Monthly Archives: September 2015

Sep 28 2015

LAPAN-A2 FM and APRS satellite launched

LAPAN-A2 beacon - Iwan Nawi YC3BVG

LAPAN-A2 beacon – Iwan Nawi YC3BVG

The Indonesian amateur radio society ORARI report that on Monday, September 28, 2015 04:30 hours UT, the LAPAN-A2/ORARI satellite was launched from the Sriharikota Range (SHAR) of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India. Deployment took place  23 minutes later.

LAPAN-A2

LAPAN-A2

LAPAN-A2 is in a 650 km orbit with an inclination of 6 degrees. It takes about 110 minutes to orbit the Earth and should pass over Indonesia and other near equatorial locations 14 times a day.

The low inclination equatorial orbit means it will be receivable from about 30 degrees North to 30 degrees South. About a third of the world’s population, over 2.4 billion people, live within the coverage area of the satellite.

The ground station at the LAPAN Satellite Technology Centre in Rancabungur, Bogor has made contact with LAPAN-A2. There will now be a period of activation and testing of all the satellite systems and it is expected to be about a month before the amateur radio payload becomes available for general use.

The primary aims of the mission are Earth observation using an RGB camera and maritime traffic monitoring using AIS, both using frequencies outside the Amateur Satellite Service.

The IARU has coordinated these frequencies for LAPA-A2/ORARI:
• 437.425 MHz telemetry beacon
• 435.880 MHz FM uplink
• 145.880 MHz FM downlink (5 watts)
• 145.825 APRS digipeater (5 watts)

The archipelago of Indonesia is part of the global “ring of fire” experiencing frequent natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, eruption of volcanoes, and floods. From past experience, the ground communication infrastructure is often damaged, limiting the ability to coordinate the aid effort in the stricken region. A satellite based telecommunication system is usually the only means of communication.

The LAPAN-A2 microsatellite carries the amateur radio short text message repeater (APRS) and a voice repeater. The APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System ) and the voice communication payload is developed by LAPAN using the LAPAN-TUBSAT UHF/VHF radio heritage along with a COTS APRS modem. The primary application of APRS is intended for communications in support of disaster mitigation and relief efforts.

LAPAN-A2 on the Earth Observation Portal
https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/l/lapan-a2

Listen to a recording of the 437.425 MHz telemetry signal at https://chirb.it/MrgLGy

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

AMSAT-ID Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/831872960241607/

Organisasi Amatir Radio Indonesia (ORARI) in Google English http://tinyurl.com/IndonesiaORARI

LAPAN-A2 paper
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/259844289_Development_of_Micro-satellite_Technology_at_the_Indonesian_National_Institute_of_Aeronautics_and_Space_%28LAPAN%29

The IARU Region 3 Conference takes place in Bali, Indonesia, October 12-16, 2015
https://amsat-uk.org/2015/08/21/iaru-region-3-act-on-band-plan-satellite/

Sep 27 2015

Ofcom clarifies position on SES call signs

Ofcom-logo-col-tOfcom had said NO to Special Event Station (GB) callsigns being used in the bands above 440 MHz for Amateur Satellite or Terrestrial operation.

The RSGB intervened and Ofcom have now issued revised clarification – Operation above 440 MHz with SES (GB) calls is permitted, so is operation in the 5 MHz segments.

It appears the SES call sign application form OfW287 is rather old and doesn’t list all the available bands. Fortunately that doesn’t matter since the NoV issued for the SES call sign is not band specific.

Well done RSGB !

September 22 – Special Event Callsigns and Microwave Bands
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2015/september/special_event_callsigns_and_microwave_bands.htm

UK Microwave Group Yahoo Reflector http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ukmicrowaves

The Radio Society of Great Britain is inviting all radio amateurs in the UK and Crown Dependencies to complete an online questionnaire. You can find the survey at http://www.rsgb.org/ar-survey

Essex Ham interviewed RSGB President John Gould G3WKL about the 2015 Amateur Radio Survey. Listen to the interview at http://www.essexham.co.uk/news/rsgb-survey-2015.html

Sep 26 2015

Beijing launches three more amateur radio satellites

Chang Zheng-11 (CZ-11) launch September 25, 2015

Chang Zheng-11 (CZ-11) launch September 25, 2015

On September 25, 2015 at 01:41 UT Beijing launched three satellites with amateur radio payloads from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) in the Gobi desert, Inner Mongolia. They were carried on a new launcher, Beijing’s first solid-fuel rocket Chang Zheng 11 (CZ-11), and deployed in a 470 x 485 km, 97.3 degree inclination Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO).

This launch occurred just over 5 days after nine satellites carrying amateur radio payloads were launched by Beijing from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center (TSLC) in Shanxi on September 19 at 23:01 UT.

The satellites were developed by students at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in collaboration with the Shanghai Engineering Center for Microsatellites (SECM).

The main goal of the mission is to experiment with Software Defined Radio (SDR) in space. The amateur radio payloads will be used for exchanging Telemetry, Tracking and Command (TT&C) information with the amateur radio ground control station. Information about the telemetry will be made publicly available so that radio amateurs around the world may track and monitor the health of the satellites.

A Tianwang-1 2U CubeSat

A Tianwang-1 2U CubeSat

Other payloads include a video camera along with receivers for dual-band GPS/Beidou, Maritime Automatic Identification System (AIS) and Aeronautical Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B).

Using MEMS based cold-gas micropropulsion it is planned to demonstrate formation flying by two of the CubeSats along with inter satellite communication using GAMALINK 2.4 GHz spread spectrum at 1 Mbps and the CubeSat Space Protocol (CSP).

The TW-1A and TW-1B CubeSats are 2U (20x10x10cm) in size while TW-1C is 3U (30x10x10cm).

Michael Chen BD5RV reports the satellites have these downlinks in the 435-438 MHz ITU Amateur Satellite Service allocation:
• Tianwang-1A (TW-1A / SECM): Camera, 435.645 MHz GMSK 4800/9600 CSP TX interval 10s
• Tianwang-1B (TW-1B / NJUST-2): AIS, 437.645 MHz GMSK 4800/9600 CSP TX interval 20s
• Tianwang-1C (TC-1C / NJFA-1): ADS-B, 435.645 MHz GMSK 4800/9600 CSP TX interval 10s
Note: TW-1A and 1C use the same frequency.

On the same launch was the technology demonstration satellite Pujian-1 which has WiFi for intra-satellite communications.

Object identification from information supplied by Nico Janssen PA0DLO and Zhang Xuan BH4DBE:
TW-1A object 40928, 2015-051B
TW-1B object 40927, 2015-051C, (other IDs: TianWang 1B, NJUST-2)
TW-1C object 40926, 2015-051D
Pujian 1 object 40925, 2015-051A
Chang Zheng 11 (CZ-11) fourth stage object 40929, 2015-051E

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

Shanghai Engineering Centre for Microsatellites http://www.microsate.com/en/

GAMALINK in Space http://tekevernews.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/gamalink-in-space.html

IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination pages http://amsat.org.uk/iaru/

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

Adding new satellites to SatPC32, Gpredict and Nova
https://amsat-uk.org/2013/11/23/adding-new-satellites-to-satpc32/

Sep 25 2015

LilacSat-2 FM Transponder Schedule

Receiving LilacSat-2, Sept 20, 2015 - Harbin Institute Of Technology Amateur Radio Club BY2HIT

Receiving LilacSat-2, Sept 20, 2015 Harbin Institute Of Technology Amateur Radio Club BY2HIT

Wei Mingchuan, BG2BHC, reports that the amateur radio FM voice transponder on the LilacSat-2 satellite should now be activated on a regular basis. LilacSat-2 is scheduled to switch on the FM transponder for 24 hours at about 2200 UT each Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

First LilacSat-2 infrared image Sept 24, 2015

First LilacSat-2 infrared image Sept 24, 2015

The FM transponder (and APRS) downlink is 437.200 MHz, remember the Doppler shift on the downlink during a pass will be about +/- 10 kHz. If your radio has selectable FM filters use the wider filter designed for 5 kHz deviation FM, sometimes referred to as a 25 kHz channel spacing filter.

LilacSat-2 was deployed into a 528 km by 551 km 97.5 degree inclination orbit. The NASA Orbital Lifetime Software indicates the satellite might remain in orbit for 18 years before reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere.

On September 24, 2015 the student team at the Harbin Institute of Technology successfully downloaded the first infrared image from the satellite.

Frequency information is given on the LilacSat-2 Radio Info page
http://lilacsat.hit.edu.cn/?page_id=257

Harbin Institute Of Technology Amateur Radio Club BY2HIT
Weibo: http://www.weibo.com/by2hit
QRZ: http://www.qrz.com/db/BY2HIT
Web in Google English: http://tinyurl.com/BY2HIT

AMSAT-UK LilacSat-2 page with tracking links https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/communications/lilacsat-2/

LilacSat-2 and some of the team

LilacSat-2 and some of the team

Sep 24 2015

ESA invites radio amateurs to listen for AAUSAT-5 CubeSat

AAUSat-5 and Deployer - Credit ESA

AAUSat-5 and Deployer – Credit ESA

The AAUSAT-5 amateur radio CubeSat built by students at the University of Aalborg, Denmark is planned to be released from the International Space Station sometime in the week of October 5.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is inviting radio amateurs to listen out for the signals from the satellite. The first to send in a recorded signal from AAUSAT-5 will receive a prize from ESA’s Education Office.

Launched on August 19, 2015 to the ISS, the Danish student CubeSat is now waiting for its deployment from the Japanese Kibo module’s airlock. An astronaut will manipulate the Kibo robotic arm to lift AAUSAT-5 from the airlock and place it in orbit.

Once deployed from the ISS the CubeSat will begin transmitting signals to Earth that can be picked up by anyone with common amateur radio equipment. ESA challenges anyone to record the signal and send it to ESA (cubesats@esa.int) and Aalborg University (studentspace@space.aau.dk).

The satellite will transmit on 437.425 MHz using CW and GMSK. The 30 WPM CW beacon will transmit every 3 minutes and the 9600 bps GMSK every 30 seconds.

The first correct email received will win the following prizes:
• ESA/AAUSAT5 poster with signatures of the team members
• ESA Education goodie bag
• Scale 1:1 3D printed model of the AAUSAT-5 satellite

Read the ESA article at
http://www.esa.int/Education/CubeSats_-_Fly_Your_Satellite/Be_the_first_to_catch_the_signals_from_a_new_Satellite_in_orbit

AAUSAT-5 amateur radio information http://www.space.aau.dk/aausat5/index.php?n=Main.HamInfo

ESA AAUSAT-5 Twitter hashtag #AAUSAT5 https://twitter.com/ESA__Education

Danish CubeSats head for ISS https://amsat-uk.org/2015/08/19/danish-cubesats-head-for-iss/

Sep 23 2015

Fox Telemetry Decoder Software Available

Fox-1A Flight Unit

Fox-1A Flight Unit

Chris Thompson G0KLA reports on the AMSAT Bulletin Board that the telemetry decoder software for the Fox FM transponder CubeSats is now available for download. At the time of writing Fox-1A was scheduled to be launched on Ocober 8, 2015 with Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D slated for early 2016.

Version 1.0 of the FoxTelem software, the Fox Telemetry Decoder is being released to enable setup, testing, and debugging of your Fox-1A ground station prior to the launch of the satellite. FoxTelem is used to demodulate, store and analyze telemetry data from AMSAT’s Fox series of CubeSats.

Fox-1 satellites include two telemetry formats:

Fox1-Cliff-Logo+ Slow Speed, also called Data Under Voice (DUV) is 200 bps FSK data sent at the same time as the transponder audio. Whenever the transmitter is on, data is being sent. This happens during beacons and during live QSOs.

+ High Speed is 9600 bps FSK sent instead of the transponder. This is used for data intensive experiments such as the Virginia Tech Camera. This is only active when commanded from the ground. You can recognize High Speed because it sounds like an old school computer modem.

FoxTelem will receive and store both formats assuming you can feed it audio that does not have the frequencies below 200 Hz filtered.  For High Speed, the audio must also extend to include the full 9600bps bandwidth of the FM signal. For both modes this is best achieved from a Software Defined Radio or from the 9600 bps packet port of some radios. The FoxTelem User Guide provides more details.

Fox-1D-LogoFoxTelem is supplied as an archive file (.zip on windows, .dmg file on MacOs, .gzip on Linux). Links for downloading can be found at http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=4532
You can unzip the contents and put it in the directory of your choice. Also, detailed in the User Guide, are instructions to select the sound source and set received audio levels on your computer.

Until Fox-1A is launched you can confirm everything is working by testing with test wav file which will be available from:
http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/recordings
Access to the test file is accomplished by selecting “Load Wav File” from the FoxTelem File menu, then navigate to the directory where you saved the test wav file. Once you press the start button the file will play through the decoder.

The FoxTelem page can also be accessed from the main AMSAT web page:
http://www.amsat.org –> Fox Project –> FoxTelem Software for Windows, Mac, & Linux

The direct link to the page is: http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=4532

FoxTelem Notes:
• Please make sure “upload to server” is enabled in settings
• Goto INPUT tab, STOP the input, then FILE – DELETE PAYLOAD FILES, then START input again Just once, to clear test data.

Fox-Cam page http://amsat.us/?page_id=38