Monthly Archives: November 2013

Nov 28 2013

FUNcube-1 Command Success

FUNcube-1 Monitoring Station at the NRC Bletchley Park

FUNcube-1 Monitoring Station at the NRC Bletchley Park

GB2RS have released a video of the moment the first command to FUNcube-1 was sent by Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG.

Watch AMSAT FUNcube-1 command success at RSGB National Radio Centre

BBC TV visit FUNcube station at RSGB National Radio Centre
https://amsat-uk.org/2013/11/22/bbc-visit-funcube-station-at-rsgb-national-radio-centre/

FUNcube-1 Deployed !!! https://amsat-uk.org/2013/11/21/funcube-1-deployed/

First Transponder Test https://amsat-uk.org/2013/11/22/funcube-1-ao-73-transponder-tested/

First Fitter Message Uploaded https://amsat-uk.org/2013/11/21/ao-73-first-fitter-message-uploaded/

Nov 27 2013

Delfi-n3Xt 2400 bps BPSK decoded in Japan

Delfi-n3Xt Satellite

Delfi-n3Xt Satellite

Decoding the Delfi-n3Xt 2400 bps BPSK beacon on 145.870 MHz has proved to be very challenging but Tetsurou Satou JA0CAW in Japan has succeeded in decoding some frames.

He decoded three frames of telemetry in two passes on November 27.

In a recent update Jasper PC4JB from the Delfi-n3Xt team said:

We have noticed however that the DUDe telemetry client does not properly indicate the frequency offset and it is very difficult to get a lock on the signal.

Also our ICOM910 receivers have too limited bandwidth to receive a 2400 bit/s BPSK signal properly (although we had a few packets decoded with this, so it is just on the edge of what is possible). We now use only AR5000 in combination with an SDR to record a wide spectrum in IQ files. This way we can replay the files and retune the signal again and have been able to decode more packets than before. This morning at our second pass we were lucky to have a real time lock on the signal and retrieve many packets, so it is possible to have it right at once. But of course we would like to get the ‘luck-factor’ out of it.

A few people will look into the Costas PLL inside DUDe to see if we can improve its performance.  Meanwhile, you can regard Delfi-n3Xt as a real challenging game to decode packets…

JA0CAW website in Google English http://tinyurl.com/JA0CAW

Delfi-n3Xt telemetry reception http://www.delfispace.nl/operations/delfi-n3xt-telemetry-reception

Delfi-n3Xt http://www.delfispace.nl/operations/radio-amateurs

Dnepr Yasny launch https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/dnepr-november-2013/

Nov 27 2013

WREN heard on 437.405 MHz

UB4UAD screenshot of WREN signal received Nov 26, 2013 at 06:47:13 UT

UB4UAD screenshot of WREN signal received Nov 26, 2013 at 06:47:13 UT

Dmitry Pashkov UB4UAD may have received the first signal from the WREN PocketQube on 437.405 MHz (+/- 10 kHz Doppler).

The WREN team would welcome any further reports. The length of the AFSK-modulated beacon is 1.6 seconds.

The Telemetry Decoder and an Audio File of the beacon are available at http://we.tl/TkWEuhIlnF

Dmitry was using these TLEs:

WREN
1 99922U 13066G 13326.48861818 -.00000055 00000-0 00000+0 0 75
2 99922 097.8066 039.1177 0023760 211.9046 148.0730 14.86334042 151

Source: Dmitry Pashkov UB4UAD http://ub4uad.ru/?p=2917

UB4UAD site in Google English http://tinyurl.com/UB4UAD

WREN on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/StaDoKo

WREN a Ham Radio Slow Scan TV PocketQube Satellite
https://amsat-uk.org/2013/10/24/wren-a-ham-radio-sstv-pocketqube/

Dnepr Yasny launch https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/dnepr-november-2013/

Nov 27 2013

FUNcube-1 Whole Orbit Data Displayed

FUNcube-1 Whole Orbit Data

FUNcube-1 Whole Orbit Data

Whole Orbit Data from the FUNcube-1 (AO-73) amateur radio spacecraft can now be displayed.

Dave G4DPZ writes:

FUNcube-1 shows part of MSE experiment

FUNcube-1 shows part of MSE experiment

We can now display 104 minutes of Whole Orbit Data captured within the satellite and we are working on getting the scaling factors such that all values can be displayed within the same range e.g. Volts instead on mV, Amps instead on mA. etc.

Part of the MSE experiment is nicely represent in the graph on the right:

Heating and cooling when the spacecraft is in sunlight as indicated by the Solar Cell (PV1) voltage.

We will be moving on to High Resolution data next and then mechanisms for downloading the data for local analysis.

Enjoy!

73 Dave, G4DPZ

BBC TV visit FUNcube station at RSGB National Radio Centre
https://amsat-uk.org/2013/11/22/bbc-visit-funcube-station-at-rsgb-national-radio-centre/

FUNcube-1 Deployed !!! https://amsat-uk.org/2013/11/21/funcube-1-deployed/

First Transponder Test https://amsat-uk.org/2013/11/22/funcube-1-ao-73-transponder-tested/

Nov 26 2013

FUNcube-1 (AO-73) Update November 26

FUNcube-1 flight model - Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

FUNcube-1 flight model – Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

The FUNcube Team have some new TLEs for object 2013-066B

2013-066B
1 39417U 13066B   13330.15401895  .00003238  00000-0  45063-3 0   205
2 39417  97.7994  42.6429 0062763 180.4144 179.7025 14.77120863   712

These still seem to be the best fit but the team would appreciate any comments.

There is some discrepancy between the original published frequencies for the spacecraft and those we all experiencing in flight.

It is possible that the transponder input bandpass frequencies may also be varying due with the colder than expected temperatures being experienced.

You can track the RF board temp on the telemetry.The RX board temp varies by some 30 degrees C over a full orbit and this will be affecting the oscillator frequencies.

The team do not yet have final confirmation of the object number so the Doppler shift is probably not yet being precisely counteracted by the various Tracking Apps which will be adding to the confusion.

So just at the moment we cannot give precise guidance on the uplink/downlink formula that users should employ but the team are working on it and would appreciate input and observations.

Analysis of the housekeeping data suggests that all is well on-board FUNcube-1, the team are considering switching to continuous transponder mode for a few hours over the weekend to determine the effect that this would have to the on-board temperatures. Presently we are looking at trying this during an early morning pass over the UK on Sunday, December 1 but this will confirmed nearer the time.

FUNcube-1 has had some good media coverage from the BBC in the past few days:

BBC Radio 5 Outriders Podcast, look for the “Outriders 26 Nov 13: Crypto, crosswords and tiny satellites” edition http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/pods
Direct link to podcast http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/fivelive/pods/pods_20131126-0530a.mp3

BBC One TV and BBC News http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25084547

Capturing FUNcube-1 Telemetry https://amsat-uk.org/2013/11/26/capturing-funcube-1-telemetry/

Nov 26 2013

Capturing FUNcube-1 Telemetry

John Besedic KK4EQF has released a video showing how easy it is to capture data from the FUNcube-1 (AO-73) amateur radio satellite using the Dashboard App, a computer, antenna and the FUNcube Dongle SDR.

Watch FUNcube Satellite Dashboard and FUNcube Dongle Amateur Radio

Dashboard App http://funcube.org.uk/working-documents/funcube-telemetry-dashboard/

Data Warehouse http://warehouse.funcube.org.uk/

Satellite Tracking Apps https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/satellite-tracking/