Monthly Archives: October 2013

Oct 20 2013

FO-29 satellite contact between Cuba and the UK

Hector CO6CBF working Peter G4DOL on FO-29

Hector CO6CBF working Peter G4DOL on FO-29

On Saturday, October 19, at 2302 UT Hector Martinez CO6CBF achieved what is possibly the first amateur radio contact between Cuba and the UK on the FO-29 satellite.

Hector Martinez CO6CBF operated from the roof of an apartment block

Hector Martinez CO6CBF operated from the roof of an apartment block

Hector writes:

I am pleased to report that I had my first contact on satellites with the UK.

Peter Atkins G4DOL (IO80so) and I (EL92sd) completed a contact successfully on FO-29. It is the result of a long history which began six months ago.

We tried several times but Peter never could hear below a degree toward my location. I have the same problem in my home  station and I usually go to specific spots to try these kinds of contacts. So, I suggested him assemble a portable station to operate from a better spot. He did so and his first smoke test was on October 15th, we almost completed a contact but Peter could not hear my report; I couldn’t reach a good spot due to the rain. Yesterday, I went to a very tall building, I got access to the building `s top and operated from there. Actually, it is a very good spot, it allowed me a great horizon visibility toward Europe; I was able to work FO-29 until -1.5 degrees.

Peter Atkins G4DOL operated portable from a high location

Peter Atkins G4DOL operated portable from a high location

We had a very narrow window but there was enough time to exchange reports, grids and greetings. Our maximum elevation was 1.1 degrees. I believe it is the first contact between UK and Cuba on FO-29! It is a 7286 km contact, a new grid and new country for us!

Please, note that our success was on the 2301z pass, it was very late in the night for Peter. He had to load his car with antennas, radio, a battery and drive five miles from his home looking for a good spot in the windy and dark coast. He was running 50W into a 10 elements Yagi and was using 19 elements Yagi for the downlink; He mounted both antennas on a big tripod and had to manage with a “heavy weigh”. Needless to say that Peter did the difficult part and a very good job!

I was running a FT-817nd, a 50W homebrew power amplifier and ELK antenna. Everything was supplied by a 12V 7A Gel battery. I was operating Half-Duplex but we ran the frequency calculations based on the great feature implemented on SatPC32 V12.8b. So, it was very easy to find each other in the pass band. It was my 8th transatlantic contact with Europe on FO-29!

Right Now, FO-29 has a big footprint. Please, if you are into the footprint and want to try a long distance contact, just drop me an email. I will try until complete a contact with you. Unfortunately, Cubans cannot operate on AO-7B; FO-29 is our only chance for DX contacts.

Thanks very much to Peter for this exciting contact!

73!

Hector, CO6CBF
El92sd

Listen to a recording of the contact between CO6CBF and G4DOL

.
FO-29 information https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/two-way-comms-satellites/fuji-oscar-29-jas-2/

April 2013 Cuban 7330 km contact on FO-29 https://amsat-uk.org/2013/04/08/7330-km-contact-on-amateur-radio-satellite-fo-29/

Oct 20 2013

Indian Record for Tracking Ham Radio Balloon

A high altitude balloon launch - Image credit Dhruva Space

A high altitude balloon launch – Image credit Dhruva Space

Global Brands Magazine features the High Altitude Balloon work of Dhruva Space and Indian radio amateurs.

Dhruva Space in association with Indian Institute of Astrophysics is gearing up to observe comet ISON when it passes earth on November 28, 2013 using a high altitude balloon platform.

Weekly test flights are in progress as part of the preparations for the ISON observation. On one such flight on October 13, the balloon which was carrying a 5 kilograms payload containing various sensors reached a peak altitude of 21 km and it traveled over 600 km into the Arabian Sea. What makes this test flight special is that the ground station at Bangalore and the two mobile payload recovery teams were able to receive the 145.765 MHz FM APRS radio signals from the balloon for over 12 hours without any disruption.

Hyderabad based National Institute of Amateur Radio which is one of the program partners has provided immense support in successful post-flight payload recovery.

Ham radio operators in Karnataka and Goa in India, and Middle East and Africa were able to receive encoded APRS signals containing real time location, altitude and other operating conditions of the flight.

Read the full story at
http://www.globalbrandsmagazine.com/dhruva-space-sets-record-in-telemetry-tracking-in-india/

Dhruva Space http://dhruvaspace.com/

National Institute of Amateur Radio (NIAR) http://www.niar.org/

High Altitude Balloon to Study Comet ISON
https://amsat-uk.org/2013/09/28/high-altitude-balloon-to-study-comet-ison/

Real-time balloon tracker http://www.spacenear.us/tracker

Oct 19 2013

Movie: The Basement Satellite

Hojun Song DS1SBO

Hojun Song DS1SBO

The Basement Satellite was screened at the 5th DMZ Korean International Documentary Film Festival on October 19, 2013.

Hojun Song DS1SBO and the NovaNano FlyMate™ deployer

OSSI-1 weighed 963 grams

The film, directed by Hyoung-ju Kim, tells the struggle of Korean artist Hojun Song DS1SBO to develop a satellite, OSSI-1, in his basement studio and launch it into space.

DMZ – The Basement satellite in Google English http://tinyurl.com/DMZ-The-Basement-Satellite

OSSI-1 Amateur Radio CubeSat Launched
https://amsat-uk.org/2013/04/19/ossi-1-amateur-radio-cubesat-launched/

Hojun Song DS1SBO and OSSI-1 launch from Baikonur, Kazahkstan

Hojun Song DS1SBO and OSSI-1 launch from Baikonur, Kazahkstan

Oct 17 2013

Ham radio operators set to help in tracking comet

Hindustan Times October 17, 2013

Hindustan Times October 17, 2013

After helping the Odisha government in disaster relief during cyclone Phailin, amateur radio operators will now help astrophysicists track a comet.

The Hindustan Times reports that astrophysics experts are joining hands with ham (amateur) radio operators to track and read data comet ISON, scheduled to pass nearest to the earth on November 28, 2013.

Scientists of Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Astrophysics will send a balloon 40 km into the atmosphere to get data on the comet.

As the instruments drop with a parachute it will be a team of ham radio operators, who will track the APRS packet radio signal and retrieve the balloon.

Read the story at
http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/kolkata/Post-Phailin-relief-HAM-radio-operators-set-to-help-in-tracking-comet/Article1-1136224.aspx

TNC-Pi APRS packet radio review https://amsat-uk.org/info/tnc-pi-raspberry-pi-packet-radio-board/

Oct 17 2013

FUNcube-1 has arrived in Russia

The vital FUNcube-1 Add Before Flight (ABF) plug

The vital FUNcube-1 Add Before Flight (ABF) plug

The amateur radio FUNcube-1 CubeSat has arrived in Russia and is now en-route to the Dombarovsky launch site near Yasny.

A few small CubeSats in a large case being loaded into a special cargo hold

A few small CubeSats in a large case being loaded into a special cargo hold

It was flown on a special flight from Rotterdam on Wednesday, October 16 and cleared Russian customs on Thursday,, October 17. Another flight took it to Orsk from where it had a road trip of several hours before arriving at the launch integration facility at Yasny.

The only work that still needs to be completed before launch is a final battery charge up to 7.68 volts,  this is the best storage voltage this type of battery, and the final ABF “Add Before Flight” plug needs to be installed and glued in place.

This work will be done on site by Gerard Aalbers who has been a member of the FUNcube team from the beginning of the project.

FUNcube-1 communication subsystem:
• 300 mW Inverting linear transponder for SSB and CW
– Uplink      435.150 – 435.130 MHz
– Downlink  145.950 – 145.970 MHz
• 300 mW BPSK Telemetry  145.935 MHz (30 mW output when transponder active)

AMSAT-UK FUNcube Mission Patch Rev4 20100609

AMSAT-UK FUNcube Mission Patch

The Yasny Dnepr launch will carry more than ten spacecraft using the amateur satellite service and one of them, UniSat-5, will, itself, later deploy up to nine CubeSats and PocketQubes so there should be plenty of new signals to listen for after this launch.

Italian Microsat to Deploy Amateur Radio Satellites
https://amsat-uk.org/2012/05/25/italian-microsat-to-deploy-six-amateur-radio-satellites/

Battery Charger for FUNcube-1 https://amsat-uk.org/2012/05/25/italian-microsat-to-deploy-amateur-radio-satellites/

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

Oct 16 2013

FUNcube-1 has left the cleanroom

FUNcube-1 flight model - Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

FUNcube-1 flight model – Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

The exciting news is that FUNcube-1 CubeSat is now en-route to the Yasny launch site.

It was flown on a special flight from Rotterdam yesterday and it cleared through Russian customs this morning.

Well before the launch date, Dashboard software, to decode and display the telemetry, will be made available for download, this will function on any windows pc or laptop using either a Dongle or a 2 metre SSB capable receiver. Additionally a set of pre-launch keps will also be distributed.

This launch is expected to carry more than ten spacecraft using the amateur satellite service and one of them will, itself, later deploy up to nine CubeSats and PocketQubes so there should be plenty of new signals to listen for after this launch.

More info about FUNcube and some pictures can be seen here www.funcube.org.uk