BBC presenter John Maguire interviews Graham Shirville G3VZV at the RSGB National Radio Centre

On Friday, November 22 a film crew from the BBC Breakfast show visited the RSGB National Radio Centre (NRC) at Bletchley Park to interview the FUNcube Project team about the new educational amateur radio satellite FUNcube-1 (AO-73).

BBC film Howard Long G6LVB and Jim Heck G3WGM working FUNcube-1 (AO-73)

BBC presenter John Maguire interviewed Graham Shirville G3VZV at the GB3RS station in the NRC.

Other members of the FUNcube team were filmed making a SSB contact from the Bletchley Park car park using the FUNcube-1 linear transponder.

During the visit to the National Radio Centre, John Maguire asked the FUNcube Team to support a visit to a local school, Abbeys Primary School in Bletchley, to meet up with some 10-11 year old pupils and talk to them about the FUNcube project.

Ciaran Morgan M0XTD and BBC crew at Abbeys Primary School in Bletchley

The visit was a huge success, with the school children asking lots of questions. As this was the first educational outreach opportunity after launch, the children were asked to compose a Fitter message which the FUNcube Team will upload to FUNcube-1 (AO-73) when they have decided what it should be! (Teachers’s comment “Might be their home work!”).

The FUNcube news report was broadcast on the BBC One TV Breakfast show on Monday, November 25 at 06:52 and 07:53 as well as on the BBC 24 hour News channel throughout the day. You can watch a recording at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25084547

Watch the BBC FUNcube item at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25084547

BBC Radio 5 Outriders Podcast, look for the “Outriders 26 Nov 13: Crypto, crosswords and tiny satellites” edition
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/pods
Direct link to podcast http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/fivelive/pods/pods_20131126-0530a.mp3

BBC Breakfast show http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006v5tb

FUNcube-1 Deployed !!! https://amsat-uk.org/2013/11/21/funcube-1-deployed/

First Fitter Message Uploaded https://amsat-uk.org/2013/11/21/ao-73-first-fitter-message-uploaded/

First Transponder Test https://amsat-uk.org/2013/11/22/funcube-1-ao-73-transponder-tested/

FUNcube website http://www.funcube.org.uk/

First Fitter Message Uploaded (FM8)

On Thursday evening the FUNcube team successfully uploaded the first Fitter message to the FUNcube-1 (AO-73) satellite.

‘Fitter’ is derived from ‘Twitter’. So it’s like a tweet, but via FUNcube.

The message is a short (200 characters maximum) text-like message which can be uploaded to the satellite (by authorised ground stations), and which can be transmitted several times every five minutes or so. It will continue to be retransmitted until such time as it is replaced by a new Fitter Message.

The message uploaded was:

Thanks to ZS1LS for receiving and uploading the first FUNcube-1 (AO-73) packets

There is memory space for a total of nine such Messages (total 1800 characters).

FUNcube-1 Deployed !!! https://amsat-uk.org/2013/11/21/funcube-1-deployed/

FUNcube-1 flight model – Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

The FUNcube team are delighted to be able to release the formal email received at the Bletchley Park monitoring station on the afternoon of Thursday, November 21, informing us that the FUNcube-1 spacecraft can now be referred to as AMSAT-OSCAR-73 (AO-73).

Congratulations on the successful launch of the FUNcube-1 CubeSat, launched this morning from Yasny in Russia at 07:10:10.47 UTC November 21^st 2013.  

Since FUNcube-1 meets all of the requirements for being issued an OSCAR number, including coordination through IARU and requesting such a number; I, under authority vested in me by the President of AMSAT-NA, do hereby name FUNcube-1, ”AMSAT- OSCAR-73″ or “AO-73.”

I, and all at AMSAT-NA wish AMSAT- OSCAR-73 great success in fulfilling all of its mission objectives and we welcome it to the long list of Amateur Radio satellites.

73,

William (Bill) Tynan, W3XO
OSCAR Number Administrator

FUNcube-1 Deployed !!! https://amsat-uk.org/2013/11/21/funcube-1-deployed/

Data being received from FUNcube-1 1028GMT Nov 21, 2013

Pete Sipple M0PSX from the Essex Ham website was one of a handful of UK amateurs to receive and decode the data signals from the satellite in its second UK pass at 10:28 GMT today.

Pete had tried receiving the first pass over the UK just before 09:00 GMT, but this was very low on the horizon and he wasn’t able to receive it here in Essex. At the time FUNcube-1 was on low power running just 30 mW by the time of the second UK pass it was running high power, 300 mW.

You can see screenshots of the data, an audio recording of the pass, and details on how to receive signals from FUNcube-1 on the Essex Ham site:
http://www.essexham.co.uk/news/funcube-1-live-and-heard-over-essex.html

The audio of FUNcube-1 received in Essex on an omni-directional colinear
http://www.essexham.co.uk/media/funcube_1028_21nov13.mp3

FUNcube-1 Deployed !!! https://amsat-uk.org/2013/11/21/funcube-1-deployed/

FUNcube-1 flight model – Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

The BBC report that the Dnepr rocket launching from Yasny in Russia has set a record for the most payloads carried to orbit in a single mission.

They say the converted intercontinental missile released 32 objects in space – mostly small, so called “cubesats”.

Read the BBC story Rocket deploys spacecraft armada at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25035490

Story on NASA Space Flight
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/11/russian-dnepr-record-breaking-32-satellite-haul/

ADS Advance Magazine
http://adsadvance.co.uk/uk-s-funcube-1-satellite-launches-successfully.html