Tag Archives: Amateur Radio

Jun 4 2012

Watch Venus Transit Online June 5-6

At 22:09 UT on June 5, 2012 the planet Venus will appear as a small, dark disk moving across the face of the Sun. The transit will finish at 04:49 UTC on June 6 (exact time depends on location of observer).

Clouds permiting, it may be visible to observers in the UK from dawn (about 03:46 UT in London).

This will be the last time the planet Venus will make the trek across the face of the sun as seen from Earth until the year 2117.

Note: Observing the Sun directly without appropriate protection can damage or destroy retinal cells, causing temporary or permanent blindness.

Clint Bradford K6LCS has posted a collection of URL’s where you should be able to watch the Venus transit online from sites around the world.

NASA (USA) http://venustransit.nasa.gov/2012/transit/

NASA Edge http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/nasaedge/index.html

University of Barcelona  (from a telescope in Norway) https://gaia.am.ub.es/serviastro/www/html/venus2012/live/index.html

National Solar Observatory http://venustransit.nso.edu/live.html

Exploratorium  (via the Mauna Loa Observatory) http://www.exploratorium.edu/venus/

NASA TV http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

Coca Cola Space Science Center (from Australia) http://www.ccssc.org/transit2012.html

Bareket observatory (Israel)
http://www.bareket-astro.com/live-astronomical-web-cast/live-free-venus-transit-webcast-6-june-2012.html

Mt. Lemmon Sky Center http://skycenter.arizona.edu/annoucement/live

Astronomers Without Borders (from Mt. Wilson, California)
http://www.astronomerswithoutborders.org/projects/transit-of-venus/live-webcast.html

The 2012 Transit of Venus using HAM Radio http://aprs.org/VenusTransit2012.html

Transit of Venus Special Event June 6, 2012
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/may2012/transit_of_venus_special_event.htm

Ultra-high Definition video recording of 2012 Venus Transit
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=145648241

Jun 3 2012

13cm Band Rules Expanded to Allow MedRadio Adjacent to Satellites

The ARRL is reporting in a First Report and Order and a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ET 08-59) released on May 24, the FCC decided to expand the Part 95 Personal Radio Service rules to allow medical devices to operate on a secondary basis in the 2360-2400 MHz band. International amateur satellite operations are allocated between 2400-2450 MHz, adjacent to the new devices.

The new allocation is  Medical Body Area Networks (MBAN) which provide a way for health care facilities to monitor their patients via wireless networks. Because use of these frequencies will be on a secondary basis, MBAN stations will not be allowed to cause interference to, and must accept interference from, primary services, including US radio amateurs who operate on a terrestrial primary basis in the 2390-2395 MHz and 2395-2400 MHz bands.

The ARRL has posted their full analysis and report at:
http://tinyurl.com/13cm-Medical-Allocation (arrl.org)

Source AMSAT News Service (ANS)

Jun 3 2012

Satellite Link Budget Information and Lunar Beacons

Download the spread sheet here (1.2 MB) (ver 2.4.1 – updated 11/4/2007)

Download Basic Analog Transponder Spread sheet here and its notes here

Lunar Beacons – The Earth Moved by James Miller G3RUH http://www.amsat.org/amsat/articles/g3ruh/110.html

Lunar Transponder Calculations by Domenico I8CVS http://www.uk.amsat.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Lunar-Transponder-Calculations-by-I8CVS.txt

May 31 2012

23cm band covered by GNSS

An article in the May 2012 edition of the free publication Microwave Journal shows that all of 1240-1300 MHz except for two narrow gaps will be used by global navigation satellite systems (GNSS).

The article by Rachid El Assir, Rohde & Schwarz, conatin a chart that graphically illustrates where the GNSS systems will operate in 1240-1300 MHz band.

A gap of about 3 MHz occurs at 1240 and one of about a MHz at 1259 MHz.

Read Global Navigation Satellite Systems and Their Applications
http://www.microwavejournal.com/articles/17568-global-navigation-
satellite-systems-and-their-applications

Microwave Journal http://www.microwavejournal.com/publications/1

May 28 2012

Rocket Engineer Starts Mojave Makerspace

What happens when rocket scientists get together in their spare time?

Michael Clive builds rockets during the day and Makerspaces at night. And this is no ordinary Makerspace, it’s in the “Silicon Valley of Space”..also known as Mojave, California. Find out how Michael gained support for this unique water hole in the desert and some unique challenges he faces.

Watch How to build a place to make cool stuff

Mojave Makerspace / Hackerspace http://mojavemakers.org/

The Space Review – Hacking space http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2068/1

Mojave Air and Spaceport http://mojaveairport.com/

May 28 2012

STRaND-2 ‘Kinect’ Satellites Video

STRaND-2 NanosatsSTRaND-2, a twin nanosatellite mission from SSTL and the University of Surrey to test a novel in-orbit docking system using a gridded Lidar system based on the Microsoft Xbox Kinect games-controller technology.

Similar in design to STRaND-1, the identical twin satellites will each measure 30cm (3 unit Cubesat) in length, and utilise components from the Xbox Kinect games controller to scan the local area and provide the satellites with spatial awareness on all three axes – thus allowing them to dock.

The STRaND team sees the relatively low cost nanosatellites as intelligent “space building blocks” that could be stacked together and reconfigured to build larger modular spacecraft.

Watch STRaND-2 Docking Nanosatellite.wmv

STRaND stands for Surrey Training, Research and Nanosatellite Demonstration and the programme is intended to be a long-term arrangement between the space company SSTL and academic researchers at the Surrey Space Centre (SSC), with STRaND-1 the first of a long line of STRaND nanosatellites.

The SSTL employees involved with the STRaND programme are volunteers. It is a condition of the programme that volunteers from SSTL and SSC use their own, free time for STRaND activities (such as lunches and breaks). The project has no budget for staff so is entirely dependent on volunteers.

Further information at http://www.sstl.co.uk/divisions/earth-observation—science/science—exploration/strand-2-building-blocks-nanosatellite

‘Kinect’ STRaND-2 at UK Space Agency Conference http://www.uk.amsat.org/6795

Surrey Satellite to put Xbox parts in space http://www.uk.amsat.org/7771

The Register article http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/05/28/sstl_strand_2_nanosat_xbox_kinect/

Thinking outside the box in space by BBC Science correspondent Jonathan Amos http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18250755

STRaND on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nanosats