Tag Archives: Amateur Radio

Feb 17 2014

BIS prepares for KickSat Sprite launch

Laurence de Bruxelle and Andy Thomas G0SFJ with KickSat ground station antennas

Laurence de Bruxelle and Andy Thomas G0SFJ with KickSat ground station antennas

British Interplanetary Society (BIS) members Laurence de Bruxelle and Andy Thomas G0SFJ have been working on three of the low cost ground stations for the eagerly awaited KickSat CubeSat which will deploy 200 Sprite satellites operating on 437 MHz.

The launch of KickSat on the SpaceX Falcon 9 CRS 3 mission is expected to take place from the Kennedy Space Center on Sunday, March 16 at 0841 UT.

Read the article BIS KickSat personal ground stations
http://www.bis-space.com/2014/02/16/12429/bis-kicksat-personal-ground-stations

Andrew Vaudin of the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) gave a presentation on the BIS Kicksat Sprite satellite to the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium on Sunday, July 21. You can watch the video of his presentation at http://www.batc.tv/streams/amsat1310

KickSat

KickSat

KickSat 437 MHz Sprite Satellite

KickSat 437 MHz Sprite Satellite

Download it direct to your PC at http://www.batc.tv/vod/kicksat.flv

Information about KickSat can be found at:
http://www.bis-space.com/category/bis-projects
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zacinaction/kicksat-your-personal-spacecraft-in-space

KickSat – Zac Manchester KD2BHC Interview
https://amsat-uk.org/2012/01/13/kicksat-zac-manchester-interview/

Feb 16 2014

University of Louisiana CAPE II CubeSat Designated LO-75

CAPE-2 CubeSat - University of Louisiana

CAPE-2 CubeSat – University of Louisiana

OSCAR Number Administrator Bill Tynan, W3XO announced the University of Louisiana’s CAPE II CubeSat has been designated as University of Louisiana OSCAR 75 or LO-75.

Bill wrote to AMSAT mentor Nick Pugh, K5QXJ, and the CAPE II CubeSat team, “I have been able to determine CAPE II has met all of the requirements for an OSCAR number. By the authority vested in me by the AMSAT-NA president, I hereby issue CAPE II the designation University of Louisiana OSCAR 75 or LO-75. I, and all of the amateur satellite community, wish LO-75 the best of success”.

CAPE II operates on 145.825 MHz FM with a CW beacon  with the callsign W5UL, it also includes a digipeater, text to speech operation, a simplex repeater, email and tweet functions. The ground station software can be downloaded from http://www.ulcape.org/

Watch CAPE-2 Voice beacon when mobile near east coast of India by Nitin Muttin VU3TYG

Ever since the launch of OSCAR 1 in 1961, it has been traditional for amateur radio satellites to carry the name OSCAR, for “Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio”. At the request of the original Project OSCAR organization, AMSAT-NA now administers the numbering of OSCAR satellites.

The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) and AMSAT-NA have adopted the paper Information for Developers of Satellites Planned to Use Frequency Bands Allocated to the Amateur-Satellite Service, which can be found at http://www.iaru.org/amateur-radio-satellite-frequency-coordination.html

The OSCAR Numbers Policy page is at http://www.amsat.org/amsat/amsat-na/oscar.html

Source AMSAT News Service (ANS)

Feb 16 2014

Fox-2 to have Mode J (145 to 435 MHz) transponder

AMSAT FOXTony Monterio AA2TX and the AMSAT News service (ANS) have released this update on the Fox CubeSat program.

The main point of Fox-2 is to develop and fly an advanced, software defined transponder (SDX.) An SDX can be programmed to be any kind of transponder. It will be a linear [SSB/CW], inverting mode-J [VHF uplink UHF downlink] transponder by default.

We would also like to try some new and interesting digital modes perhaps including digital voice which would be my personal favorite. That is the tremendous flexibility you get with an SDX. You can change the transponder in software.

ARISSat-1 was our first attempt at an SDX and it worked very well. It could only be programmed on the ground though. The SDX for Fox-2 will be programmable in orbit.

Fox-2 will be a 3U CubeSat (three times the size of Fox-1) providing a lot more power and space for the electronics.

The source of confusion may be because we are building four Fox-1 flight units. The idea is to have them available and ready to fly so we can easily team up with universities that want to fly science missions and get free launches. Building them all at once is also a much cheaper way to build satellites.

All four Fox-1 units will have the same hardware and avionics. The universities will supply their experiment cards and the software can be customized for each satellite as needed.

Once the Fox-1 flight models are built, the engineering team can begin working on Fox-2. That should start this year [2014].

The status of the Fox-1 satellites is as follows:

Fox-1 (Fox-1A) is scheduled to fly on NROL-55.

RadFxSat (Fox-1B) is a joint project with Vanderbilt University. It has already been accepted into the NASA ELaNa program but it has not been assigned a launch yet.

Fox-1C and Fox-1D are not currently assigned.

Feb 16 2014

ARRL Radio Waves Newsletter Features FUNcube

ARRL Radio Waves Winter 2014

ARRL Radio Waves Winter 2014

The Winter 2014 edition of Radio Waves, ARRL’s e-newsletter for instructors and teachers, is now available for download.

Among the selection of articles: “High School Students Put Packet Radio to Work for Local Environmental Study,” “Club Boasts Fourfold Increase in New Licensees/Upgrades,” “Instructor Corner — News, Ideas, Support,” and “In The Classroom: Teaching Ohm’s Law.”

The newsletter also features the AMSAT-UK FUNcube satellite project.

Radio Waves aims to provide information that will help educators and instructors with licensing or classroom instruction and to share experiences and stories of other instructors and teachers that may offer ideas for you to incorporate in your own activities.

Download the Winter Radio Waves at
http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Radio%20Waves%20Newsletter/Winter%202014%20Radio%20Waves.pdf

Source ARRL
http://www.arrl.org/news/winter-edition-of-new-radio-waves-e-newsletter-for-teachers-and-instructors-now-available

Feb 15 2014

Brazilian students talk to Space Station using Amateur Radio

ARISS PV8DX students at Escola Estadual 'Gonçalves Dias'

ARISS PV8DX students at Escola Estadual ‘Gonçalves Dias’

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) school contact took place at 17:24 UT on Thursday, February 13, 2014.

International_Space_StationStudents at Escola Estadual ‘Gonçalves Dias’, Boa Vista, Brazil, using the station of Paulo PV8DX, were able to talk to astronaut Michael Hopkins KF5LJG who was using the callsign OR4ISS. The contact lasted about 9 minutes and took place in English on 145.800 MHz FM.

The school, founded in 1977, works in two shifts, morning and afternoon with a total of 800 students. The school has a specialty program dedicated to Computer Science and related areas – students in this area were directly involved in the ARISS event. These same students were involved in the development of questions and related studies. The school has 70 teachers and 30 administrative support staff.

International Space Station ISS 2011The students asked these questions:

1. Why did you decide to be an astronaut?
2. How long can a person live in space?
3. How do you communicate with your family?
4. After the mission, what are the most critical physical and psychological effects on your body and mind?
5. If someone is critically injured on the ISS, what would you do with  them?
6. In case of illness, how is aid provided?
7. What kind of research are you doing on the ISS?
8. Do you feel disoriented when you return home?
9. Given the incredible committment to become an astronaut, do you ever doubt your choice?
10. How do you bathe on the ISS?
International Space Station ISS with shuttle Endeavour 2011-05-2311. What is the most interesting thing you have seen in Space?
12. Is oxygen recycled continually on the ISS or do supply vehicles bring up new oxygen?
13. What is a typical day like on the ISS?
14. Since there are people from different countries on the ISS, what is the language spoken on the Station and what kind of food do you eat?

A recording of part of the contact made by PY2TNA can be heard here .

Michael Hopkins KF5LJG / OR4ISS

Michael Hopkins KF5LJG / OR4ISS

Media coverage can be seen at

http://g1.globo.com/rr/roraima/noticia/2014/02/estudantes-de-rr-fazem-contato-com-astronauta-em-estacao-espacial.html

http://g1.globo.com/rr/roraima/jornal-de-roraima/videos/t/edicoes/v/estudantes-roraimenses-tem-contato-com-astronauta-por-meio-de-projeto-da-nasa/3147827/

http://www.rr.gov.br/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12994:no-espaco-comunicacao-entre-estudantes-de-roraima-e-astronauta-americano-foi-um-sucesso&catid=198:2014fevereiro&Itemid=210

Sign up for the SAREX maillist at http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/sarex

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station http://www.ariss.org/

Feb 13 2014

Join AMSAT-UK

AMSAT-UK_Bevelled_Logo

AMSAT-UK Logo

Founded in 1975 AMSAT-UK is a voluntary organisation that supports the design and building of equipment for amateur radio satellites.

AMSAT-UK initially produced a short bulletin called OSCAR News to give members advice on amateur satellite communications. Since those early days OSCAR News has grown in size and the print quality has improved beyond recognition. Today, OSCAR News is produced as a high-quality quarterly colour A4 magazine consisting of up to 40 pages of news, information and comment about amateur radio space communications.

The new lower-cost E-membership provides OSCAR News as a downloadable PDF file giving members the freedom to read it on their Tablets or Smartphones anytime, anyplace, anywhere.

An additional advantage is that the PDF should be available for download up to 2 weeks before the paper copy is posted.

AMSAT-UK FUNcube Mission Patch Rev4 20100609

AMSAT-UK FUNcube Mission Patch

The Membership year lasts for 12 months starting on January 1 each year.

If you join after July 31 of any particular year, then you will receive complimentary membership for the whole of the following year, i.e. join on November 12, 2013, and you have nothing more to pay until Dec 31, 2014.

Take out an Electronic membership here http://shop.amsat.org.uk/shop/category_9/Join-Amsat-UK.html

E-members can download their copies of OSCAR News from http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/on

A sample issue of OSCAR News can be downloaded here.