Tag Archives: Amateur Radio

Dec 8 2013

KB1WTW Addresses US House Committee

Dr Sara Seager KB1WTW at the US House of Representatives December 4, 2013

Dr Sara Seager KB1WTW at the US House of Representatives December 4, 2013

Dr. Sara Seager, KB1WTW, Class of 1941 Professor of Physics and Planetary Science Massachusetts Institute of Technology addressed the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, United States House of Representatives December 4, 2013.

Invited witnesses were:

Dr. Mary Voytek
Senior Scientist for Astrobiology, Planetary Science Division
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Dr. Sara Seager KB1WTW
Class of 1941 Professor of Physics and Planetary Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Dr. Steven Dick
Baruch S. Blumberg Chair of Astrobiology, John W. Kluge Center
Library of Congress

Dr. Sara Seager KB1WTW highlights the importance of CubeSats in education at 0:46 into this video.

Watch Astrobiology: Search for Biosignatures in our Solar System, House Space Committee, Dec 4, 13

This video was uploaded to YouTube by SpaceKSC http://www.spaceksc.com/ Twitter @SpaceKSCBlog

Professor Sara Seager KB1WTW - Image credit MIT

Professor Sara Seager KB1WTW – Image credit MIT

Testimony of Dr. Sara Seager KB1WTW, Hearing on Astrobiology
http://astrobiology.com/2013/12/testimony-of-dr-sara-seager-hearing-on-astrobiology.html

Concord resident earns Genius Grant http://www.wickedlocal.com/concord/news/x1868848071/Concord-resident-earns-Genius-Grant

Inflatable Antenna Could Give CubeSats Greater Reach
https://amsat-uk.org/2013/09/07/inflatable-antenna-could-give-cubesats-greater-reach/

How a Pocket-Size Satellite Could Find Another Earth
https://amsat-uk.org/2012/05/12/how-a-pocket-size-satellite-could-find-another-earth/

Thanks to David J. Mercado KK4MND for spotting this item.

Dec 8 2013

Radio Astronomy magazine available

BAA-RAG RAGazine Issue 2 Dec 2013The Vol 1 Issue 2, Dec 2013 issue of RAGazine is now available.

The publication by the British Astronomical Association Radio Astronomy Group (BAA-RAG) can be downloaded in both hi-res and lo-res versions.

Issue 2 and the previous Issue 1 can be downloaded from the BAA-RAG site at http://www.britastro.org/radio/downloads.html

Join the BAA-RAG Yahoo Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/baa-rag

Dec 8 2013

WD9EWK releases videos of working AO-73

FUNcube-1 flight model - Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

FUNcube-1 flight model – Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

The AMSAT News Service (ANS) reports Patrick Stoddard WD9EWK has been working the new AO-73 satellite from his back yard.  Most of the time, he has been using his normal portable all-mode satellite station – two Yaesu FT-817NDs, Elk handheld 2m/70cm log periodic antenna. On November 30 he replaced one of the FT-817NDs with a Kenwood TH-F6A – using its all-mode receiver to copy the downlink. December 1 he used an Icom IC-R20 receiver for the downlink. He’s used these radios in the past on other satellites, and for some hamfest demonstrations on VO-52 Patrick had used the FT-817ND/TH-F6A combination. He has made a series of videos (satellite audio combined with slideshows) from several AO-73 passes he has worked. They are available at:

http://www.youtube.com/va7ewk

One of the AO-73 videos contains audio from two passes, and is about twice as long as the others which have audio from a single pass.

Watch WD9EWK working AO-73/FUNcube-1 from Scottsdale AZ (DM43bn) – Dec 1, 2013 0542 UT

After working these passes, he is convinced that this new satellite performs as well as VO-52, for both its uplink and downlink.  This is a very good thing!  AO-73 hears very well, as long as you’re careful to match the polarization of the satellite’s antennas.  The downlink is strong enough to allow the use any of these radios as the receiver on higher passes.  For lower passes, he will probably use his second FT-817ND for the downlink receiver.  It is good to know that, at least on the higher passes, there are lots of options for a downlink receiver. On the same higher passes, he learned that he can cut the power down from 5W to 1W and even 500mW.  High power is not necessary to be heard through the transponder.

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

Patrick’s next project with AO-73 will be using a FUNcube Dongle Pro+ as the downlink receiver, for both the transponder and telemetry, while working the transponder with an FT-817ND as his transmit radio.  He reinstalled HDSDR and its ExtIO DLL for the Pro+ Dongle on his 64-bit Windows 7 laptop, and it is working well. He will be installing the FUNcube-1 Dashboard software. Patrick has an old netbook running Linux, and is curious to see how the dongle works with that operating system.  His hope is to be able to use the dongle and a laptop as the downlink receiver, without being wiped out by the 5W signals from an FT-817ND.

If all is successful, he believes he will have a new combination for his all-mode satellite station that he can use for upcoming demonstrations. Using the dongle and dashboard software during daytime AO-73 passes at hamfests would be something different, and a great thing to show off to the hamfest crowds.

Patrick thanks all who worked on getting this satellite built and launched.  “Even with the transponder on only for the nighttime passes, it has been fun to be on a new satellite so soon after its launch.”

ANS thanks Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK for the above information

AMSAT News Service (ANS) http://ww2.amsat.org/?page_id=443

Dec 8 2013

CAPE-2 Ground Station Software Lite Edition Published

CAPE-2 CubeSat - University of Louisiana

CAPE-2 CubeSat – University of Louisiana

Rizwan Merchant KF5BNL writes: I am pleased to announce the first public release of the CAPE-2 GroundStation Software Lite Edition has been released. The software will help decode, receive data and send limited commands to the satellite in orbit. For more information, refer to the link below.

Link: http://ulcape.org/cape-2-groundstation-software-lite-published/

For all users, please use this program when tracking CAPE-2, and try issuing both commands, and send us back the results. The data obtained from these commands are very valuable to the team, and we appreciate the help and support from everyone the past few weeks.

UPDATE: Following the requests from the community to allow users to input custom baud rates for the serial settings, I have released a newer version of the ground station software. Please uninstall your old copies, and install the new one.

Thanks and please email me at Rizwan at DigitalPhoenixProductions dot com if you need any help with the software.

Sincerely,
Rizwan Merchant KF5BNL

CAPE website http://ulcape.org/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CajunAdvancedPicosatelliteExperiment

CAPE-2 Text-to-Speech heard in Japan
https://amsat-uk.org/2013/11/26/cape-2-text-to-speech-heard-in-japan/

Minotaur-1 ELaNa-4 satellites https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/elana-4-cubesats/

Dec 6 2013

RSGB IET Lectures Available

BATC Logo SmallThe British Amateur Television Club (BATC) has made available videos from the RSGB Centenary event held on December 5, 2013 at Imperial College, London.

Three videos are available from the batc.tv site:
– “Amateur Radio: a 100 years of introducing technology” by Peter Chadwick, G3RZP
– “Amateur Radio: looking to the future” by Lee Hudson, M0LMH
– Questions & Discussion and closing remarks by Bob Whelan, G3PJT, RSGB President

You can either watch them online or download them to a PC, by following these steps:

1) Go to http://batc.tv/
2) Click on the “Film Archive” icon near top left
3) Select “RSGBIET Meeting” from the Category drop down menu
4) Click on the “Select Category” button
5) Select the video required from the Stream drop down menu
6) Click on the “Select Stream” button
7) Click the play button or download from the link under the video

Further information on  the BATC can be found at http://www.batc.org.uk/

Dec 6 2013

UK Academy’s radio club enters the space race

FUNcube-1 flight model - Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

FUNcube-1 flight model – Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

The Sleaford Standard newspaper reports that a school science club is turning pupils into amateur radio fans after they were given the technology to communicate with a satellite.

The group of students based at St George’s Academy in Ruskington have been gathering data from space since the FUNcube satellite was launched on November 21.

The club was started up in September by ICT technician and licensed radio operator Paul Dickson 2E0CUP [newspaper has wrong name] and they have been provided with an antenna and a computer attachment to receive the signals thanks to support from the Friends of St George’s Ruskington and sponsorship from an educational group called STELAR. They were only one of five schools sponsored by STELAR to have a FUNcube Dongle USB radio receiver.

Read the Sleaford Standard story
http://www.sleafordstandard.co.uk/news/business/business-news/academy-s-radio-club-enters-the-space-race-1-5732012

St George’s Academy – Aiming high to achieve excellence for all
http://www.st-georges-academy.org/

Schools Working With STELAR
http://www.rsgb.org.uk/youth/stelar/stelarschools.htm

Science and Technology through Educational links with Amateur Radio (STELAR)
http://www.stelar.info/

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

Download the Dashboard App to receive the FUNcube-1 telemetry and upload it to the Data Warehouse.

BBC TV visit FUNcube station at RSGB National Radio Centre
https://amsat-uk.org/2013/11/22/bbc-visit-funcube-station-at-rsgb-national-radio-centre/