A video from Simon 2E0HTS shows him working F6HRO and DG1EA via the amateur radio satellite OSCAR-7 which was launched in 1974.
His new assistant is showing good radio com skills especially rotating and elevating the satellite antennas.
Watch Simon’s video – AO-7 Satellite QSO (with a little help from my new radio partner)
Simon 2E0HTS Ham Radio Operator Blog http://www.hamradiooperator.blogspot.com/
Working the SSB satellites http://www.uk.amsat.org/2712
Sumbandilasat
The defenceWeb site reports:
South Africa’s second satellite, SumbandilaSat, is no longer fulfilling its main purpose due to technical problems and is essentially beyond repair, its maker SunSpace says.
Rob Olivier, head of Business Development at SunSpace, told defenceWeb that although contact can still be made with the satellite, it cannot capture images and is thus “not fulfilling its main purpose”.
He said that chances of repairing the satellite are virtually zero and that SunSpace has moved on to other projects.
SumbandilaSat was damaged during a solar storm in the June last year. The power supply to SumbandilaSat’s onboard computer stopped working and the satellite stopped sending back images.
Read the full story here.
In addition to its primary imaging mission SumbandilaSat (SO-67) carries an amateur radio voice beacon, parrot repeater and VHF/UHF FM repeater.
Southern African Amateur Radio Satellite Association (SA AMSAT) http://www.amsatsa.org.za/
defenceWeb http://www.defenceweb.co.za/
Nittin VU3TYG has made available a video showing reception of the new RS-39 (Chibis-M) satellite that was deployed from the Progress M-13M cargo ship.
RS-39 has beacons on 435.315 and 435.215 MHz that can be received directly by schools and colleges for educational outreach purposes.
Watch Chibis-RS-39 Telemetry decoding
RS-39 (Chibis-M) http://www.uk.amsat.org/3910
RS-39 Telemetry Decoder http://www.uk.amsat.org/4029
RS-39 Real Time Tracking Map http://chibis.cosmos.ru/cyclogr/prepare1/google/index.html
For Keps click on two gear wheels in top left-hand corner then click on Satellites.
Satscape Satellite Tracking Software http://www.satscape.info/home/?q=node/2
Free Sound Recorder http://www.sound-recorder.biz/freesoundrecorder.html
In this video Lance Ginner, K6GSJ, describes the early days of Project OSCAR, which put Amateur Radio into orbit and lead to the foundation of AMSAT.
Watch AMSAT Symposium 2011 Keynote Speech
Article – “OSCAR-1 Launched 50 Years Ago” http://www.uk.amsat.org/4026
RS-39 Telemetry Decoder Screen Shot - Nittin VU3TYG
Mike Rupprecht DK3WN has made available software to decode the telemetry beacon of RS-39 (435.315 and 435.215 MHz) .
In Google English the software description reads:
Very simple tool for decoding the CW telemetry and display of telemetry values of Chibis-M (RS-39).
The input of the received telemetry values are in the respective fields U.S., IBS, Uzun, iSun, ITXA, ITXB, TTXA, TTXB, TNAP, TAB, MSEP, MCON, SMA, SMB, and MRXA MRXB. The converted value is displayed immediately. All values are checked for plausibility, one differing from the standard value is displayed with red background. Normal telemetry values have corresponding hardware box with a green background.
With the Save button, the currently displayed telemetry values are saved in a file.
Download RS-39 Decoder Version 1.0 http://www.dk3wn.info/files/rs39.zip
DK3WN satellite software page in Google English http://tinyurl.com/DK3WN-Sat-Software
RS-39 Real Time Tracking Map http://chibis.cosmos.ru/cyclogr/prepare1/google/index.html
RS-39 (Chibis-M) http://www.uk.amsat.org/3910
Lance Ginner K6GSJ with OSCAR 1
The ARRL have released an English translation of an article about the pioneering amateur radio satellite OSCAR-1
A new, highly informative article on how the world’s first Amateur Radio satellite, OSCAR-1, came to be designed, built and launched has been posted to the ARRL’s Space Communication web page (see the “Articles” section). Written by Andreas Bilsing, DL2LUX, “OSCAR-1 Launched 50 Years Ago” was first published in the German magazine Funkamateur. It is reprinted with their permission. OSCAR-1 was launched just over 50 years ago, on December 12, 1961.
Link the the article in English http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Technology/Bilsing.pdf
ARRL Space Communication page http://www.arrl.org/space-communication
AMSAT-UK 
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