Tag Archives: Amateur Radio

Jan 30 2012

Student Amateur Radio Satellites on Vega

Artists impression of Vega launch

Artists impression of Vega launch

Vega is planned to launch on Monday, February 13, between 1000-1300 UT from the ESA launch site at Kourou in the Caribbean. It will carry eight student built amateur radio satellites comprising seven CubeSats and a microsatellite called ALMASat-1.

ALMASat-1 – University of Bologna, Italy
437.465 MHz 1200 bps FSK and 2407.850 MHz
http://www.almasat.unibo.it/02_projects/almasat-1/almasat1.htm

e-st@r – Politecnico di Torino, Italy
437.445 MHz 1200 bps AFSK
http://areeweb.polito.it/ricerca/E-STAR/

Goliat – University of Bucharest, Romania
437.485 MHz 1200 bps AFSK
http://www.goliat.ro/

MaSat-1 – Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary
437.345 MHz GFSK 625/1250 bps, CW
http://cubesat.bme.hu/en/

PW-Sat1 – Warsaw University of Technology, Poland
There are 5 modes of operation on the 145.900 MHz downlink:
– Receive only – no downlink
– CW Beacon CW – On-Off Keying (OOK) CW 12 WPM
– BPSK Beacon – BPSK 1200 bps AX25 (1 frame on 20 sec)
– Control communication mode. Downlink BPSK 1200 bps AX25
– Voice Repeater mode (aka “AO-16” mode) – uplink 435.020 MHz FM and downlink 145.900 MHz DSB
http://tinyurl.com/CubeSatPW-Sat

Robusta – University of Montpellier 2, France
437.325 MHz? (website says now 437.350 MHz) 1200 bps FM telemetry with one data burst of 20 secs every 1 min
http://www.ies.univ-montp2.fr/robusta/satellite/?lang=en

UNICubeSAT -University of Rome, Italy
437.305MHz 9600 bps FSK
http://www.gaussteam.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=97%3Aunicubesat&catid=36%3Aunicubesat&Itemid=145

XaTcobeo – Universidade de Vigo, Spain
437.365 MHz FFSK with AX.25
http://www.xatcobeo.com/

Watch the launch live at http://www.videocorner.tv/

The student teams have requested reception reports. All observers are being encouraged to join the CubeSat IRC chat channel to pass on their news and comments in realtime. You will need an IRC client such as ChatZilla for Firefox or mIRC to join the cubesat chat. Use the irc.freenode.net server. Then join the #cubesat channel. Many users set their chat nickname to “name_callsign”.

Preliminary Vega TLE’s (KEPS) for launch at 1000, 1100 and 1200 UT here

Assuming a 1000 UT launch the satellites should deploy their antennas and start transmitting at about 1140 UT. It looks like the first to get good reception will be Central America followed quickly by a pass up the East coast of North America. The first pass for the United Kingdom should be a horizon skimmer across the NW at around 1207 UT.

Vega Elliptical Orbit Video http://www.uk.amsat.org/4119

N2YO Real Time Satellite Tracking http://www.n2yo.com/

Satscape Satellite Tracking Software http://www.satscape.info/home/?q=node/2 

IZ8BLY Vox Recoder http://antoninoporcino.xoom.it/VoxRecorder/

Free Sound Recorder http://www.sound-recorder.biz/freesoundrecorder.html

For the latest information on newly launched satellites check the AMSAT Bulletin Board (AMSAT-BB) http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/maillist/

Jan 28 2012

CUSat-1/2 to launch on SpaceX

CUSat-1/2

The IARU amateur satellite frequency coordination panel have agreed frequencies for CUSat-1/2, planned to launch on a SpaceX mission in the last quarter of 2012.

CUSat-1/2 is a 45kg satellite that will split into two parts sometime after separation from the launcher. Image and positioning data will be downlinked using 9k6 AX25 packet on 70cm from a 2 watt transmitter. Cross linking between the two parts will also take place on 70cm.

The coordinated frequencies are:
– CUSat-1   437.405 MHz
– CUSat-2   437.485 MHz
– Cross link 437.305 MHz

Using centimeter accuracy carrier-phase differential GPS, the two satellites will perform autonomous relative navigation. One satellite will capture imagery of the other satellite and send these images to a ground station on Earth for the reconstruction of a 3-D model of the partner satellite. The images will also act to verify the relative GPS implementation. Doing so will demonstrate how one spacecraft can diagnose the structural health and configuration of another.

CUSat http://cusat.cornell.edu/

Jan 28 2012

Masat-1 Elliptical Orbit Video

Artists impression of Vega launch

Artists impression of Vega launch

Vega is planned to launch on February 9 from the ESA launch site at Kourou in the Caribbean. It will carry seven amateur radio CubeSats and an amateur radio Microsatellite called ALMASat.

This HD clip shows how one of those CubeSats, Masat-1 (437.345 MHz), is going to orbit around Earth. You can see the satellite establishing contact with the primary ground station at BME, joined by the radio amateurs in Europe and all over the World. The radio contact is possible only if the satellite is above the Horizon at the given location. This is symbolized with thin green lines between the satellite and the ground stations, represented by coloured dots on the Globe.

Everybody is welcome to join in recieving the satellite using the ground station software freely downloadable from the Masat-1 website!

Watch Masat-1 Elliptical Orbit and Pass over European Ground Stations

The Masat-1 Ground Station Client Software was prepared to process the 437.345 MHz GFSK 625/1250 bps transmission received from the satellite Masat-1. The software provides the following functions:

– Audio demodulation
– Packet decoding
– Packet data visualization
– Frequency waterfall plot to aid radio tuning

Download the software and a test WAV file from http://cubesat.bme.hu/en/foldi-allomas/kliens-szoftver/

Frequencies and links for the amateur radio satellites on Vega are at http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/esa9cubf.htm

IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination pages http://amsat.org.uk/iaru/

Jan 26 2012

2E0HTS Working the OSCAR-7 Satellite

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

Jan 25 2012

SumbandilaSat beyond repair

Sumbandilasat

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/

Jan 25 2012

RS-39 Reception Video

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