Tag Archives: Amateur Radio

Nov 3 2013

Art and Ham Radio in Deep Space

ARTSAT2 DESPATCH Deep Space Sculpture

ARTSAT2 DESPATCH Deep Space Sculpture

Students at the Tama Art University are planning to send a sculpture ARTSAT2 DESPATCH along with an amateur radio payload into deep space.

ARTSAT students at the Tama Art University

ARTSAT students at the Tama Art University

The ARTSAT2 Deep Space sculpture “DESPATCH” is planned to launch in mid 2014 on a H-IIA rocket with the asteroid explorer Hayabusa 2 as the main payload. Hayabusa 2 will be making a round-trip to the C-type asteroid 1999 JU3 arriving at the asteroid in mid 2018.

The sculpture, which is 50 by 50 by 45 cm with a mass of 30 kg, was developed at the Tama Art University using a 3D Printer. The containment vessel will carry a CW beacon in the 435 MHz band using an omni-directional antenna. The satellite should provide the ultimate in ham radio DX reception when at its maximum operational distance of 3 million km from Earth about a week after launch. Being battery powered without solar panels it will have a low transmit cycle to maximize the lifespan.

ARSAT2: DESPATCH in Google English http://tinyurl.com/ARTSAT-DESPATCH

ARTSAT on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/artsat

The students have already developed the INVADER CubeSat which is planned to launch in 2014, see
https://amsat-uk.org/2012/04/12/invader-cubesat-a-student-art-satellite/

Nov 3 2013

FUNcube Forum

AMSAT-UK_Bevelled_LogoAMSAT-UK has announced a new FUNcube Forum to cater for the two FUNcube payloads that will be launched in the coming months.

FUNcube-1 is a complete educational single CubeSat project with the goal of enthusing and educating young people about radio, space, physics and electronics. It is planned to launch on a Dnepr from Dombarovsky near Yasny on November 21, 2013.

FUNcube-2 on UKube-1 comprises of a set of FUNcube boards that will fly as part of the UK Space Agency’s 3 Unit CubeSat UKube-1. It has identical goals and is expected to be launched on a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur in February 2014.

The FUNcube Forum is at http://forum.funcube.org.uk/

Nov 2 2013

FUNcube-1 Launch: Date and time confirmed

FUNcube-1 flight model - Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

FUNcube-1 flight model – Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

The latest news about the launch date and time has just been confirmed by Kosmotras.

The launch date of RS-20B rocket (Dnepr) with a group of satellites (DubaiSat-2 cluster mission) from Dombarovsky missile area (Yasny Launch Base) has been established for November 21, 2013 at 07:10:11 UT. The back-up launch date is November 22, 2013 at 07:10:11 UT.

We will shortly be providing prelaunch TLEs and, in about 7/10 days, the Dashboard software that is needed to demodulate and display the telemetry information. More information about the Dashboard can found here http://funcube.org.uk/working-documents/

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

FUNcube communication subsystem:
• Inverting SSB/CW transponder 300 mW PEP
– 435.150 – 435.130 MHz Uplink
– 145.950 – 145.970 MHz Downlink
• 145.935 MHz BPSK Telemetry 300 mW

FUNcube information sheets:
•  FUNcube_Project Information_aug2013
•  FUNcube_Educational_Outreach aug2013

Nov 1 2013

FUNcube-1 Presentation PowerPoint Slides Released

FUNcube-1 flight model - Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

FUNcube-1 flight model – Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

The PowerPoint slides used in the FUNcube-1 presentation given by Dave Johnson G4DPZ at the RSGB Convention in October 2013 have now been made available.

It is hoped they will be used by others to support presentations they may give on FUNcube-1 to local clubs.

Download the PowerPoint slides from http://funcubetest2.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/funcube_oct2013fin.ppt

Dave G4DPZ recently announced he was willing to give talks to clubs in his area and a number of clubs immediately took him up on the offer. It is believed there are many other clubs across the country that would welcome a talk on the new FUNcube-1 satellite and AMSAT-UK would like to hear from anyone willing to give such talks.

FUNcube-1 Talk for Local Clubs https://amsat-uk.org/2013/10/25/funcube-1-talk-for-local-clubs/

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

Oct 31 2013

ISS HamTV Presentation by G3VZV

Front panel of the HamTV transmitter

Front panel of the HamTV transmitter

In this video radio amateur Graham Shirville G3VZV talks about the International Space Station (ISS) HamTV project. The presentation was given to the BATC Convention on October 26, 2013.

Watch ISS Ham TV

Noel Matthews G8GTZ, Chair of the BATC, has announced the first 11 presentation videos from the CAT13 convention on ATV/DATV, held October 26, 2013, have been put up on the BATC video archive area.

They can be found in the http://batc.tv/ Film Archive by selecting the BATC CAT13 category.

The direct links are as follows:

BATC review http://www.batc.tv/streams/cat1301

LNB developments http://www.batc.tv/streams/cat1302

HAB introduction http://www.batc.tv/streams/cat1303

Early colour cameras http://www.batc.tv/streams/cat1304

SMD techniques http://www.batc.tv/streams/cat1305

DTX1 DVB-S xmtr http://www.batc.tv/streams/cat1306

DATV in practice http://www.batc.tv/streams/cat1307

Spectrum matters http://www.batc.tv/streams/cat1308

10 GHz Tx multipliers http://www.batc.tv/streams/cat1309

10GHz PLL LNBs http://www.batc.tv/streams/cat1310

ISS HAMTV http://www.batc.tv/streams/cat1311

Oct 29 2013

Balloon Test for EagleSat Engineering Model

Project Arapaima

Project Arapaima

A student team from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Prescott Campus recently flew a payload on a NASA balloon launched from the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Fort Sumner, N.M. The High-Altitude Student Platform (HASP) flight gave 12 universities from across the nation the chance to conduct research and experiments.

After floating successfully for more than 10 hours at an altitude of 125,000 feet, the HASP gondola containing the payloads was recovered near Wickenburg, Ariz. Embry-Riddle student lead Zach Henney reports that the team is still analyzing the flight data but the results look promising so far.

The Embry-Riddle payload on the HASP flight was an early engineering model of the EagleSat, a small cube-shaped satellite (CubeSat) the students are developing to fly in Earth orbit in late 2015 through NASA’s highly selective CubeSat Launch Initiative. Among its objectives, EagleSat is designed to determine error rates in electronic parts exposed to space radiation. The Embry-Riddle students plan to launch an advanced EagleSat engineering model on next year’s HASP flight.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University CubeSat http://www.eraucubesat.org/

Facebook Project Arapaima https://www.facebook.com/ArapaimaProject

Press Release http://www.erau-news.com/news/2013/10/28/students-test-cubesat-payload-on-high-altitude-nasa-balloon-flight/