The Italian microsat UniSat-5 will itself deploy a number of additional amateur radio satellites. Among them should be the CubeSats PUCP-SAT-1, HumSat-D, Icube-1, Dove-4 (Planet Labs Inc. non-amateur) and PocketQubes Wren, Eagle-1 (BeakerSat), Eagle-2 ($50Sat), QB-Scout1. PUCP-SAT-1 intends to subsequently release a further satellite Pocket-PUCP.
Tag Archives: Amateur Radio
PhoneSat at Maker Faire
The 2012 Bay Area Maker Faire in San Mateo took place May 19-20 and among the stands was one displaying the PhoneSat amateur radio satellites.
There are two types of of these satellites both of which run the Android operating system and will be enclosed in a standard 1U CubeSat structure.
PhoneSat 1.0 cost about $3500 and is built around the Nexus One smartphone, it operates on battery power only with a mission lifetime of approx 1 week.
PhoneSat 2.0 is more expensive at $8000. It is built around the Nexus S smartphone and has solar panels on each face and a mission lifetime until de-orbit of approximately 2 weeks.
The IARU has coordinated a frequency of 437.425 MHz for the AX.25 AFSK downlink.
The first launch is scheduled for the third quarter of 2012 on Antares-110. It will carry two PhoneSat 1.0 satellites and one PhoneSat 2.0. A second PhoneSat launch is expected to occur in 2013.
Watch NANOSATHTC smart Phone-Satellite OS Android in a 10cm cube
Phonesat was also at the 2011 Maker Faire. In this video Ben explains the concept of a Phonesat.
Watch Android Phone as Autonomous Micro-Satellite: PhoneSat
IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination Status http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru
TEDxKhartoum Presentation on KN-SAT1 CubeSat
KN-SAT1 Students at ST2UOK Khartoum
Abubakr S. Eltayeb ST2AB is an Electrical Engineer specializing in communications systems. He is currently a member of the Cube Satellite Project which belongs to the Faculty of Engineering at University of Khartoum.
The team includes his colleagues Hala M. Othman, Mustafa Atta Mohamed and Yasir M. Osman ST2YM, and together they constructed the first satellite in Sudan with the help of Dr. Tahani Abdalla, their project manager and Dr. Nader Abdelhameed, the team manager. They designed, tested and experimentally launched a fully functional Cube Satellite prototype named KN-SAT1.
The team is now developing the Flight Model of the KN-SAT1, in preparation for its launch into outer space.
This TEDxKhartoum presentation is not in English, however, the segment from 09:12 until 13:25 contains video showing the development of the KN-SAT1 CubeSat including a test of the deployment of the antennas.
Watch TEDxKhartoum 2012: Abubakr S. Eltayeb, A Sudanese Satellite
Khartoum Amateur Radio Satellite Ground Station http://www.uk.amsat.org/4316
KN-Sat1 http://cubesat.uofk.edu/
Sudanese Amateur Radio and SWL History http://www.st2nh.com/sudanamateurradioandswlhistory
Vintage Spacelab 2 video featuring Amateur Radio
W0ORE STS-51-F QSL Card - Image Credit John Magliacane KD2BD
The second ham radio transmissions by an amateur radio operator in space were made by Tony England W0ORE during the Challenger shuttle mission STS 51-F in 1985.
He achieved the first ever two-way Slow Scan TV (SSTV) space contact during the flight when he contacted GB3RS the headquaters station of the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB).
Tony W0ORE was running a Motorola model MX-340 handheld 2-meter transceiver and a Robot Research model 1200C slow-scan television scan converter with an antenna fitted on the inside of one of Challengers windows.
Narrated by the Commander and crew, these videos contains footage selected by the astronauts, as well as their comments on the mission. Footage includes launch, onboard crew activities, and landing. The Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) is mentioned 11:40 into the video.
Space Shuttle STS-51-F Challenger Spacelab 2 Post Flight Press Conference Film 1985 Part 1 of 2
Part 2 of 2
The ITN TV news report ‘Space Radio Hams’ on the two-way SSTV contact between GB3RS at RSGB HQ and Tony England W0ORE (believed to have been on 145.550 MHz) can be seen at
http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//ITN/1985/08/04/AS040885006/
Videos taken by a local TV station, of a contact between a school in Staten Island, NY and Tony England W0ORE on STS-51F can be seen at http://www.southgatearc.org/news/january2009/historic_shuttle_videos.htm
John Magliacane KD2BD was one of the amateurs who had a contact with Tony England, see his website at http://www.qsl.net/kd2bd/kd2bd.html
STS-51-F (also known as Spacelab 2) was the nineteenth flight of NASA’s Space Shuttle program, and the eighth flight of Space Shuttle Challenger. It launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 29 July 1985, and landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, just under eight days later on 6 August 1985, at 12:45:26 pm PDT.
Shuttle Mission STS-51-F http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-51-F
Vintage Videos of STS-9 Columbia Mission and Spacelab http://www.uk.amsat.org/7265
AMSAT Demonstration Station at 2012 Dayton Hamvention
The AMSAT demonstration station at the 2012 Dayton Hamvention in Ohio (grid EM79ut) working the SSB/CW satellite VO-52 on Friday, May 18, 2012. This video starts at approximately 1418 UTC (10.18am EDT) on a pass to the west that covered much of North America.
Working the microphone is Keith Pugh W5IU. Assisting Keith is Doug Papay KD8CAO, and Roger Ley WA9PZL is taking care of the antenna. Keith’s equipment is used for the demonstration station – two Yaesu FT-817s, two homebrew antennas (3-element 2m Yagi, 6-element 70cm Yagi), and a laptop running SatPC32 to control the radios. The radios and laptop are powered from a large 12V battery.
As the video starts, Keith is working Angelo N5UXT in New Orleans, Louisiana. Other stations are heard later in the video, as the satellite is moving away and toward the horizon.
This video was recorded by Patrick Stoddard WD9EWK/VA7EWK using a Sony DSC-H70 camera at 720p.
See a video by Simon 2E0HTS describing how to work the SSB amateur radio satellites such as VO-52 http://www.uk.amsat.org/2712
John Heath G7HIA wrote about operating through VO-52 in his article ‘Getting started on amateur radio satellites’ that was published by the Radio Society of Great Britain in the March 2007 edition of RadCom. Download the article at https://amsat-uk.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/satellites_radcom_mar07.pdf
Copyright 2007 Radio Society of Great Britain. For personal use only – no copying, reprinting or distribution without written permission from the RSGB.
HORYU-2 Commencing AX.25 FSK Operation
On May 22 the amateur radio satellite HORYU-2 carried out tests using the 1200 bps AX.25 FSK downlink on 437.375 MHz.
It is understood that signals were received by JA1GDE, JA5BLZ, JA6PL and JA2MJA.
On May 23 Mineo Wakita JE9PEL decoded the AX.25 telemetry data and made available this recording:
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/20523ho2.wav
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/20523ho2.png
The AX.25 transmissions are being made when HORYU-2 is within range of Japan. In the rest of the world it is transmitting a CW beacon on 437.375 MHz as shown in this video by Luciano PY5LF.
Watch HORYU-2 Over Brazil in 22 May 2012
Listen to HORYU-2 on the web http://www.uk.amsat.org/7594
HORYU-2 Telemetry Software and Competition http://www.uk.amsat.org/7474
HORYU-2 Separation Video http://www.uk.amsat.org/7540
More information about HORYU-2 http://www.uk.amsat.org/7404
HORYU-2 Japanese Operating Schedule http://tinyurl.com/HORYU-2-Schedule
Keplerian Two Line Elements (TLEs / KEPS) for new satellites launched in past 30 days
http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/tle-new.txt
Amateur satellite Keplerian Two Line Elements (TLEs / KEPS) http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/amateur.txt
AMSAT-UK 
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