A large number of CubeSats carrying amateur radio payloads were launched from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va., on Nov. 19, 2013 at 0115 UT. In total 29 satellites were on the rocket of which 12 operate in Amateur Satellite Service frequencies.
Radio amateurs from around the world have reported receiving signals from the satellites.
As you may be aware, on November 21 at 07:10 UT a Dnepr launch vehicle will lift off from Yasny Launch Base, Russia, carrying a number of payloads.
One of them is the Triton-1 satellite, a 3-unit cubesat developed by ISIS – Innovative Solutions In Space from Delft, The Netherlands. Note that the Triton-2 satellite is not on this launch, its launch date is to be determined at this stage. Triton-2 will be similar to Triton-1, the main difference being that it will also carry an S-band downlink and associated mode US transponder.
Triton-1 is a satellite which will serve as a test bed for an experimental receiver, designed to receive Automatic Identification System (AIS) messages from ships. During the first three months after launch, the plan is to characterize the AIS receiver in orbit. After approximately three months of experimenting, we intend to activate a single channel FM to DSB mode UV transponder (similar to AO-16’s transponder). The exact transponder uplink frequency in the 435-438 MHz band will be announced at that time as well.
We have created an amateur radio information page which contains all information related to its downlink signals at:
A couple of issues have come to light and have been corrected in this latest version.
Fixes in release v806
– enhancements to the audio capture and processing.
– Audio Devices now handled correctly when a Dongle is attached with Dashboard running.
– User Warehouse settings will now be retained for future upgrades to the Dashboard.
– Updates error messages.
– Should no longer crash when going to settings and help pages
To download this latest version of the FUNcube Dashboard and the supporting documentation go to
Astronaut Koichi Wakata KC5ZTA deployed the CubeSats ArduSat-1, ArduSat-X along with Pico Dragon from the International Space Station at 1218 UT on Tuesday, November 19.
An exploded view of the ArduSat (1U configuration)
Pico Dragon was developed by the Việt Nam National Satellite Center (VNSC), University of Tokyo and IHI aerospace. It has a 437.250 MHz CW beacon and 437.365 MHz 1200 bps AFSK AX.25 telemetry.
Mineo Wakita JE9PEL has received the CW signal from Việt Nam’s Pico Dragon CubeSat but nothing was heard from ArduSat-1 or ArduSat-X.
The Pico Dragon beacon has been reported as appearing about 3 kHz high of the expected frequency.
Edward BX1AD reports hearing ArduSat-1: I heard ArduSat-1 CW (FM-modulated 800Hz tone) on 437.000 MHz during the pass 01:51 – 02:00 UT Nov. 20, decoded as following:
WG9XFC-1 D16
WG9XFC-1 E16
WG9XFC-1 A7.27
Watch the launch of PicoDragon and the ArduSat CubeSats
The ArduSat team have released the following information:
If you’re a radio amateur and would like to help out the ArduSat team, you can listen for our Morse beacons and send them to us! This beacon gives us important information – like battery voltage and lets us know that the satellites are still alive!
Both satellites will have a Morse beacon (FM-modulated 800Hz tones) that is transmitted at 20 WPM every two or three minutes on 437.000 MHz. The beacon will be structured in the following format:
ArduSat-1, ArduSat-X and PicoDragon deploy from the ISS
ArduSat-1 beacon: Battery voltage (uint16_t), RX_counter (number of received valid data packets, uint32_t), TX_counter (number of sent valid data packets, uint32_t), “WG9XFC-1″
ArduSat-X beacon: Battery voltage (uint16_t), RX_counter (number of received valid data packets, uint32_t), TX_counter (number of sent valid data packets, uint32_t), “WG9XFC-X”
Submitting a beacon packet:
You can submit a beacon as plain text to nanosatisfi@gmail.com – be sure to put the word “packet” in the subject line so that we can parse it quickly.
Submitting audio:
You can submit audio as an email attachment. Send an email to nanosatisfi@gmail.com – with the audio file as an attachment.
These are the preliminary Keplerian Two-Line Elements (TLEs) for the beaconing CubeSats on the ORS-3 Minotaur-1 launch from the Wallops Flight Facility assuming a liftoff time of 2013-11-20 00:30:00 UT.
The Delfi-n3Xt has a 435/145 MHz linear transponder and is on the November 21 Dnepr launch. Jasper PC4JB sends this update:
Dear radio amateurs,
We have made some changes to the webserver and the telemetry client to resolve some issues with the connection as stated before. It seems that the system is now improved, but we are not a 100% certain if it will be stable for long term. Unfortunately our resources and time are limited, so we have decided to go ahead with the systems as-is.
Attached is the new DUDe client, version 5.0. Please delete the previous version (4.7) in case you still have this on your computer. Thank you for your help and patience so far!
After orbit injection of Delfi-n3Xt, the satellite will first be idle for 25 minutes and then start deployment of about 5 minutes. The satellite will not transmit on the 145.870 MHz during eclipse, so the first time Delfi-n3Xt can theoretically be heard is about 8:38h UTC.
Attached are also the pre-launch TLE set which can be used in tracking programs. We will announce new TLEs on our website after launch as soon as they become available. After a few days, the satellite should appear in one of the regular automatically updated lists.
I am looking forward for a wonderful launch next Thursday, with many radio amateur satellites on board, and of course successful reception of Delfi-n3Xt!
73,
Jasper Bouwmeester PC4JB
Delfi Nanosatellite Program Manager &
Researcher Small Satellite Technology
Chair of Space Systems Engineering
Delft University of Technology
AMSAT-UK 
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