Tag Archives: Amateur Radio

Jan 2 2012

FUNcube Dongle Presentation Video

The AMSAT-UK FUNcube Dongle is a VHF/UHF (64-1700 MHz) Software Defined Radio (SDR) on a USB Dongle. Howard Long G6VLB traveled from London to the 2011 ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC) in Baltimore to address the group on this project. He details the trials and tribulations behind designing and manufacturing what turned out to be an extremely popular product.

The primary aim of the FUNcube Dongle is to interest young students in science, satellites and radio. The FUNcube iteslf is a satellite that will be launched specifically to be monitored by all those dongles that have been sold.

Watch 2011 DCC – FUNcube Dongle

FUNcube Yahoo Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FUNcube

Amateur Radio Video News (ARVN) http://www.arvn.tv/

AMSAT-UK publishes a colour A4 newsletter, OSCAR News, which is full of Amateur Satellite information. Free sample issue at http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf Join online at http://tinyurl.com/JoinAMSAT-UK

Jan 2 2012

The DIY Magic of Amateur Radio Video

A new promotional video has been released to attract Hackers, Makers and Innovators to amateur radio.

The video features well known hacker and maker Diana Eng KC2UHB along with Ham Nation’s Bob Heil K9EID and ISS Astronaut Doug Wheelock KF5BOC. It follows some of the innovative, imaginative and fun ways “hams” use radio technology in new and creative ways and points out that amateur radio clubs are similar to hacker groups.

Watch The DIY Magic of Amateur Radio in HD

Featured in the video is the Ham Radio HSMM-MESH™. A high speed, self discovering, self configuring, fault tolerant, wireless computer network that can run for days from a fully charged car battery, or indefinitely with the addition of a modest solar array or other supplemental power source. The focus is on emergency communications. http://www.hsmm-mesh.org/

A Hi-Res 480 MB version of the DIY Magic DVD can be downloaded from http://p1k.arrl.org/pub/pr/

Diana Eng KC2UHB joins ARRL Public Relations Committee
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/march2010/diana_eng_joins_arrl.htm

London Hackspace work on HackSat1 http://www.uk.amsat.org/2482

Hackers and Makers in AMSAT-UK are building the amateur radio satellite FUNcube. AMSAT-UK publishes a colour A4 newsletter, OSCAR News, which is full of Amateur Satellite information. Free sample issue at http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf
Join online at http://tinyurl.com/JoinAMSAT-UK

Jan 1 2012

AMSAT-UK 80m Net recording on the Web

Simon Brown HB9DRV has made available a recording of Sunday’s AMSAT-UK 80m net that he made from a remote receiver in Poole, Dorset.

The net is held every Sunday morning at 10am local time on a nominal frequency of 3.780 MHz. Due to interference the net may move either side of that frequency so tune around. Newcomers are most welcome to call-in.

AMSAT-UK Net recorded Sunday, January 1, 2012
http://www.ham-radio.ch/kits/sdr-radio.com/mp3/01-Jan-2012-1059%203.825MHz.mp3

Older Recordings:
December 4, 2011 http://www.ham-radio.ch/kits/sdr-radio.com/mp3/04-Dec-2011-1112%203.725MHz.mp3
November 27, 2011 http://www.ham-radio.ch/kits/sdr-radio.com/mp3/27-Nov-2011-1108%203.775MHz.mp3

You can listen to the remote radio of Paul M0EYT in Poole, Dorset as well as other remote receivers in the United Kingdom and around the world via the Web Servers (Free)  page at http://www.sdr-radio.com/

Another web based radio site is http://www.websdr.org/

Nine band web SDR http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/

Online Receivers http://www.dxzone.com/catalog/Internet_and_Radio/Online_Receivers/

Jan 1 2012

Creation of AMSAT-Francophone

AMSAT-Francophone Logo

A new amateur radio satellite organisation, AMSAT-Francophone, was formed in December.

Following the disappearance of AMSAT-France a few months ago, some of the members who originally created AMSAT-France 16 years ago, thought it was still necessary to have a structure for the French amateur space activities and have created AMSAT-Francophone.

Among its aims are:

– Development of amateur satellites, technology and systems useful for the construction and / or use of amateur satellites

– Participation in national and international collaborations on non-commercial projects in space,

The AMSAT-Francophone website in Google English is at http://tinyurl.com/AMSAT-Francophone

or in French at http://www.amsat-f.org/

Dec 31 2011

ARISSat-1 altitude is rapidly decreasing

Sergey Samburov RV3DR with ARISSat-1

Sergey Samburov RV3DR with ARISSat-1

The altitude of the amateur radio satellite ARISSat-1 (145.950 MHz FM) continues to decline rapidly.

On Tuesday, Dec 27, 2011,  ARISSat-1 was losing about 4.1 km (~2.5 miles) a day in altitude, by Friday, Dec 30, 2011 the decay was 5.9 km (3.6 miles) per day. This rate will continue to increase over the next days and ultimately result in the satellite burning up in the atmosphere.

Telemetry reports haven’t shown a large increase in temperatures yet, please collect and report these values during each illumination period. There have been a number of people that continue to update their calculations on when the satellite will re-enter, now expected to be sometime this week.

The fall rate dh/dt is  increasing dramatically. Be sure to do daily updates of the ARISSat-1/RadioSkaf-B Keps from Celestrak.com. The ARISSat-1 orbit changes daily while the satellite continues to lose altitude.

Roland, PY4ZBZ from Brazil has updated graphs of height and fall rate on his Web site http://www.qsl.net/py4zbz/arissat.htm#r

ARISSat-1 Getting Hotter http://www.uk.amsat.org/2011/12/30/arissat-1-getting-hotter/

AMSAT News Service (ANS) http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/news/

Dec 31 2011

Smart Phone Satellite Presentation Video

In the United Kingdom volunteers from SSTL and SSC are using their own, free time to develop STRaND-1 a CubeSat that will carry a Smart Phone.

However Smart Phone satellites aren’t only being developed in the UK, the United States is developing one as well. Radio amateur Mike Safyan KJ6MVL gave a presentation on the US PhoneSat to the 2011 TAPR Digital Communications Conference and thanks to ARVN a video is now available.

A PhoneSat Really? Use an off the shelf smart phone as the guts of a satellite? Yep, that’s what radio amateur Mike Safyan KJ6MVL is doing over at NASA. He described the project in his talk at the 2011 ARRL/TAPR DCC in Baltimore.

Of course, todays phones have way more computer power than typical satellites, updated phones are released like every 5 minutes, and they’re dirt cheap (relatively). But can they hold up and do the job in the rigors of space? So far, Mike’s sent his phone up on a near space balloon and a small rocket, and yes, it works. A full CubeSat launch is next for Mike and crew.

Watch 2011 DCC – PhoneSat

Make: magazine – PhoneSat Aims to Send a Cellphone into Space (video)
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/10/phonesat-aims-to-send-a-cellphone-into-space-video.html

A six page article on UK PhoneSat STRaND-1 appeared in the Spring issue of the AMSAT-UK publication OSCAR News available for download at http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf

UK Smartphone CubeSat STRaND-1 http://www.uk.amsat.org/2011/09/07/uk-smartphone-cubesat-strand-1/

Amateur Radio Video News (ARVN) http://www.arvn.tv/