Aug 5 2014

Amateur Radio Village at EMF 2014

EMF 2012 badge of attendee Graham Shirville G3VZV

There will be an amateur radio village and special event station GB2EMF at the Electromagnetic Field EMF 2014 event taking place August 29-31 at Bletchley near Milton Keynes.

EMF 2014 is a festival for anyone interested in radio, electronics, space, homebrewing, robots, UAVs, 3D printing, DIYBio, Internet culture or pretty much anything else you can think of. It is a volunteer effort by a non-profit group, inspired by European and US hacker camps like Chaos Communication Camp, HAR, and toorcamp.

Imagine a camping festival with a power grid and high-speed internet access; a temporary village of geeks, crafters, and technology enthusiasts that’s lit up by night, and buzzing with activity during the day. Over a thousand curious people will descend on the friendly open space to learn, share, and talk about what they love.

Over a long weekend, you can expect to see a huge variety of talks across three stages, a slew of workshops, as well as music, games, and installations dotted around the site.

Attendees are invited to set up their own villages — camps within the camp — where like-minded people can camp together and put on their own activities. The hard-working EMF team of volunteers will supply you with power and internet to your tent.

The special event station GB2EMF will be run from the Amateur Radio Village, it had been hoped to have a 70cm/2m crossband FM repeater operational during the event but it looks as though Ofcom licensing issues may preclude this.

At each EMF event the organisers try and give the attendees a great camp badge. Not just a ‘Hello my name is” sticker but a nice fun piece of technology that they can take away and use after the event.

EMF 2014 takes place August 29-31 near Newton Longville, just South of Bletchley, Milton Keynes, MK17 0BU. Talks include:
• High Altitude Ballooning by Adam Greig M0RND
• Amateur Radio – Practical Sign offs by Paul
• Amateur Radio: The Original Nerd Hobby! by Ryan Sayre 2E0RYS
• An Operator’s Guide to the Enigma Cipher Machine by Simon Singh
• Back to Basics Radio – build a self-powered solderless receiver by Iain Sharp
• InfraRed Communications by Michael Turner
• Surface Mount Soldering – SMD by hand isn’t hard, build your own Persistence of Vision kit to prove it! by Edinburgh Hacklab
Other talks https://www.emfcamp.org/talks/

Announcing TiLDA MKe, the incredible EMF 2014 camp badge
http://blog.emfcamp.org/post/94157161753/announcing-tilda-mke-the-incredible-emf-2014-camp

EMF 2014 https://www.emfcamp.org/
Twitter @emfcamp
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/emfcamp

Report on the EMF 2012 event https://amsat-uk.org/2012/09/01/emf-2012-milton-keynes/

Aug 5 2014

NASA Announces Next Opportunity for CubeSat Space Missions

SpaceX Dragon grappled by ISS Canadarm2 2012-10-10

Space X Dragon Spacecraft

NASA is opening the next round of its CubeSat Launch Initiative, part of the White House Maker Initiative, in an effort to engage the growing community of space enthusiasts that can contribute to NASA’s space exploration goals.

The CubeSat Launch Initiative gives students, teachers and faculty a chance to get hands-on flight hardware development experience in the process of designing, building and operating small research satellites. It also provides a low-cost pathway to space for research in the areas of science, exploration, technology development, education or operations consistent with NASA’s Strategic Plan.

Applicants must submit their proposals electronically by 4:30 p.m. EST, Nov. 25. NASA will select the payloads by Feb. 6, 2015, but selection does not guarantee a launch opportunity. Selected experiments are slated to be flown as auxiliary payloads on agency rocket launches or be deployed from the International Space Station beginning in 2015 and running through 2018. NASA does not provide funding for the development of the small satellites and this opportunity is open only to U.S. non-proﬁt organizations and accredited educational organizations.

One goal of the CubeSat Launch Initiative is extend the successes of space exploration to all 50 states by launching a small satellite from at least one participant in each state in the next five years. To this end, NASA is particularly focused this round on gaining participation in the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and 21 states not previously selected for the CubeSat Launch Initiative. These states are: Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

CubeSats are in a class of research spacecraft called nanosatellites. The base CubeSat dimensions are about 4x4x4 inches (10x10x11 centimeters), which equals one “Cube,” or 1U. CubeSats supported by this launch effort include volumes of 1U, 2U, 3U, and 6U. CubeSats of 1U, 2U and 3U size typically have a mass of about three pounds (1.33 kilograms) per 1U Cube. A 6U CubeSat typically has a mass of about 26.5 pounds (12 kilograms). The CubeSat’s final mass depends on which deployment method is selected.

To date, NASA has selected 114 CubeSats from 29 states, 17 of which have already been launched. Nine more CubeSats are scheduled to go into space in the next 12 months

For additional information about NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative program, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/cubesats

Joshua Buck
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
jbuck@nasa.gov

Aug 5 2014

Online Amateur Radio Satellite Predictor

Pedro Converso LU7ABF reports that AMSAT-LU have developed an online satellite prediction page which quickly provides on a single screen most data required for the amateur radio satellites and includes active maps and graphics.

The predictor allows selection of your location and satellite and shows current and future satellite passes.

The online satellite predictor is at http://amsat.org.ar/sat.htm

Aug 3 2014

ISEE-3 Presentation Video Now Available

ISEE-3 – ICE Spacecraft – Image credit NASA

Mario Lorenz DL5MLO and Achim Vollhardt DH2VA from AMSAT-DL Bochum gave a presentation on the ISEE-3 (ICE) spacecraft to the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium in Guildford, on July 26, 2014.

The video of the presentation which included a live demonstration of telemetry reception from the spacecraft can now be viewed on the web or downloaded to your PC. The presentation slides and a recording of ISEE-3 telemetry are also available.

The International Sun-Earth Explorer (ISEE-3) is a NASA spacecraft that was launched in 1978 to study Earth’s magnetosphere. It was repurposed and renamed the International Cometary Explorer (ICE) in 1983 to study two comets and has been in a heliocentric orbit since then, traveling just slightly faster than Earth. It’s finally catching up with Earth from behind with the closest approach expected in August, 2014.

Since NASA no longer has the capability to receive and command the spacecraft a group of amateurs, with NASA’s permission, decided to do it for themselves.

Amateur Radio Facility at Bochum

On March 1-2, 2014 radio amateurs at the Bochum Amateur Radio Facility in Germany were able to detect the beacon signal from the spacecraft over a distance of 43 million km. After some changes to the ground equipment and aligning the receive antenna to the predicted position in the sky, the 2 GHz beacon signal could positively be identified due to its frequency, the position in the sky and the frequency shift due to the radial velocity (Doppler shift).

The 20m dish at Bochum was used to receive the signals. In 2003, AMSAT-DL converted this former industrial monument into a fully functional groundstation for deep space probes. Since 2009 the facility is being used by volunteers almost full time as ground receive station for data from the STEREO mission with its two spaceprobes monitoring the sun from different viewing angles.

In June Dennis Wingo KD4ETA and other volunteers succeeded in commanding the spacecraft using the Arecibo dish in Puerto Rico.

Links to the ISEE-3 presentation video, slides and a recording of the ISEE-3 telemetry signal are at
https://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/colloquium-2014/presentation-videos/

Watch 2014 ISEE-3 Reboot Trajectory by Mike Loucks

Aug 2 2014

RF Design Stand at AMSAT-UK Colloquium

A delegate from the University of Surrey at the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium, Guildford

The RF Design stand of Kevin Avery G3AAF is a regular feature of the annual AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium in Guildford and we were glad to see him again this year.

As usual the stand was packed full of precision calibrated noise sources, low noise ampifiers, noise gain analysers and other equipment for frequencies up to 11 GHz.

The company also specialises in
● High power RF generation, e.g. CO2 laser plasma power supplies
● Solid state RF power amplifiers to 10kW from LF through UHF
● Short range wireless devices, e.g. Social Alarms

RF Design Amateur Radio and Radio Astronomy products http://www.g8fek.com/

RF Design http://www.rfdesignuk.com/

Videos of the presentations given at the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium can be seen at
https://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/colloquium-2014/presentation-videos/

Aug 1 2014

G3YJO becomes Chair of Surrey Space Centre

Professor Sir Martin Sweeting G3YJO

Professor Sir Martin Sweeting G3YJO is to take up the position of Chair of Surrey Space centre (SSC), Professor Guglielmo Aglietti takes on the role of Director of the Centre.

“SSC has been steadily expanding its staff and activities and my new role as Chair will enable me better to help with the strategic research planning and external relations, as well as mentoring our staff and students – all of which is needed to take the Centre to even greater heights,” said Professor Sir Martin. “SSC grew from the original ‘UoSAT Unit’, a small research group I formed some 35 years ago as a PhD student. Its subsequent growth and international reputation established by the hard work of our excellent staff and students during these decades, alongside the remarkable success of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), has been a source of great satisfaction to me and benefit to the University.”

“I am truly honoured to have been given the opportunity to lead the Surrey Space Centre, and I would like to thank Professor Sir Martin Sweeting and Professor Jonathan Seville for their trust in my capabilities, and all the colleagues in the Centre for their support,” added Professor Aglietti. “I believe that SSC staff is our greatest asset and I am very fortunate to work with such talented colleagues, who made the success of SSC, creating the largest and best known UK academic institution working in space engineering. I believe that our partnership with SSTL and Airbus is best positioned to bridge the gap between academic research and industrial applications. I am excited about working with my colleagues in my new position to ensure SSC’s continuous success.”

Professor Jonathan Seville, Dean of Surrey’s Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, concluded, “I would like to take this opportunity to thank Martin for his many years of dedicated service as Director. SSC has shown substantial growth over the years with many notable successes under his leadership. Space continues to be a ‘flagship’ activity for the University. I look forward to working with Guglielmo in his new role and hearing of the continuing achievements of the Centre.”

Surrey Space Centre http://www.surrey.ac.uk/ssc/

UOSAT-1 https://amsat-uk.org/2011/10/12/30th-anniversary-of-uosat-1-oscar-9/

UOSAT-2 https://amsat-uk.org/2014/03/05/oscar-11-uosat-2-celebrates-30-years-in-orbit/

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