Tag Archives: Amateur Radio

Sep 19 2011

Isle of Skye on Amateur Radio Satellites Sep 24

Paul Robinson 2E1EUB, current holder of the Louis Varney G5RV cup, will be active on the Amateur Radio satellites from the Isle of Skye and Eastern Scotland starting Saturday, September 24.

2E1EUB Portable Satellite Station

2E1EUB Portable Satellite Station

He will be using the call sign 2M1EUB/P and weather permitting Paul will be active from the Isle of Skye for a week and then active for a further week from Cairngorms National Park about 80km west of Aberdeen in grid square IO67VJ.

He says he welcomes skeds, contact details via:
http://www.qrz.com/db/2E1EUB
http://www.qrz.com/db/2M1EUB

Louis Varney G5RV Cup

Getting started on Amateur Radio Satellites PDF

Sep 13 2011

ARISSat-1 on Ham Nation Show

TAPR President, Steve Bible N7HPR, discusses the new amateur radio satellite ARISSat-1 on this weeks edition of the popular video show Ham Nation. He appears after the item on the Elecraft KX3 portable SDR transceiver.

Watch Ham Nation episode 16 at
http://twit.cachefly.net/video/hn/hn0016/hn0016_h264b_864x480_500.mp4

Other Ham Nation episodes can be seen at http://twit.tv/show/ham-nation/

Ham Nation airs live each Tuesday at 6:00 PT/ 9:00ET at http://live.twit.tv/

Sep 13 2011

FUNcube Group Membership Exceeds 2000

In under a year the AMSAT-UK FUNcube Yahoo Group has achieved over 2000 members.

The group was created by Rob Styles M0TFO at the end of October 2010 to provide support for the AMSAT-UK FUNcube satellite and the FUNcube Dongle (FCD) Software Defined Radio (SDR).

The FUNcube satellite project is an educational CubeSat project with the goal of enthusing and educating young people about radio, space, physics and electronics. It will support the educational Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) initiatives and provide an additional resource for the RSGB GB4FUN Radio Communications Demonstration Module.

The target audience are school pupils in the 8-18 age range. As well as providing a strong 145 MHz telemetry beacon for the pupils to receive FUNcube will also have a 435/145 MHz linear transponder for Amateur Radio SSB/CW use.

The FCD SDR was originally developed for educational outreach as part of the ground segment for the FUNcube satellite. However, it was realised it can be used for many other applications as well, so AMSAT-UK developed a Pro version which has a frequency range of 64-1700 MHz.

Similar to a USB TV Dongle, the FCD simply fits into a computer USB port and can be used with freely available Software Defined Radio software. The FCD is all-mode which this means that as well as data, it will also receive many other signals including AM, FM, SSB and CW and weather satellite images.

Join the FUNcube Yahoo Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FUNcube/

SDR-RADIO software http://www.sdr-radio.com/

The FUNcube Dongle SDR can be ordered via http://www.FUNcubeDongle.com/?page_id=286

Information on the FUNcube satellite project is at http://FUNcube.org.uk/overview/

A sample edition of the AMSAT-UK newsletter OSCAR News can be seen at http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf

Sep 7 2011

UK Amateur Radio Smartphone CubeSat STRaND-1

The International Amateur Radio Union satellite frequency coordination panel has agreed a frequency of 437.575 MHz for the UK satellite STRaND-1.

Some of the SSTL STRaND-1 Project Team, from Left to Right: Bob Dyer, Nick Holt, Dale Mellor, Mark Brenchley, Shaun Kenyon, Jonathan Gebbie, Rupert Taylor, Rosie Linehan, James Parsons, Andy Schofield

STRaND-1 will carry an Android Smartphone and plans to use data rates of 9k6 or 19k2 bps for the AX.25 packet radio downlink. A software-based speech synthesiser will be included to pay homage to the UOSAT family of satellites.

The 3U CubeSat measures 30 by 10 by 10 cm and weighs 4 kg. Unlike previous CubeSats it will feature full 3-axis control with the attitude an orbit control system comprising a nano-magnetorquer, nano-reaction wheels, GPS receiver, 8 pulse plasma thrusters and a butane thruster.

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.

Continue reading →

Sep 5 2011

1970s UK Satellite To Be Revived

40 years ago the United Kingdom’s first satellite launched on a UK built rocket went into space and now a team from the Mullard Space Science Laboratory in Surrey are attempting to revive it.

The Prospero spacecraft was launched by a Black Arrow rocket on October 28, 1971 from Launch Area 5B, Woomera carrying a series of experiments to investigate the effects of the space environment. The satellite operated successfully until 1973 and was contacted annually until 1996. Its beacon on 137.560 MHz was heard by Amateurs in 2006.

Audio recordings of the 0.3 watt phase modulated signal with 2048 bit/s PCM from Prospero on 137.560 MHz can be heard on the Sounds from Space site of Matthias Bopp DD1US http://www.dd1us.de/spacesounds%204.html

Prospero real-time oribtal tracking page http://www.vk3ukf.com/Space/GadgetSatProspero.htm

BBC Prospero story and pics at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14783135

Bernhard VA6BMJ says that there’s an item about Prospero in the Space Boffins podcast :
http://audioboo.fm/boos/431009-space-boffins-podcast2

Britain in Space http://www.britain-in-space.co.uk/1960/blackarrow.html

Sep 5 2011

Louis Varney G5RV Cup

The G5RV Cup for Space Communications has been awarded to Paul Robinson 2E1EUB by RSGB President Dave Wilson M0OBW.

RSGB President Dave Wilson M00BW Presents Louis Varney G5RV Cup to Paul Robinson 2E1EUB

RSGB President Dave Wilson M0OBW Presents G5RV Cup to Paul Robinson 2E1EUB

The cup is awarded for advances in space communication and the presentation took place at the Telford Hamfest on Sunday, September 4.

Paul was nominated by AMSAT-UK for his work promoting and encouraging the use of amateur radio satellites and perfecting the art of a portable ground station.

Paul comments that he is privileged to have his call sign and name on the cup alongside some very famous call signs, some of which are no longer with us, he would like to thank AMSAT-UK and the RSGB for this award.

Previous holders of the cup are: 1956 G2IG, 1960 G3BCM, 1967 G3FDW, 1968 BRS15744, 1970 G3JGO, 1989 GW3XYW, 1991 G0/K8KA, 1992 G3RUH, 1993 G3AAJ, 1994 G6GEJ, 1996 G6GEJ, 1997 G3AAJ, 2000 G3RUH.

AMSAT-UK publishes a colour A4 newsletter, OSCAR News, that is full of Amateur Satellite information. A sample edition can be seen at
http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf

Join online at http://tinyurl.com/JoinAMSAT-UK