Tag Archives: Amateur Radio

Dec 1 2013

Trailblazer and DragonSat – Help Requested

DragonSat

DragonSat

Craig Kief KE5VSH posted this on the AMSAT Bulletin Board (AMSAT-BB):

Jin KB3UKS and I launched two CubeSats a week or so ago. The first is Trailblazer (mine) and the second is DragonSat (Jins). Trailblazer is from the Configurable Space Research at the University of New Mexico (KE5VSH) and DragonSat is Drexel University.

Our problem is that we haven’t heard from our satellites yet.

There could be a variety of different reasons. First, the satellite didn’t survive delivery.  Second, our antennas didn’t deploy or third, we have poor ground stations.  As you can imagine, I am hoping for the third. I am pasting the TLE which is openly available on space-track and Celestrak in this email. It is very close (I believe) to our birds.

Trailblazer

Trailblazer

If you have a chance, could you please keep your ears open in case you might hear us.

Please email any packets for Trailblazer to myself at craig.kief<at>cosmiac.org and for DragonSat to Jin Kang KB3UKS at kang<at>usna.edu

Thanks again most sincerely,

Craig KE5VSH

Trailblazer 437.425 MHz, AX.25, 9600 bps (there is another satellite with the same tx freq as mine there as well).
On my packets, if you see C0 00 A8 84…. You will provide me with a wonderful gift.  I beacon every 50 seconds

DragonSat 145.870 MHz, AX.25, 9600 bps. Beacons every 30 seconds.

Possible TLEs/Keps:
Trailblazer
1 39382U 13064C   13325.87382098  .00041511  00000-0  18318-2 0    39
2 39382  40.5103 239.5017 0004316 318.4599  41.5592 15.20995117   275

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

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

AMSAT Bulletin Board (AMSAT-BB) http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/maillist/

Dec 1 2013

Live Video Streaming from the ISS

International Space Station ISS with shuttle Endeavour 2011-05-23 - Credit NASA

The N2YO satellite tracking website provides live video streaming from the International Space Station (ISS) alongside a track showing the position of the ISS over the Earth.

The Ustream video from the station is available only when the complex is in contact with the ground through its high-speed communications antenna and NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System. During “loss of signal” periods, you will see a blue screen. Since the station orbits the Earth once every 90 minutes, it sees a sunrise or a sunset every 45 minutes. When the station is in darkness, external camera video may appear black, but also may provide spectacular views of city lights below.

Live streaming from the ISS http://www.n2yo.com/space-station/

HD Video Cameras sent to ISS November 25, 2013 http://www.urthecast.com/launch

The US segment of the ISS uses a data link in Ku band to connect to a NASA server. The link provides a data rate of 10 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload available about half the time through a network of ground stations.

In October 2012 the first laser communication link with the Russian segment of the ISS was established paving the way for higher speed broadband links to the ISS in the future. Read the RIA Novosti article in Google English.

Dec 1 2013

Join AMSAT-UK

AMSAT-UK_Bevelled_LogoFounded 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.

Now is a very good time to join.

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.

Dec 1 2013

Video: Commanding the WREN SSTV PocketQube

WREN - Image credit Stadoko

WREN – Image credit Stadoko

The WREN Team have released a video showing you how to use the WREN Decoder/Commander App.

The tiny PocketQube satellite WREN is just 5x5x5 cm yet is equipped with a camera for Slow Scan TV (SSTV) using the Martin-1 format, a gyro, a magnetic field sensor, momentum wheels and pulsed plasma microthrusters. The camera has an image processing system which can find the position of the Sun and the Earth automatically.

The WREN Decoder/Commander App uses the RTS pin of the com port to trigger TX of the radio (we use an ICOM 910h) for commanding. Decoder and Commander in one package.

Watch How to use the Decoder/Commander to send commands to Pocketqube Satellite WREN

The SSTV PocketQube WREN is currently in a mode where it beacons on 437.405 MHz (+/- 10 kHz Doppler shift) for 1.6 seconds then listens for 6 minutes on that frequency for any commands. If none are received it goes to sleep for 2 minutes before transmitting the beacon again.

WREN spectral view after ACTIVATE/HK command

WREN spectral view after ACTIVATE/HK command

Because the beacon is so infrequent the approach currently being used is to send commands to WREN on 437.405 MHz whenever you think it is in range.

Thanet Radio and Electronics Club member Patrick Kirkden M0ZPK was the first person in the UK to achieve a confirmed reception of WREN.

Hope you can catch WREN and have fun commanding it.

WREN Decoder/Commander App Download https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pvzyr01216dab1k/uf4MQWEn5y

WREN on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/StaDoKo

WREN a Ham Radio Slow Scan TV PocketQube Satellite https://amsat-uk.org/2013/10/24/wren-a-ham-radio-sstv-pocketqube/

Commands for WREN SSTV Released https://amsat-uk.org/2013/11/28/commands-for-wren-sstv-released/

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

Dnepr Yasny launch https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/dnepr-november-2013/

Nov 30 2013

FUNcube-1 Update Nov 30 / Dec 1

FUNcube-1 Launch Day Mug

FUNcube-1 Launch Day Mug

To start with a few stats:

From the acquisition of the first signal by ZS1LS on Thursday, November 21 we have had a steady stream of data flowing in.
A few Data Warehouse statistics as at 12:00 UT, Nov. 28, 2013:
– over 12MB of unique data uploaded and stored
– 424 user registrations since 2013-11-17
– 319 users have have uploading data
– 41388 Real-time entries
– 11754 Whole Orbit Data entries
– 77940 High Resolution entries
We are very grateful for all this data which is invaluable to the command team – please continue to send it to the Warehouse if you can and encourage other to do so.

Fitter Message 9:

What are the funny characters in the FM9 slot?

Well the command stations can re-purpose FM9 to either be a “normal” fitter message or to carry the debug data that is displayed at the bottom of the Dashboard. This carries info about various status flags and other parameters.
The format is described here

“in short Fitter message 9, when we are running in debug mode starts of with 0xFF that’s how we know its debug, then what follows is just a byte for byte copy of some of the in memory structures from the running MCU, filling up the rest of the fitter message is an MCU program trace (read from right to left) the letter indicates the source file, the number is the line number in that source file. The spaces are where the MCU has finished processing and has gone back to wait for more events.”

Schedule for next few days:

We plan to command FUNcube-1 into continuous amateur/transponder mode for a few orbits on either the 09:22 UT or 10:58 UT passes over the UK tomorrow. We will be doing this to see how this change affects the on-board temperatures. We will switch it back to the normal autonomous schedule either 12:35 UT or 20:31 UT passes depending upon the results of these tests.

No other changes to the operating schedule are currently planned.

UPDATE December 1:

Apologies to everyone who was expecting the transponder to be active during daylight today.

A late change of plan by the team means that we did not send that command but concentrated on testing some other functionality. As a result, the sharp eyed will notice that one of the ANTS Data sensor channels has been commanded “OFF” (this shows as failed” on the Dashboard). It does NOT indicate any problem with the on board systems though.

The spacecraft will continue with its autonomous schedule for the time being.

Nico, PA0DLO, has recently emailed his observations which align with our own understanding of the current situation:

“AMSAT-OSCAR-73, ZACube 1 and HiNCube were launched from the same ISIPOD.

As they initially were close together, the JSpOC decided to release only one TLE  set for this cluster under object number 39417 (2013-066B). Now the distances between these satellites are slowly increasing. So the question is  – which satellite is object 39417?

Detailed Doppler measurements show that ZACube 1 is now about 25 s early compared to the TLE for object 39417, while OSCAR 73 is about 11 s early. This seems to indicate that object 39417 is actually  HiNCube.

Hopefully TLEs for OSCAR 73 and ZACube 1 will be published soon.”

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

Nov 30 2013

TshepisoSat – You can help recording telemetry data

TshepisoSat ZACUBE-1 prior to being shipped to the Netherlands

TshepisoSat ZACUBE-1 prior to being shipped to the Netherlands

The F’SATI Satellite team at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology is looking for your support to collect telemetry.

“We encourage radio amateurs to listen for the UHF beacon on 437.345 MHz (+/- 10 kHz Doppler shift). It will be a great help if they can log the raw data from the TNC and send it to Leon at ldutsteenkamp<at>gmail.com” Francois Visser said.

“The team will be going through a commissioning process for the next two weeks to make sure everything works fine. Then we’ll turn on the ADCS to command the satellite into a spin, where after the HF antenna will be rolled out.  Only then we’ll turn on the beacon. So far we have tested the downlink and uplink, checked system status, uploaded command scripts and all looks nominal. Battery voltage varies between 7.6 and 8.2 V, and on-board temperature between 12 and about 26 degrees  C.  The telemetry also shows that the ISIS antennas deployed on the first try”.

Follow progress at http://www.cput.ac.za/fsati and http://www.amsatsa.org.za/

Source: South African Radio League (SARL)

TshepisoSat / ZACUBE-1 telemetry decoder http://tinyurl.com/SatSoftwareDK3WN/

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