Dec 4 2012

Australian Radio Ham’s Spacecraft Missions

Inner West Courier – Robert Brand VK2URB

The Inner West Courier reports that Robert Brand VK2URB is hoping to break new ground with two space missions he is participating in.

The Sydney newspaper says he is involved in the communications system for the Team Stellar Lunar mission scheduled for 2014, as part of an entry in the Google Lunar X Prize.

In addition he is working on a UK-based Mars mission, scheduled for 2020, that aims to sniff out biological methane.

Read the newspaper article – From Sydney to Mars mission
http://inner-west-courier.whereilive.com.au/news/story/from-sydney-telecommunications-to-navigating-mars-mission/

Robert’s son Jason VK2FJAB was interviewed on Channel 9 TV earlier this year.
10 year old Radio Ham talks of his DIY Space Projects on TV http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=8821

Dec 4 2012

Australian Radio Ham's Spacecraft Missions

Inner West Courier – Robert Brand VK2URB

The Inner West Courier reports that Robert Brand VK2URB is hoping to break new ground with two space missions he is participating in.

The Sydney newspaper says he is involved in the communications system for the Team Stellar Lunar mission scheduled for 2014, as part of an entry in the Google Lunar X Prize.

In addition he is working on a UK-based Mars mission, scheduled for 2020, that aims to sniff out biological methane.

Read the newspaper article – From Sydney to Mars mission
http://inner-west-courier.whereilive.com.au/news/story/from-sydney-telecommunications-to-navigating-mars-mission/

Robert’s son Jason VK2FJAB was interviewed on Channel 9 TV earlier this year.
10 year old Radio Ham talks of his DIY Space Projects on TV http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=8821

Dec 2 2012

Vintage Documentary of IO-26 ITAMSAT

IO-26 ITAMSAT

This documentary shows the preparation and launch of the first Italian amateur radio satellite,  September 26, 1993. It was encoded and uploaded from original video master.

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Dec 2 2012

A Day in the Life of SkyCube Engineering

Tim DeBenedictis and Anna Vital with the SkyCube satellite

This video shows some typical SkyCube nano-satellite engineering work at Southern Stars’ office in San Francisco, CA. Chris verifies a solution to a serial data output problem on the main computer processor board; Scott puts solar panels together; and Mark tests the balloon inflation mechanism.

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Nov 30 2012

Satellites in a box – Radio Aurora Explorer Video

In this video radio amateur Professor Jamie Cutler KF6RFX highlights the ability of CubeSats to test new technology in space at low cost.

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Nov 29 2012

DIY 6 GHz comb generator

Assembled 2400 MHz Signal Source Kit

The publication Test & Measurement World recently mentioned the 2.4 GHz Signal Source Kits developed by radio amateur and AMSAT-UK member David Bowman G0MRF.

The article says:

“Most simple DIY comb generators seem to run out of steam about 1 GHz. I recently ran into David Bowman’s 2.4 GHz circuit and measured an upper usable range of about 6 GHz. While greatly attenuated above 3 GHz, this circuit should still be valuable for measuring semi-anechoic chambers in the GHz ranges.”

Read the full article at
http://www.tmworld.com/electronics-blogs/the-emc-blog/4402169/DIY-6-GHz-comb-generator

The 2.4 GHz Signal Source Kits are available from the AMSAT-UK shop at
http://shop.amsat.org.uk/shop/article_6/2.4-GHz-Signal-Source-Kits-by-G0MRF.html

Additional information on the kit is available at http://www.g0mrf.com/source2.htm