Tag Archives: APRS

Feb 9 2012

ISS APRS Balloon to Launch Saturday

BLT-28 Katy to Nanjing

BLT-28 Katy to Nanjing

A group of amateur radio operators aims to establish a world record for distance by flying an unmanned, helium-filled balloon from Katy, Texas, across the Atlantic and the Mediterranean then on to Nanjing, China.

During the trans-Atlantic crossing, when out of range of shore based stations, the balloon’s APRS beacon will operate on the International Space Station (ISS) packet digipeater frequency of 145.825 MHz.

The South Texas Balloon Launch Team will release the balloon at 3 pm CST (2100 UT) Saturday, February 11.

The balloon payload package weighs only about 150 grams and contains a high altitude GPS tracking system and a 144 MHz FM APRS amateur radio transmitter. To conserve weight and battery life, no camera equipment will be on board. The maximum altitude is expected to be above 30 km, with horizontal speeds between 160 and 240 km per hour. The balloon size will increase from about 1.5 metres to about 11.8 metres at maximum elevation. Recovery of the payload package is not expected.

Individuals may follow the balloon’s progress on the Internet by logging onto APRS tracking site, filling in the “Track callsign:” field with “kt5tk-11” and changing the “Show last:” field to 24 hours.

The APRS telemetry transmitter is frequency agile to cope with different APRS standards across the globe. The frequencies used will be:
USA = 144.390 MHz FM
mid-Atlantic = 145.825 MHz (International Space Station packet digipeater frequency)
Europe = 144.800 MHz FM

APRS tracking site http://aprs.fi/

Read the Katy Times story at
http://katytimes.com/news/article_b2683a60-527e-11e1-bca4-001871e3ce6c.html

BLT-28 The Flight of the Orient Express http://www.w5acm.net/b28.html

South Texas Balloon Launch Team http://www.w5acm.net/

QRP APRS to the ISS http://www.uk.amsat.org/3838 

Qtmm AFSK1200 soundcard modem software for decoding packet radio, APRS and telemetry from amateur radio satellites http://www.uk.amsat.org/4313

Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) http://www.aprs.org/

Link to UZ7HO Soundmodem 1200 bps packet and other APRS software http://wa8lmf.net/miscinfo/

Feb 2 2012

Qtmm soundcard modem for decoding AFSK1200

 

Qtmm soundcard modem receiving APRS trafficQtmm is a simple AFSK1200 decoder that uses the computer’s sound card for input. It can be used to decode packet radio, APRS and telemetry from OSCAR and Cubesats.
Testing shows a good performance in monitoring the International space station APRS Beacon. More @ Qtmm soundcard modem for decoding AFSK1200

 

Telemetry reception from the AO-27 amateur radio satellite, which also uses AFSK.

Jan 16 2012

QRP APRS Packet Radio to the ISS

International Space Station

International Space Station

Doug Cook KD5PDN’s article about contacting the International Space Station with a few watts and a shoestring budget antenna is now available.

The article “QRP to the ISS” appeared in the February, 2012 issue of QST magazine and, with permission from the ARRL, can be downloaded from Clint Bradford K6LCS’s website.

Doug walks the reader through building a simple tape measure beam, and how to successfully work the ISS with it and a handheld radio.

Read the article at http://www.work-sat.com/Work-Sat/Misc_files/QRP-ISS.pdf

A video by author Doug Cook KD5PDN shows the tape rule antenna and how to set up a Yaesu VX-8R for ISS APRS packet data sending and receiving and other aspects to make a digital contact with the International Space Station. You can also learn how to interpret the audio prompts when packet data is being received.

Watch ISS APRS Contact with a Yaesu VX-8R WB5BSA

There is lots of other information on the Work Satellites website at http://www.work-sat.com/

Oct 28 2011

APRS Pass Predictor

On the AMSAT bulletin board Lynn KJ4ERJ reports the initial keps for the CubeSats launched today October 28 have been loaded into the APRS pass predictor:

For APRS users, to get a pass prediction for your QTH, make sure you’ve beaconed your position recently then send a message to one of the following “stations” and you should receive information on the next (or current) pass:

SAT99999 or DICEY
SAT99998 or DICEF
SAT99997 or RAX2
SAT99996 (Mixed case sat names are not yet supported)
SAT99995 or E1PU2
SAT99994 (Mixed case sat names are not yet supported)

For more information on the satellite pass auto-responder, please see http://aprsisce.wikidot.com/doc:satsrv

Lynn (D) – KJ4ERJ – Author of APRSISCE for Windows Mobile and Win32

PS.  Yes, you can also send an APRS message to ISS or AO51 to receive pass predictions for those satellites as well.

AMSAT Bulletin Board (AMSAT-BB) http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/maillist/