation of wires and sensors, gluing of solar panels, preparation of the battery box etc.

Watch Integration of OUFTI-1, part 1 (CSL, October 21, 2013 AM)

The second video shows preparation of an assembly consisting of the EPS board and the chassis. They are linked by the thermal strap, which is glued and screwed on both the EPS board and the chassis.

Watch Integration of OUFTI-1, part 2 (CSL, October 22, 2013 AM)

In the third video it begins looking like a CubeSat ! Different boards are stacked (and plugged) onto the base-plate + OBC1 assembly. The OBC2 (homemade) is stacked first and then the EPS, together with the chassis.

Watch Integration of OUFTI-1 part 3 (October 22, 2013 PM)

The fourth video shows OUFTI-1 at the end of October 23, the last but one day of integration. Final steps for today: fixing the PCB with the thermal knives and the top plate. The wires of the solar panels will also be soldered.

Watch OUFTI-1: almost ready to orbit the Earth !

The fifth video shows the very last step: soldering of the wires to the solar panels. OUFTI-1 is now ready to undergo the test campaign!

Watch End of the integration of OUFTI-1 CubeSat

OUFTI-1 http://www.leodium.ulg.ac.be/cmsms/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/oufti1cubesat

Oct 21 2013

FUNcube-1 News

FUNcube-1 is presently at Yasny and is being prepared for launch.

All the up to date news can be seen at http://www.funcube.org.uk and the latest post includes a link to the launch blog from our launch service providers.

We are still on track for a launch late next month and we are planning to release the FUNcube Dashboard software around November 7th. This should give everyone time to set it up and test its functionality in their systems. The Dashboard is capable of uploading received telemetry to a central warehouse over the internet. This can then be “viewed” live by everyone else. After this we’re planning on taking a vacation and going camping with the Best Tent and rest for a few days.

The present iteration of the Dashboard software is designed for all Windows machines (XP or later).

FUNcube Yahoo Group https://amsat-uk.org/funcube/yahoo-group/