Tag Archives: Amateur Radio

Oct 1 2015

ISS CubeSats deployed Monday, October 5

Deployment of AAUSat-5 and GomX-3 from the ISS - Credit NASA, NanoRacks

Deployment of AAUSat-5 and GomX-3 from the ISS – Credit NASA, NanoRacks

Two Danish CubeSats carrying amateur radio payloads were successfully deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday, October 5 at 1405 UT.

AAUSat-5 and Deployer - Credit ESA

AAUSat-5 and Deployer – Credit ESA

Originally launched to the ISS on August 19, 2015, the two CubeSats, AAUSat-5 and GomX-3, were deployed from the ISS Japanese Kibo module airlock using the Kibo robotic arm.

After deployment the CubeSats stated transmitting signals to Earth that can be picked up by anyone with common amateur radio equipment. The frequencies to listen on are:

• AAUSat-5 – 437.425 MHz with 30 WPM CW beacon every 3 minutes and 9600 bps GMSK packet every 30 seconds

• GomX-3 – 437.250 MHz with 1200-9600 bps GMSK data using CSP protocol

AAUSat-5 received by Jan van Gills PE0SAT on October 5, 2015 at 1800 UT

AAUSat-5 received by Jan van Gills PE0SAT on October 5, 2015 at 1800 UT

AAUsat-5 is a 1-Unit CubeSat built by students at Aalborg University. The primary mission is to test an improved receiver for detecting Automatic Identification System (AIS) signals emitted by ships. Down on the ground, these signals are short-range, operating mainly on a ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship basis, leaving large spans of the world’s oceans uncovered. But signals also travel up to orbital altitude, opening up the prospect of worldwide monitoring.

GomX-3 is a 3-Unit CubeSat which aims to demonstrate new radio technology. A reconfigurable software-defined radio receiver will intercept L-band spot beams from telecom satellites in geostationary orbit, to provide independent measurements of their signal strength and quality. This receiver can also be repurposed to receive any other L-band signal, such as navigation satellite signals or radar beams.

A receiver will pick up Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) signals automatically broadcast by civilian aircraft, to build up an overview of regional air traffic.

GomX-3 received by Mineo Wakita JE9PEL October 5, 2015 from 1505-1515 UT

GomX-3 received by Mineo Wakita JE9PEL October 5, 2015 from 1505-1515 UT

Additionally there is a high data rate X-band transmitter developed by Syrlinks. The CNES X-band ground station in Kourou, South America, will be used to demonstrate the link.

The GomX-3 amateur radio payload uses a NanoCom AX100 UHF transceiver and ANT430 antenna.

Mineo Wakita JE9PEL in Japan reported receiving the GomX-3 beacon in Japan from 1505-1510 UT on October 5 and Luciano Fabricio PY5LF reported hearing GomX-3 in Brazil at 1605 UT. Jan van Gills PE0SAT in the Netherlands received AAUSat-5 at 1800 UT.

The two spacecraft may have a lifetime of around 7 months before they burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere.

GomX-3 telemetry beacon https://www.dropbox.com/s/x4mipoz9gmqhlib/GOMX3_Beacon.pdf

AAUSat-5 telemetry beacon http://www.space.aau.dk/aausat5/index.php?n=Main.HamInfo

ESA article CubeSats set for Monday Release (with video)
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/ESA_CubeSats_set_for_Monday_release

ESA invites radio amateurs to listen for AAUSat-5 CubeSat
https://amsat-uk.org/2015/09/24/esa-listen-for-aausat-5/

Deployment of AAUSat-5 and GomX-3 from the ISS Kibo robot arm - Credit NASA, NanoRacks

Deployment of AAUSat-5 and GomX-3 from the ISS Kibo robot arm – Credit NASA, NanoRacks

Sep 28 2015

LAPAN-A2 FM and APRS satellite launched

LAPAN-A2 beacon - Iwan Nawi YC3BVG

LAPAN-A2 beacon – Iwan Nawi YC3BVG

The Indonesian amateur radio society ORARI report that on Monday, September 28, 2015 04:30 hours UT, the LAPAN-A2/ORARI satellite was launched from the Sriharikota Range (SHAR) of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India. Deployment took place  23 minutes later.

LAPAN-A2

LAPAN-A2

LAPAN-A2 is in a 650 km orbit with an inclination of 6 degrees. It takes about 110 minutes to orbit the Earth and should pass over Indonesia and other near equatorial locations 14 times a day.

The low inclination equatorial orbit means it will be receivable from about 30 degrees North to 30 degrees South. About a third of the world’s population, over 2.4 billion people, live within the coverage area of the satellite.

The ground station at the LAPAN Satellite Technology Centre in Rancabungur, Bogor has made contact with LAPAN-A2. There will now be a period of activation and testing of all the satellite systems and it is expected to be about a month before the amateur radio payload becomes available for general use.

The primary aims of the mission are Earth observation using an RGB camera and maritime traffic monitoring using AIS, both using frequencies outside the Amateur Satellite Service.

The IARU has coordinated these frequencies for LAPA-A2/ORARI:
• 437.425 MHz telemetry beacon
• 435.880 MHz FM uplink
• 145.880 MHz FM downlink (5 watts)
• 145.825 APRS digipeater (5 watts)

The archipelago of Indonesia is part of the global “ring of fire” experiencing frequent natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, eruption of volcanoes, and floods. From past experience, the ground communication infrastructure is often damaged, limiting the ability to coordinate the aid effort in the stricken region. A satellite based telecommunication system is usually the only means of communication.

The LAPAN-A2 microsatellite carries the amateur radio short text message repeater (APRS) and a voice repeater. The APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System ) and the voice communication payload is developed by LAPAN using the LAPAN-TUBSAT UHF/VHF radio heritage along with a COTS APRS modem. The primary application of APRS is intended for communications in support of disaster mitigation and relief efforts.

LAPAN-A2 on the Earth Observation Portal
https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/l/lapan-a2

Listen to a recording of the 437.425 MHz telemetry signal at https://chirb.it/MrgLGy

Satellite tracking information https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/satellite-tracking/

AMSAT-ID Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/831872960241607/

Organisasi Amatir Radio Indonesia (ORARI) in Google English http://tinyurl.com/IndonesiaORARI

LAPAN-A2 paper
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/259844289_Development_of_Micro-satellite_Technology_at_the_Indonesian_National_Institute_of_Aeronautics_and_Space_%28LAPAN%29

The IARU Region 3 Conference takes place in Bali, Indonesia, October 12-16, 2015
https://amsat-uk.org/2015/08/21/iaru-region-3-act-on-band-plan-satellite/

Sep 27 2015

Ofcom clarifies position on SES call signs

Ofcom-logo-col-tOfcom had said NO to Special Event Station (GB) callsigns being used in the bands above 440 MHz for Amateur Satellite or Terrestrial operation.

The RSGB intervened and Ofcom have now issued revised clarification – Operation above 440 MHz with SES (GB) calls is permitted, so is operation in the 5 MHz segments.

It appears the SES call sign application form OfW287 is rather old and doesn’t list all the available bands. Fortunately that doesn’t matter since the NoV issued for the SES call sign is not band specific.

Well done RSGB !

September 22 – Special Event Callsigns and Microwave Bands
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2015/september/special_event_callsigns_and_microwave_bands.htm

UK Microwave Group Yahoo Reflector http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ukmicrowaves

The Radio Society of Great Britain is inviting all radio amateurs in the UK and Crown Dependencies to complete an online questionnaire. You can find the survey at http://www.rsgb.org/ar-survey

Essex Ham interviewed RSGB President John Gould G3WKL about the 2015 Amateur Radio Survey. Listen to the interview at http://www.essexham.co.uk/news/rsgb-survey-2015.html

Sep 26 2015

Beijing launches three more amateur radio satellites

Chang Zheng-11 (CZ-11) launch September 25, 2015

Chang Zheng-11 (CZ-11) launch September 25, 2015

On September 25, 2015 at 01:41 UT Beijing launched three satellites with amateur radio payloads from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) in the Gobi desert, Inner Mongolia. They were carried on a new launcher, Beijing’s first solid-fuel rocket Chang Zheng 11 (CZ-11), and deployed in a 470 x 485 km, 97.3 degree inclination Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO).

This launch occurred just over 5 days after nine satellites carrying amateur radio payloads were launched by Beijing from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center (TSLC) in Shanxi on September 19 at 23:01 UT.

The satellites were developed by students at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in collaboration with the Shanghai Engineering Center for Microsatellites (SECM).

The main goal of the mission is to experiment with Software Defined Radio (SDR) in space. The amateur radio payloads will be used for exchanging Telemetry, Tracking and Command (TT&C) information with the amateur radio ground control station. Information about the telemetry will be made publicly available so that radio amateurs around the world may track and monitor the health of the satellites.

A Tianwang-1 2U CubeSat

A Tianwang-1 2U CubeSat

Other payloads include a video camera along with receivers for dual-band GPS/Beidou, Maritime Automatic Identification System (AIS) and Aeronautical Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B).

Using MEMS based cold-gas micropropulsion it is planned to demonstrate formation flying by two of the CubeSats along with inter satellite communication using GAMALINK 2.4 GHz spread spectrum at 1 Mbps and the CubeSat Space Protocol (CSP).

The TW-1A and TW-1B CubeSats are 2U (20x10x10cm) in size while TW-1C is 3U (30x10x10cm).

Michael Chen BD5RV reports the satellites have these downlinks in the 435-438 MHz ITU Amateur Satellite Service allocation:
• Tianwang-1A (TW-1A / SECM): Camera, 435.645 MHz GMSK 4800/9600 CSP TX interval 10s
• Tianwang-1B (TW-1B / NJUST-2): AIS, 437.645 MHz GMSK 4800/9600 CSP TX interval 20s
• Tianwang-1C (TC-1C / NJFA-1): ADS-B, 435.645 MHz GMSK 4800/9600 CSP TX interval 10s
Note: TW-1A and 1C use the same frequency.

On the same launch was the technology demonstration satellite Pujian-1 which has WiFi for intra-satellite communications.

Object identification from information supplied by Nico Janssen PA0DLO and Zhang Xuan BH4DBE:
TW-1A object 40928, 2015-051B
TW-1B object 40927, 2015-051C, (other IDs: TianWang 1B, NJUST-2)
TW-1C object 40926, 2015-051D
Pujian 1 object 40925, 2015-051A
Chang Zheng 11 (CZ-11) fourth stage object 40929, 2015-051E

Keplerian Two Line Elements (TLEs) ‘Keps’ for new satellites launched in past 30 days
http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/tle-new.txt

Shanghai Engineering Centre for Microsatellites http://www.microsate.com/en/

GAMALINK in Space http://tekevernews.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/gamalink-in-space.html

IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination pages http://amsat.org.uk/iaru/

Satellite tracking information https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/satellite-tracking/

Adding new satellites to SatPC32, Gpredict and Nova
https://amsat-uk.org/2013/11/23/adding-new-satellites-to-satpc32/

Sep 25 2015

LilacSat-2 FM Transponder Schedule

Receiving LilacSat-2, Sept 20, 2015 - Harbin Institute Of Technology Amateur Radio Club BY2HIT

Receiving LilacSat-2, Sept 20, 2015 Harbin Institute Of Technology Amateur Radio Club BY2HIT

Wei Mingchuan, BG2BHC, reports that the amateur radio FM voice transponder on the LilacSat-2 satellite should now be activated on a regular basis. LilacSat-2 is scheduled to switch on the FM transponder for 24 hours at about 2200 UT each Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

First LilacSat-2 infrared image Sept 24, 2015

First LilacSat-2 infrared image Sept 24, 2015

The FM transponder (and APRS) downlink is 437.200 MHz, remember the Doppler shift on the downlink during a pass will be about +/- 10 kHz. If your radio has selectable FM filters use the wider filter designed for 5 kHz deviation FM, sometimes referred to as a 25 kHz channel spacing filter.

LilacSat-2 was deployed into a 528 km by 551 km 97.5 degree inclination orbit. The NASA Orbital Lifetime Software indicates the satellite might remain in orbit for 18 years before reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere.

On September 24, 2015 the student team at the Harbin Institute of Technology successfully downloaded the first infrared image from the satellite.

Frequency information is given on the LilacSat-2 Radio Info page
http://lilacsat.hit.edu.cn/?page_id=257

Harbin Institute Of Technology Amateur Radio Club BY2HIT
Weibo: http://www.weibo.com/by2hit
QRZ: http://www.qrz.com/db/BY2HIT
Web in Google English: http://tinyurl.com/BY2HIT

AMSAT-UK LilacSat-2 page with tracking links https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/communications/lilacsat-2/

LilacSat-2 and some of the team

LilacSat-2 and some of the team

Sep 24 2015

ESA invites radio amateurs to listen for AAUSAT-5 CubeSat

AAUSat-5 and Deployer - Credit ESA

AAUSat-5 and Deployer – Credit ESA

The AAUSAT-5 amateur radio CubeSat built by students at the University of Aalborg, Denmark is planned to be released from the International Space Station sometime in the week of October 5.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is inviting radio amateurs to listen out for the signals from the satellite. The first to send in a recorded signal from AAUSAT-5 will receive a prize from ESA’s Education Office.

Launched on August 19, 2015 to the ISS, the Danish student CubeSat is now waiting for its deployment from the Japanese Kibo module’s airlock. An astronaut will manipulate the Kibo robotic arm to lift AAUSAT-5 from the airlock and place it in orbit.

Once deployed from the ISS the CubeSat will begin transmitting signals to Earth that can be picked up by anyone with common amateur radio equipment. ESA challenges anyone to record the signal and send it to ESA (cubesats@esa.int) and Aalborg University (studentspace@space.aau.dk).

The satellite will transmit on 437.425 MHz using CW and GMSK. The 30 WPM CW beacon will transmit every 3 minutes and the 9600 bps GMSK every 30 seconds.

The first correct email received will win the following prizes:
• ESA/AAUSAT5 poster with signatures of the team members
• ESA Education goodie bag
• Scale 1:1 3D printed model of the AAUSAT-5 satellite

Read the ESA article at
http://www.esa.int/Education/CubeSats_-_Fly_Your_Satellite/Be_the_first_to_catch_the_signals_from_a_new_Satellite_in_orbit

AAUSAT-5 amateur radio information http://www.space.aau.dk/aausat5/index.php?n=Main.HamInfo

ESA AAUSAT-5 Twitter hashtag #AAUSAT5 https://twitter.com/ESA__Education

Danish CubeSats head for ISS https://amsat-uk.org/2015/08/19/danish-cubesats-head-for-iss/