Sep 1 2013

Long duration 434.5 MHz balloon launched

A small foil pico balloon - Image credit Leo Bodnar

A small foil pico balloon – Image credit Leo Bodnar

Late Sunday afternoon, September 1, Leo Bodnar launched a long-duration pico balloon running DominoEX 16 on 434.500 MHz USB. It is expected to travel across Europe.

The balloon was launched from Silverstone and aims to test some solar power modes and check for altitude stability.

The expected flight path is at http://ready.arl.noaa.gov/hypubout/15224_trj001.gif

Downlink data contains of two lines of telemetry every ~2 minutes during the daytime and ~5 minutes in the night.  The time between data is filled with beeps at 3 sec intervals.

Flight name: B-11
Frequency:   434.500 MHz, USB, DominoEX 16
Balloon:     36″ foil Qualatex, Helium
Launch site: Silverstone Circuit, UK

Pico balloons are proving increasing popular with amateurs. The small foil party balloons can only carry ultra light balloon payloads, typically weighing less than 100 grams. This presents a challenge to the builders to produce a transmitter, GPS, batteries and antenna that are small and light enough to be carried.

Balloons such as these do not go to extremes of altitude but can float at between 3,000 and 7,000 metres for an extended period. The 434 MHz transmitters can have a radio range of 300 km.

Leo Bodnar balloons http://www.leobodnar.com/balloons/

Real-time track of B-11 and other balloons http://spacenear.us/tracker/

Beginners Guide to Tracking using dl-fldigi http://ukhas.org.uk/guides:tracking_guide

To get details of upcoming UK balloon launches subscribe to the UKHAS Mailing List by sending a blank email to this address:
ukhas+subscribe@googlegroups.com

UKHAS Balloon Conference Saturday, September 7, London – live web streaming
https://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/14/amateur-radio-foundation-exam-and-nb-tv-at-ukhas-conference/

Aug 30 2013

FUNcube-1 Launch Date Announced

Final gluing of FUNcube-1 bolt by Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG – Image credit Gerard Aalbers

Final gluing of FUNcube-1 bolt by Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG – Image credit Gerard Aalbers

AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NL are delighted to be able to announce that they have been advised that the launch date for FUNcube-1 is now expected to be late November 2013. The date is still subject to final approval by the authorities.

FUNcube-1 flight model - Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

FUNcube-1 flight model – Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

The FUNcube project started back in 2009 so it is a great relief that we now have a confirmed date for lift off.

FUNcube-1 will lift off from the Yasny launch base located in the Orenburg Region, Russia on a Dnepr Launch Vehicle that will insert multiple satellites into a 600 km, 97.8º inclination sun-synchronous orbit.

FUNcube-1 is a 1U CubeSat that will provide a signal directly from a satellite in space to the classroom, and can easily be received by schools and colleges. The target audience is students at both primary and secondary levels. The information will be displayed in an attractive format and provide stimulation and encouragement for students to become interested in all STEM (Science Technology Engineering & Maths) subjects in an unique way. In addition the spacecraft is also carrying a 435/145 MHz transponder for radio amateurs to use for communication using SSB or CW.

Flight and Engineering Models of FUNcube-1 with FUNcube-2 boards

Flight and Engineering Models of FUNcube-1 with FUNcube-2 boards

The spacecraft itself has now been completed and the last external panel was finally screwed and glued in place on Friday, August 30 at the facilities of ISIS BV in Delft. FUNcube-1 will be subjected to some final testing and battery charging on Tuesday when it will also be set into its pre-launch configuration. It will then be placed into its ISIPOD on Wednesday ready for transport to the launch site.

Communication subsystem:
• 300 mW Inverting linear transponder for SSB and CW
– Uplink      435.150 – 435.130 MHz
– Downlink  145.950 – 145.970 MHz
• 300 mW BPSK Telemetry  145.935 MHz (30 mW when transponder active)

More information about how to receive the signals from FUNcube-1 will be made available over the forthcoming weeks at the www.funcube.org.uk website.

A recent presentation about the FUNcube project by Graham Shirville G3VZV and Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG can be viewed online at http://www.batc.tv/streams/amsat1311 or downloaded from http://www.batc.tv/vod/Funcube1.flv

A PDF of the slides from that presentation is here FUNcube_Colloquium2013a

AMSAT-UK FUNcube Mission Patch Rev4 20100609

AMSAT-UK FUNcube Mission Patch

FUNcube information sheets:
•  FUNcube_Project Information_aug2013
•  FUNcube_Educational_Outreach aug2013

FUNcube-1 https://amsat-uk.org/funcube/funcube-cubesat/

FUNcube Yahoo Group https://amsat-uk.org/funcube/yahoo-group/

FUNcube website http://www.funcube.org.uk/

Some of the other satellites that may be on the same Dnepr launch vehicle are listed at https://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/22/dnepr-cubesat-launch/

AMSAT-UK on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/AMSAT-UK/208113275898396
AMSAT-UK on Twitter https://twitter.com/AMSAT_UK

Join AMSAT-UK http://shop.amsat.org.uk/shop/category_9/Join-Amsat-UK.html

Aug 29 2013

CEPT considers use of 5830-5850 MHz satellite band

CEPT LogoThe CEPT SE24 Short Range Devices meeting M72 took place in Vienna on August 26-27, 2013.

The meeting discussed the use of the frequency bands 5350-5470 MHz and 5725-5925 MHz (‘WAS/RLAN extension bands’) for wireless access systems including radio local area networks (WAS/RLANs).

Any use of Amateur Satellite Service downlink band of 5830-5850 MHz for this purpose would inevitably raise the noise floor making the weak satellite signals even harder to receive.

Read the CEPT working document at M72_Info2_SE24_att_RSCOM13-32rev3_Draft Mandate CEPT 5 GHz RLAN

CEPT SE24 meeting documents can be downloaded from
http://www.cept.org/ecc/groups/ecc/wg-se/se-24/client/meeting-documents

Aug 29 2013

A Ham Radio AX.25 Open Source Soundcard Modem

Audio from AX.25 packet radio - Image credit Sivan Toledo 4X6IZ

Audio from AX.25 packet radio – Image credit Sivan Toledo 4X6IZ

AX.25 packet radio is currently the most popular data protocol for use in CubeSats.

Radio amateur Alejandro Santos LU4EXT is developing extmodem an open source APRS compatible AX.25 packet radio modem.

It is currently capable of both sending and receive packets at 1200 bps AFSK. The main feature of the software is that it is currently running three different demodulators in parallel, increasing the quality of reception. The first modem is Thomas Sailer HB9JNX / AE4WA‘s multimon, the other two are described by Sivan Toledo 4X6IZ in an article in the July/August 2012 issue of QEX.

Download extmodem for Windows from
http://extradio.sourceforge.net/extmodem.html

QEX article – A High-Performance Sound-Card AX.25 Modem
http://www.tau.ac.il/~stoledo/Bib/Pubs/QEX-JulAug-2012.pdf

APRS destination address for ham radio satellites
https://amsat-uk.org/2013/08/23/aprs-destination-address-for-ham-radio-satellites/

LU4EXT on Twitter https://twitter.com/alejolp

Aug 28 2013

SpaceUp India 2012 Videos

FSpace F-1 Amateur Radio CubeSatDhruva Space have released several videos recorded at the SpaceUp India event held in December 2012.

Among the presentations are those from
• Thu Trong Vu XV9AA
• Hackerspace Global Grid
• Suri VU2MY

Watch SpaceUp India 2012 – F1 CubeSat from Vietnam, Thu Trong Vu XV9AA

Watch SpaceUp India 2012 – Hackerspace Global Grid, Uni Stuttgart

Watch SpaceUp India 2012 – Amateur Radio, Suri, VU2MY

Other presentations from the event can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/user/DhruvaSpace

SpaceUp India 2013 takes place December 6-7 in Manit, Bhopal http://spaceupindia.org/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/SpaceUp-India/479467792071870

SpaceUp http://spaceup.org/

Aug 26 2013

Giant leap for radio ham’s Pi-powered teddy bear

2013-08-26--14-45-58-PIE-51FBBC News reports on radio amateur Dave Akerman M6RPI‘s successful 434 MHz balloon flight on Monday, August 26, 2013.

The balloon carried transmitters on 434.200 MHz and 434.250 MHz and transmitted images using the amateur radio Slow Scan Digital Video (SSDV) standard, they are available here.

The BBC say:

A soft toy controlled by a Raspberry Pi computer has re-created Felix Baumgartner’s record-breaking skydive.Mr Baumgartner made the highest ever freefall in October 2012 when he jumped from a balloon about 39km up.

A bear called Babbage has now leapt from a similar height after ascending beneath a hydrogen-filled balloon.

The Raspberry Pi low-cost micro-computer inside Babbage transmitted his position and shot stills and video throughout the flight and descent.

Read the BBC news story at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23840596

See the SSDV images at http://ssdv.habhub.org/

Slow Scan Digital Video (SSDV) Guide http://ukhas.org.uk/guides:ssdv

Dave M6RPI website http://www.daveakerman.com/

Dave M6RPI had made an initial attempt on Saturday but the bear’s release mechanism didn’t work
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/august2013/434_mhz_balloons_launch_this_weekend.htm

To get details of upcoming UK balloon launches subscribe to the UKHAS Mailing List by sending a blank email to this address: ukhas+subscribe@googlegroups.com