Tag Archives: Amateur Radio

Jul 20 2013

AMSAT-UK Colloquium Videos Now Available

AMSAT-UK_Bevelled_LogoThanks to the hard work of volunteers from the British Amateur Television Club (BATC) videos of the presentations given to the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium held in Guildford July 20-21, 2013 are now available to view online or download to your PC.

To access them follow these steps:
• Go to http://www.batc.tv/
• Click on the ‘Film Archive’ icon
• Select ‘AMSAT-UK 2013′ from the Category drop down menu
• Click ‘Select Category’
• Select the video you wish to watch
• Click on ‘Select Stream’
• Click the play icon ‘>’ on the player
• Clicking on the icon to the left of the player volume control will give you full screen display.

You can also download a video file to your PC by right-clicking on the ‘Click Here’ link under the player.

AMSAT-UK publishes a colour A4 newsletter, OSCAR News, that is full of Amateur Satellite information. A sample issue of OSCAR News can be downloaded here.
Join AMSAT-UK online at http://tinyurl.com/JoinAMSAT-UK/

Jul 20 2013

QB50: Amateur Radio transponder payloads to launch 2014

Graham Shirville G3VZV, Gerard Auvray F6FAO and Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

Graham Shirville G3VZV, Gerard Auvray F6FAO and Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

It was announced during the QB50 presentation at the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium that two CubeSats, one carrying a linear transponder for SSB/CW, the other a FM voice transponder, should be launched into a 600 km orbit in the first half of 2014.

The QB50 project team has announced that on July 19, 2013 they signed a Memorandum of Understanding with AMSAT-UK, AMSAT-Francophone, and AMSAT-NL to enable two amateur radio payloads to fly on two 2-Unit CubeSats in the first half of 2014. These precursor CubeSats, which have still to be named, will be placed into a conventional 600 km 98o orbit in advance of the main mission. This allows for the testing of key satellite and payload components ahead of the full QB50 mission. In addition, the precursor mission allows for experimentation and validation of operational concept of the QB50 mission. Next to these objectives the amateur radio payloads will be operated as well. At the beginning of the mission, the various payloads onboard the spacecraft will be operated in an alternating fashion, whilst the amateur radio payloads will be operated as the primary payload of the spacecraft once all QB50 related experimentation has been concluded.

Typical QB50 CubeSatThe main mission of QB50 has the scientific objective to study in situ the temporal and spatial variations of a number of key constituents and parameters in the lower thermosphere (90-320 km) with a network of about 40 double and 10 triple CubeSats. These, university built, CubeSats will be launched into a 320km circular orbit, will be separated by a few hundred kilometres and carry identical science sensors. The sensors will monitor parameters that will greatly increase our knowledge and understanding of this little explored region of the E and F layers of the Ionosphere. QB50 will also study the re-entry process by measuring a number of key parameters during re-entry and by comparing predicted and actual CubeSat trajectories and orbital lifetimes.

QB50The AMSAT-Francophone (AMSAT-F) payload for one of the satellites will be a U/V (435/145 MHz) FM transponder. It will also transmit FX25 telemetry at 9600 bps. This secondary payload will be also used in several satellites in the main constellation as their main receiver and transmitter.

The AMSAT-NL payload, on the other precursor satellite, will incorporate a linear U/V transponder core.

The QB50 spacecraft in the main, short duration, mission will, generally, have downlinks operating on frequencies in the 435-438 MHz Amateur Satellite Service allocation and some are expected to use 2.4 GHz. They will be notified to the ITU as a Belgian network after having been coordinated by the IARU Frequency Coordination Panel. Some of these will also, on occasions, act as FM voice relays during their missions.

Watch the video of the QB50 Presentation at the 2013 AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium
http://www.batc.tv/streams/amsat1308
Direct video download http://www.batc.tv/vod/qb50.flv

More information about the QB50 project can be found at http://www.qb50.eu/

Webcast of International Space Colloquium this weekend
https://amsat-uk.org/2013/07/18/webcast-of-international-space-colloquium/

Jul 20 2013

AMSAT members wave at Cassini

AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium Wave To Cassini - Image Credit Neil PA9N

AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium Attendees Wave To Cassini – Image Credit Neil PA9N

NASA asked people to wave at the Cassini space probe which was taking pictures from near Saturn. Attendees at the AMSAT-UK International Space Collquium responded enthusiastically

On Friday, July 19 between 21:27 and 21:47 UT NASA’s Cassini spacecraft took images of Saturn, with the planet Earth in the background nearly 1.5 billion kilometers away. NASA encouraged the public to look and wave in the direction of Saturn at the time of the portrait and share their pictures via the Internet.

AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium attendees were among the many world-wide who did just that.

NASA Interplanetary Probes to Take Pictures of Earth From Space
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/whycassini/cassini20130718.html

JPLers Wave at Saturn as Part of Worldwide Campaign
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-228

Jul 19 2013

Ofcom 2300 MHz and 3400 MHz Consultation Responses Needed

AMSAT-UK_Bevelled_LogoThe Ofcom 2.3 GHz and 3.4 GHz consultation closes at 5 pm on Monday, July 22. It proposes the loss of large chunks of amateur radio spectrum in both bands.

The British Amateur Television Club (BATC) have issued the statement below and all amateurs should give consideration to helping defend our spectrum by responding to this important Ofcom consultation.

Our vital allocations at these frequencies need to be defended. If Ofcom receives few responses to the consultation they may draw the conclusion that all amateur frequencies are “up for grabs”.

Noel G8GTZ on behalf of the BATC committee says:

It is vital that all BATC members in the UK, whether active on 2.3 GHz or not, respond and use the opportunity to show Ofcom that we value the spectrum we do have access to.

If they do not see a large response, they will be more inclined when considering the future of other bands, such as 10 GHz, to take the approach of the authorities in Sweden and Australia and just remove our access to bands without consultation.

The ATV community is particularly affected by the proposed changes, and whilst we do not have a formal BATC response, I have posted my own proposed responses on the BATC forum at:
http://www.batc.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3176

Also, Chris GW4DGU, Chair of the UK microwave group, has published his responses in the latest issue of Scatterpoint and they are available for download here:
http://www.johng4bao.webspace.virginmedia.com/Files/Ofcom%20Scatterpoint%201307.pdf

These responses can be used as guidance, but please do not just cut and paste.

You can either submit your response on-line http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/public-sector-spectrum-release/howtorespond/ or by email using the word template available at http://www.microwavers.org/files/2300MHz/PSSR-Reply-Template.doc

Please try to include info that indicates:

Are you a user these bands or other amateur microwave bands?
Are you a member of an associated specialist group? (eg UKuG , BATC, AMSAT-UK etc)
Typical use (eg narrowband, EME , ATV, data, beacon/repeater keeper etc)
Any particular concerns or other general comments
And of course, try to give specific answers to the nine questions !

Thanks to the good work by Murray Niman G6JYB and the BATC technical liaison team we do have a good relationship with our regulator in the UK and this is the opportunity for you all to show them how much we value the spectrum we have access to.

Ofcom Amateur Consultation on 2 & 3 GHz allocations
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/june2013/ofcom_amateur_consultation_on_2_and_3ghz_allocations.htm

The Register: Ofcom 2400 MHz Consultation
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/27/hams_strike_up_for_wifi_protection/

Joint RSGB, BATC, UKuG, AMSAT-UK submission to Ofcom 2.4 GHz Consultation
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/june2013/joint-submission-to-ofcom-2-4ghz-consultation.htm

Jul 18 2013

Find out about the BIS Kicksat Sprite Satellite

KickSat 437 MHz Sprite Satellite

KickSat 437 MHz Sprite Satellite

Andrew Vaudin of the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) will be giving a presentation on the BIS Kicksat Sprite satellite to the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium on Sunday, July 21.

The event takes place on Saturday/Sunday July 20-21 at the Holiday Inn, Guildford, GU2 7XZ, UK and is open to all.

KickSat Sprite satellites enable individuals to have their own satellite orbiting in space for very low cost, typically £200 ($300). Andrew Vaudin’s presentation should start at 9:50 AM on Sunday and is understood to include a demonstration.

Thanks to volunteers from the British Amateur Television Club (BATC) this presentation and the 17 others will be streamed live to the internet to a global audience. See https://amsat-uk.org/2013/07/18/webcast-of-international-space-colloquium/

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

16 year-old UK student to work on KickSat Sprite
https://amsat-uk.org/2013/04/23/uk-student-to-work-on-kicksat/

The KickSat Sprites from both the BIS and London Hackspace are planned to launch on the SpaceX Falcon 9 ELaNa 5 / CRS 3 mission early in 2014.

A sample issue of the AMSAT-UK newsletter OSCAR News can be downloaded here.

Jul 18 2013

Webcast of International Space Colloquium this weekend

Holiday Inn Guildford GU2 7XZ

Holiday Inn Guildford GU2 7XZ

The AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium takes place at the Holiday Inn, Guildford, GU2 7XZ, UK this weekend, July 20-21.

Thanks to BATC volunteers all 18 presentations should be streamed live to the web, enabling them to be seen by a global audience.

Clearly a webcast cannot match actually being there, with the opportunity to chat to satellite builders and inspect space hardware, but if you can’t get to Guildford then the webcast provides the next best thing.

Watch live at http://www.batc.tv/ch_live.php?ch=3 (view stream AMSAT 2013)

There will also be a Chat facility available that can be used to ask the presenters questions, set your chat ID by entering: /nick “your callsign” or /nick “your name”.

The schedule, times in BST (GMT+1), is at http://tinyurl.com/2013ColloquiumSchedule

A sample issue of the AMSAT-UK newsletter OSCAR News can be downloaded here.