Tag Archives: Amateur Radio

Mar 25 2013

British Interplanetary Society KickSat Sprite programming and planning day

KickSat 437 MHz Sprite Satellite

KickSat 437 MHz Sprite Satellite

Members and non-members are invited to a BIS KickSat 437 MHz Sprite satellite programming and planning day.

The event takes place on March 30, 2013, 11am-4pm at 27/29 South Lambeth Road, London, SW8 1SZ and has these aims:
• Developer kit: setup and programming tests
• Souvenir Sprite: soldering and programming tests
• Radio testing: receive test signals
• Other: agree next steps, owners and dates

Participation is encouraged, but not required.

The following equipment will be available on the day:
• KickSat Sprite developer kit
• Souvenir sprite, wires, soldering equipment and a launchpad
• FUNcube dongle and aerial (tbc – they are in the post)
• Laptop, projector and Wi-Fi

Bringing a laptop will be helpful. Also, if anyone can bring portable equipment to receive the test signals, this will also be much appreciated.

Further information at
http://www.bis-space.com/2013/03/24/9482/kicksat-programming-and-planning-day

KickSat Sprite Technical Summary
http://www.bis-space.com/2013/03/09/9301/kicksat-technical-summary

The KickSat Sprites from both the BIS and London Hackspace are planned to launch, with 198 others, on the ELaNa 5 / CRS 3 mission in mid to late Summer.

KickSat to deploy 200 Sprite satellites
https://amsat-uk.org/2012/09/21/kicksat-to-deploy-200-sprite-satellites/

FUNcube Yahoo Group http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/FUNcube

Mar 24 2013

WD9EWK working FO-29 using QRP from Scottsdale (Arizona) Hamfest

Amateur Radio Satellite FO-29

Amateur Radio Satellite FO-29

In this video Patrick Stoddard WD9EWK shows that high power isn’t needed to work the satellites.

On Saturday, March 9. 2013, at 1636 UT at the Scottsdale Amateur Radio Club Hamfest in Tempe, Arizona (grid DM43al)  he showed you can work F)-29 using just 5 watts from a FT-817ND to a handheld Elk 2m/70cm antenna. In fact he used two FT-817ND’s, one for transmit on 2m the other for receive on 70cm.

FO-29 was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center on August 17, 1996 into a 1,330 by 808 km orbit.

Continue reading →

Mar 22 2013

STRaND-1 Update – Ground Station Improvements Underway

STRaND-1 Ground Station Antennas

STRaND-1 Ground Station Antennas

Surrey Space Centre report that the STRAND-1 satellite is healthy but they have had new ground station teething problems. That has diverted effort and delayed the eagerly awaited switch-on of the Google Nexus One smartphone carried by the CubeSat.

The team are currently scouting University of Surrey rooftops for a better antenna position for STRaND-1.

The STRaND-1 downlink frequency is 437.568 MHz using 9k6 bps AX.25 packet radio. Details of the telemetry format are at https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/strand-1/strand-1-telemetry/

Surrey Space Centre https://www.facebook.com/pages/Surrey-Space-Centre/147861435274871

Follow Surrey Space Centre https://twitter.com/SpaceAtSurrey

Mar 22 2013

SOMP Students Oxygen Measurement Project Carries Amateur Radio Payload

SOMP-1

SOMP Students Oxygen Measurement Project – Image credit Technische Universität Dresden

The Student Oxygen Measurement Project (SOMP) is a cubesat developed by students of the Technische Universität Dresden, Germany, organized in the Students’ Research Group for Spacecraft Engineering in Dresden (STARD). SOMP will be a standard sized single CubeSat (10X10X10 cm) with one payload side and five sides with two solar cells each. The antenna concept foresees a 4 monopole concept. The CubeSat will be able to determine and to a limited extent, also control the attitude.

It is planned to launch on April 19, 2013, from Baikonur in Kazakhstan along with OSSI-1, BEESAT2 and BEESAT3. A variety of downlink options on 437.485 MHz have been proposed, including CW, 1k2 and 9k6 BPSK and AX25 FSK also AO40 standard 400bit/s BPSK

SOMP is an educational satellite project. Designing and developing SOMP will allow the students to practically apply their knowledge and gaining unique hands-on experience in many aspects of a space project. The mission objectives are:

1. Prototype development of a satellite bus

2. Verification of the satellite

3. Launch of the satellite SOMP

4. Establishment of first contact with SOMP

5. Operation of the satellite to fulfill scientific mission objectives

SOMP has two scientific objectives: the first objective is to measure the concentration of atomic oxygen in the upper atmosphere using an oxygen electrolyte sensor. The second is the testing of flexible thin film solar cells (TFSC), that have never been tested in space before.

Contact the SOMP team at stard@mailbox.tu-dresden.de

SOMP http://phpweb.tu-dresden.de/stard/SOMP/?lang=en

Mar 21 2013

How drones teach young people science & math

Parrot AR Drone 2.0Fox News reports that drones (UAV’s) are a new tool that teaches youngsters some pretty sophisticated science and math concepts.

Read the Fox story at http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/03/20/how-drones-teach-kids-science-math/

Middlesex Foundation Radio Hams success in UAV (Drone) competition
https://amsat-uk.org/2012/07/12/middlesex-radio-hams-success-in-uav-competition/

Mar 20 2013

Ham Radio Satellites in The Independent

OSSI-1 weighs 963 grams

OSSI-1 weighs 963 grams

The Newfoundland and Labrador Independent reports on two amateur radio satellite projects.

The article covers FITSat-1 (Niwaka) developed under the leadership of Takushi Tanaka JA6AVG and the Open Source Satellite Initiative CubeSat OSSI-1 developed by Korean artist Hojun Song DS1SBO.

Read The Independent article at http://theindependent.ca/2013/03/20/narratives-in-orbit/

Further FITSat-1 information at https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/techedsat-f-1-fitsat-1-we-wish/

OSSI-1 plans to launch April 19, 2013, further  information at https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/ossi-1/