Tag Archives: Amateur Radio

Oct 27 2012

Ahmedabad students hope for Amateur Radio contact with ISS Commander Sunita Williams KD5PLB

Sunita Williams KD5PLB on the International Space Station

The Times of India reports that a group of students in Gujarat will reach out to the stars. About 500 students hope to have a live amateur radio contact with the Commander of the International Space Station Sunita Williams KD5PLB. It is believed this would be the first ISS contact made by Indian students and should take place using the ham radio station at Science City in Ahmedabad.

The newspaper says it is hoped to hold the contact between November 12 and 16. Read the story at
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Ahmedabad-students-to-make-space-call-to-Sunita-Williams/articleshow/16975944.cms

Oct 27 2012

F-1 Amateur Radio CubeSat Update

F-1 Altitude – Credit Nguyễn Trần Hoàng

Thu Trong Vu XV9AA has provided this update on F-1:
Despite many efforts from the amateur radio community and the team ourselves in tracking F-1, we still haven’t heard from F-1 other than a few uncertain reports during the first few days. The team has been collecting information, analyzing different scenarios and experimenting with F-1’s backup unit in the laboratory. However communication with our American partner to trace back information about F-1 when it was in the States is limited due to ITAR. We hope to come up with an official report about the satellite status by November 4th, and this is not the final conclusion. Thank you for all your support and please continue to help us tracking F-1 if possible!

Nguyễn Trần Hoàng has plotted the descent of the F-1 CubeSat in the 3 weeks since its deployment from the International Space Station (ISS). He comments that the altitude of F-1 appears to be falling faster than the ISS.

F-1 frequency information can be found at http://fspace.edu.vn/?page_id=27

Oct 26 2012

FUNcube Dongle Pro+ SDR Presentation in Orlando

FUNcube Dongle Pro+ Presentation at AMSAT Symposium in Orlando – Image Credit Mark Hammond N8MH

Howard Long G6LVB travelled to Orlando, Florida to give a presentation on Friday, October 26 about the AMSAT-UK FUNcube Dongle PRO+ software defined radio.

The video of a similar presentation Howard gave to the AMSAT-UK Colloquium can be seen via
http://www.uk.amsat.org/?page_id=10953

FUNcube Dongle Pro+ LF/MF/HF/VHF/UHF Software Defined Radio Video http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=10573

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

Oct 24 2012

CubeSat developer Hojun Song DS1SBO to speak at WIRED 2012 London Friday

Hojun Song DS1SBO at WIRED 2012 London

Hojun Song DS1SBO, developer of the OSSI CubeSat, will be speaking at the WIRED 2012 event taking place in London, EC1Y 4SD on Friday, October 26.

OSSI-1 has a beacon in the 145 MHz band and a data communications transceiver in the 435 MHz band. It carries a 44 watt LED array to flash Morse Code messages to observers on Earth. It is planned to launch in April on a Soyuz-2-1b rocket from the Baikonur launch facility in Kazakhstan along with the Bion-M1 and Dove-2 satellites.

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Oct 21 2012

PRISM Available for Amateur Radio AX.25 Packet

Overview of the PRISM Ham Radio Service – Image Credit Tokyo University

The team that developed the PRISM satellite have announced it is being opened up for use by radio amateurs during afternoon passes.

The satellite was built by the University of Tokyo and launched on January 23, 2009 into a 660 by 670 km orbit. It uses AX.25 packet radio and can now be used by amateur radio operators as a store-and-forward message box.

Full details at http://www.space.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/prism/en/HAMservice.html

PRISM http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/satInfo.php?satID=119

Oct 21 2012

434.301 MHz PICO Balloon Reaches Sweden

James Coxon M6JCX launches PICO a 434.301 MHz USB RTTY balloon – Image David Bowkis M0MDB

PICO, a single foil balloon was launched by James Coxon M6JCX on Saturday, October 20, 2012 from Suffolk in the UK. It carried GPS and a miniature radio transmitter sending RTTY (ascii-8) on 434.301 MHz USB running 10 mW output.

During the 19 hour flight it crossed the North Sea and landed somewhere in central Sweden.

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