Apr 3 2014

MO-76 $50sat is Rev-Ed project of the month

Yaesu handheld and $50SAT 1.5U PocketQube

Yaesu handheld and $50SAT 1.5U PocketQube

The MO-76 $50sat amateur radio satellite team is pleased to announce that the PICAXE based $50sat was chosen as Project of the Month by Bath based Revolution Education who supply PICAXE microcontroller development systems.

$50SAT is one of the smallest amateur radio satellites ever launched at 5x5x7.5 cm and weighs only 210 grams. Transmitter power is just 100 mW on 437.505 MHz (+/-9 kHz Doppler shift) FM CW/RTTY. It uses the low cost Hope RFM22B single chip radio and PICAXE 40X2 processor.

$50SAT was a collaborative education project between Professor Bob Twiggs, KE6QMD, Morehead State University and three other radio amateurs, Howie DeFelice, AB2S, Michael Kirkhart, KD8QBA, and Stuart Robinson, GW7HPW.

PICAXE $50sat http://www.picaxe.com/Project-Gallery/50SAT/

Bath based Revolution Education http://www.rev-ed.co.uk/

$50SAT PocketQube Amateur Radio Challenge
https://amsat-uk.org/2014/02/21/50sat-amateur-radio-challenge/

Further information in the $50SAT Dropbox https://www.dropbox.com/sh/l3919wtfiywk2gf/-HxyXNsIr8

$50SAT – Eagle2 – Communications – Release Version V1_1.pdf
http://tinyurl.com/50DollarSatCommunicationsV1-1

Hope RFM22B single chip radio http://www.hoperf.com/rf/fsk_module/RFM22B.htm

There is a discussion group for $50SAT http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/50dollarsat/

50DollarSat http://www.50dollarsat.info/

Apr 3 2014

ARTSAT1:INVADER designated OSCAR 77

ARTSAT INVADER Team Members

ARTSAT INVADER Team Members

The OSCAR number CO-77 was issued to the ARTSAT1:INVADER CubeSat (call sign JQ1ZKK, NORAD ID 39577U) on April 2, 2014.

ARTSAT1:INVADER

ARTSAT1:INVADER

The ARTSAT Project Leader Akihiro Kubota said “We would like to express best thanks to AMSAT-NA and all of you”.

INVADER is an amateur radio “Art Satellite” developed by students at the Tama Art University as a part of the “ARTSAT: Art and Satellite Project” which aims at a practical use of a satellite for art and design.

The 1U CubeSat was launched from the Yoshinobu Launch Complex at the Tanegashima Space Center on Thursday, February 27 at 1837 UT. It carries a CW (A1A) beacon on 437.325 MHz (+/- 10 kHz Doppler shift), a 1200 bps FM AX.25 Packet Radio and FM Digitalker on 437.200 MHz and a low-resolution camera.

Reports of ARTSAT1:INVADER reception can be submitted online at http://api.artsat.jp/report/

Watch ARTSAT1:INVADER Promotional Video

Web http://artsat.jp/

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/artsat

Twitter http://twitter.com/INVADER_ARTSAT

Information on obtaining an OSCAR number for your satellite can be found on the OSCAR Numbers Policy page at http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=2478

ARTSAT students at the Tama Art University

ARTSAT students at the Tama Art University

Apr 3 2014

Oscar 7 and 73 – The old and the new

SUWS WebSDR showing AO7 and 73 on April 3, 2014 at 1040 GMT

SUWS WebSDR showing AO7 and 73 on April 3, 2014 at 1040 GMT

A very good set of co-incident passes of both the AO-7 and FUNcube-1 AO-73 amateur radio satellites occurred over the UK on the morning of Thursday, April 3. The two satellites were launched 39 years apart, AO-7 on November 15, 1974 and FUNcube-1 AO-73 on November 21, 2013.

Simultaneous downlinks from both satellites could be clearly seen and heard on 2m, via the Southampton University Wireless Society (SUWS) online WebSDR at http://websdr.suws.org.uk/ which is available for use world-wide.

23cm_WebSDR_Antenna_up_mastNew Helical antennas designed by Martin Ehrenfried, G8JNJ, the installation of pre-amplifiers by Noel Matthews, G8GTZ, and a new PC build by Phil Crump, M0DNY have helped to dramatically improve the overall performance, especially on the 2m and 70cm Amateur bands.

The FUNcube-1 AO-73 BPSK telemetry beacon on 145.935 MHz is now up to 20dB above the receiver noise floor, and several stations using SSB, including Martin, G8JNJ, could be clearly heard on the 2m downlink via the SDR during last weekends transponder tests.

More improvements are in the pipeline, which we hope will help to further improve the receive sensitivity and reduce the level of interfering signals that can be observed on 2m.

Anybody can operate the SUWS WebSDR to receive signals from Satellites, and we really appreciate users leaving a message in the chatbox to let us know what they have heard.

Regards,
Martin – G8JNJ
http://www.g8jnj.webs.com/

SUWS WebSDR http://websdr.suws.org.uk/

Apr 2 2014

Euroluna Ion Motor CubeSat Video

Romit-1 - Image Credit Euroluna

Romit-1 – Image Credit Euroluna

Palle Haastrup OZ1HIA, President of Euroluna (OZ9LUNA), provides an update on the Romit-1 CubeSat which has ion motor propulsion.

Euroluna are a Danish amateur team participating in the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE contest to be the first privately funded team to land and drive a rover on the Moon.

Their first amateur radio satellite Romit1 is a 2U CubeSat that will transmit on 437.505 MHz using 1200 bps AX.25 packet radio. It will be fitted with an Ion Motor and if everything goes well it should, after a year, be able to raise the orbit from 310 km to 700 km.

It is planned to launch on an Interorbital Systems Neptune 30 rocket.

The team’s latest video update shows Romit-1 going into a vacuum chamber to test outgassing.

Watch Vacuum chamber considerations

Twitter http://twitter.com/Euroluna

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Euroluna/337261739568

Web http://www.euroluna.dk/

Google Lunar X PRIZE http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/

Apr 2 2014

FUNcube-1 / AO-73 Transponder April 5-6

FUNcube-1 (AO-73) - Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

FUNcube-1 (AO-73) – Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

This weekend the FUNcube team are planning to command FUNcube-1 into full time transponder mode.

It will be commanded into transponder mode on a suitable pass over the UK  on the evening  of Friday, April 4 (likely 21:30 UT).

If all goes well, it will be left in transponder mode until the evening of Sunday, April 6 (likely 20:50 UT).

If you hear the transponder on, please feel free to use it! Enjoy!

73s Jim G3WGM

Apr 1 2014

June 19 launch date confirmed for UKube-1

UKube-1 ready for launch

UKube-1 ready for launch

UKube-1 carries a set of AMSAT-UK FUNcube boards providing a 435/145 MHz linear transponder and educational telemetry beacon. Clyde Space have announced that the launch is now confirmed for June 19, 2014 from Baikonur in Kazakhstan, where it will be launched on a Russian Soyuz-2 rocket.

The Clyde Space press release says:

UKube-1 is a 3U CubeSat has been designed and manufactured by Clyde Space at their high-tech facility on the West of Scotland Science Park in Glasgow.  This CubeSat is one of the most advanced of its kind, the complexity of the spacecraft highlighted by the nature of the 6 independent, advanced payloads being flown by the mission.  The UKube-1 mission is the pilot for a collaborative, national CubeSat programme bringing together UK industry and academia to fly educational packages, test new technologies and carry out new space research quickly and efficiently. 

Payloads on UKube-1 include: the first GPS device aimed at measuring plasmaspheric space weather; a camera that will take images of the Earth, and test the effect of radiation on space hardware, using a new generation of imaging sensor; an experiment to demonstrate the feasibility of using cosmic radiation to improve the security of communications satellites and to flight test lower cost electronic systems; an advanced mission interface computer to enable serious number crunching on tiny spacecraft; a high rate S-Band transmitter and patch antenna; an outreach payload that allows school children to interact with the spacecraft.

UKube-1 communications subsystem:
• Telemetry downlink 145.840 MHz
• FUNcube subsystem beacon 145.915 MHz
• 400 mW inverting linear transponder for SSB and CW
– 435.080 -435.060 MHz Uplink
– 145.930 -145.950 MHz Downlink
• 2401.0 MHz S Band Downlink
• 437.425-437.525 MHz UKSEDS myPocketQub Downlink

Clyde Space http://www.clyde-space.com/