New ISS Commander Daniel Burbank KC5ZSX
Three radio amateurs returned safely to Earth on Monday, having completed nearly six months in space onboard the International Space Station (ISS) Continue reading
International Space Station
The Central Research Institute of Machine Building (TSNIIMASH) in Russia is conducting a series of space plasma experiments in order to evaluate the shape of previously observed “dead” zone, or shadowing due to the firing of an onboard arcjet plasma source.
Radio Amateurs are invited to participate in the Space plasma experiment “Shadow” onboard the International Space Station (ISS) taking place Nov 25-28 and Dec 2-5.
Integration of Electric Thrust (ET) onboard a spacecraft poses a certain set of problems including electromagnetic compatibility of ET. One matter of interest is that highly ionized exhaust plumes of ET may scatter RF-signals producing large “dead” zone for communications. Continue reading
Hacksat One mission decal created by Nick Cramp
In September 2011 members of London Hackspace took an Amateur Radio Foundation course at their original Shoreditch venue. It was led by Chris Driver G6CMD of the Verulam Amateur Radio Club and all passed. It is hoped further courses will be held in the future.
The group are involved in a wide range of electronic projects, one of their latest is a tiny Amateur Radio satellite called HackSat One. This Sprite will have a downlink of 10 milliwatts on 437 MHz and is planned to be deployed into Earth orbit by KickSat in early 2014. Zac Manchester KD2BHC of the KickSat development team has said they are aiming for the Sprites to be receivable using an AMSAT-UK FUNcube Dongle SDR.
London Hackspace members build a wide range of electronic projects
The Hack Space, with dedicated classrooms and workshops is in Hackney road, London, E2 9DY. It is open to members 24 hours a day. Regular free hack evenings and workshops are held which are open to everyone.
London Hackspace is a registered Amateur Radio exam centre http://www.rsgb.org/local/examcentres/region.php?id=9
Amateur Radio Training http://wiki.london.hackspace.org.uk/view/
Project:Amateur_Radio_Training
HackSat One http://wiki.london.hackspace.org.uk/view/Project:HackSat1
London Hackspace Project: Hoxton Space Centre
KickSat – a personal spacecraft of your own in space
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/251588730/kicksat-your-personal-spacecraft-in-space
The BBC Radio 4 show Click On, broadcast November 14, visited London Hackspace. Download the Podcast at http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/clickon/clickon_20111114-1700c.mp3
2009 BBC TV news on Hack Spaces http://www.southgatearc.org/news/june2009/diy_gadgetry.htm
There are Hack Spaces around the country where people meet up to carry out constructional projects see http://hackspace.org.uk/
According to predictions from Mineo Wakita, JE9PEL, the ARISSat-1satellite is due to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere in early April 2012.
Launched from the International Space Station on August 8, the satellite is traveling in a low orbit and is steadily losing altitude. The rate of orbital decay may be accelerated by increasing atmospheric density caused by increased solar activity. With that factor in mind, some ARISSat-1 decay predictions suggest re-entry as early as February 1.
ARISSat-1 remains quite active, sending voice messages, digital telemetry and Slow Scan TV images.
Amateurs have also been able to enjoy contacts through ARISSat-1’s linear transponder despite the fact that the UHF antenna was apparently damaged prior to (or during) deployment.
Last month, AMSAT-NA announced a competition to see who can record the last bits of telemetry as ARISSat-1 makes its final plunge.
To decode the CW or BPSK telemetry you must use the ARISSATTLM software for Windows or Mac OS. The CW signal is transmitted at 145,919 MHz and the BPSK signal appears at 145,920 MHz, plus or minus Doppler.
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The amateur radio station located in the Columbus module is currently operational with the UHF Ericsson FM transceiver and AX.25 packet system using the frequency of 437.550 MHz.
To utilize the the packet system, operators need to set the UNPROTO path to ARISS (the id is RS0ISS) for digi relay or they may connect to the BBS using the callsign RS0ISS-1. The packet beacon is set for 2 minute intervals so it may not appear to be active over many parts of the world but keep listening and mind the Doppler shift (+ or – 10 kHz).
To check when the ISS is in range see the real time tracking at http://www.issfanclub.com/ (top left).
AMSAT-UK publishes a colour A4 newsletter, OSCAR News, which is full of Amateur Satellite information. A sample edition of the newsletter can be seen at http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf
Join AMSAT-UK online here http://alturl.com/avuca
AMSAT-UK 
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