Tag Archives: FUNcube

Aug 19 2011

Weather Sat Picture Received With FUNcube Dongle

Herbert DL4SDR used an AMSAT-UK FUNcube Dongle VHF/UHF software defined radio

NOAA 15 Received With FUNcube Dongle

to receive a weather satellite picture in the 136-138 MHz band. On the FUNcube Yahoo Group he writes:

Today [August 19]  I received  a picture  from NOAA 15  WX  satellite with  simple “stuff” FUNcube Dongle (FCD)  and a VHF/UHF Ground Plane Antenna  up 12 meters above  ground , 200 meters  above  sea level, 15 meter  coax cable WITHOUT  pre-amplifier !

Hardware:  FCDpro  with newest Firmware V18.i with PC  WinXP with onboard Graphics-Chip

Software: FCD-DF,  Doppler-DF,  SpectraVue, wxtoimage

Nice to  see what’s possible  with simple “stuff”  :))

Regards from Germany

Herbert DL4SDR

In a follow up email he said he had also used a Ground Plane Antenna in the attic as well as one outside to receive the picture. He says he was surprised to get this good  quality.

The FUNcube Dongle was developed as part of the educational outreach for AMSAT-UK FUNcube satellite project. Although it was designed  to enable school students to receive the satellite beacon the wide frequency coverage of 64 – 1700MHz has meant that it can be used for many other applications.

The AMSAT-UK FUNcude Dongle SDR is sold by Martin Lynch & Sons (ML&S) at
http://tinyurl.com/MartinLynchFCD

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

Aug 12 2011

ARISSat-1 BPSK Reception Challenge

ARISSat-1 was deployed from the ISS on August 3. It has a composite VHF downlink that will easily fit into the FUNcube Dongle (FCD) receive spectrum. The 145.920 MHz telemetry is 1000 bps BPSK and can, of course, also be received with a normal SSB 2 metre receiver.

The signal levels from ARISSat-1 should be similar to those we expect from the AMSAT-UK FUNcube-1 satellite (and also eventually  from UKube-1) and the AMSAT-UK team are keen to discover what will be the minimum and best type of antennas for schools to use with a FUNcube Dongle (FCD) Software Defined Radio (SDR). Therefore user experience with the ARISSat-1 signals will be very valuable in making this determination.

To encourage everyone to receive the 145.920 MHz BPSK ARISSat-1 telemetry signal AMSAT-UK are offering a FUN reward for listeners!

Continue reading →

Aug 10 2011

SSTV sent through ARISSat-1 transponder

SSTV sent through ARISSat-1 transponder

Henk PA3GUO has made the first successful transmission of a Slow Scan TV (SSTV) image through the ARISSat-1 linear transponder. His receiver was an AMSAT-UK FUNcube Dongle SDR

FUNcube Dongle pro

AMSAT-UK FUNcube Dongle Pro

Continue reading →

Jul 25 2011

FUNcube Videos Released

AMSAT-UK have released a number of videos showing the Assembly, Integration and Verification (AIV) testing of the FUNcube satellite at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratories:

Wouter PA3WEG removes the stack from the Thermo Vac chamber after nearly 5 hot/cold cycles over a period of two and a half days in the chamber. The GOOD news is that the stack was still working after these tests!

FUNcube AIV Testing from Jim Heck on Vimeo.

Graham G3VZV and Wouter PA3WEG return to the lab with the stack after removal from the Thermo Vac chamber. They both make comments on how the test have gone so far.

FUNcube AIV Testing from Jim Heck on Vimeo.

Applying ‘Space Glue’ to the screws holding the side panels in place, ready for Vibration Testing on July 25.

FUNcube AIV Testing from Jim Heck on Vimeo.

Further FUNcube videos can be seen at
http://vimeo.com/user3575668

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

There will be talks on the FUNcube satellite and FUNcube dongle SDR at the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium to be held July 30-31 at the Holiday Inn, Guildford, GU2 7XZ, England. The event is open to all.

Either day passes or full packages comprising overnight accommodation and meals are available. For futher information see http://www.uk.amsat.org/colloquium-2011/

Live webstream at http://www.batc.tv/ch_live.php?ch=3
The Colloquium schedule, times in BST (GMT+1), is at http://tinyurl.com/2011ColloquiumSchedule
The Spring issue of the AMSAT-UK newsletter OSCAR News can be downloaded free at http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf
Join AMSAT-UK at http://tinyurl.com/JoinAMSAT-UK/

Jun 16 2011

AMSAT-UK at the UK Space Conference July 4/5th 2011

UK Space Conference 2011AMSAT-UK will have a presence at the first ever UK Space Conference taking place at the Univeristy of Warwick on July 4/5th. This is being organised by the UK Space Agency which was formally commenced in April this year.

We have been sponsored by a member to have a small stand “booth” in the exhibtion area and will be amongst  some very illustrious company.

We will be displaying FUNcube models and demonstrating the educational outreach possibilities that we will have with the telemetry and Fitter message download systems when matched with a simple groundstation – the FUNcube dongle.

We will also  be presenting short papers in the educational and cubesat streams during the event.

– see this link for details of the event.

May 28 2011

Funcube Dongle distance record.

Breaking the Funcube Dongle distance record.. 219.000.000 kilometers, Mario Lorenz DL5MLO explains…

AMSAT-DL AGM May 2011 – 1 from Jim Heck on Vimeo.