Tag Archives: Ham Radio

Sep 25 2015

LilacSat-2 FM Transponder Schedule

Receiving LilacSat-2, Sept 20, 2015 - Harbin Institute Of Technology Amateur Radio Club BY2HIT

Receiving LilacSat-2, Sept 20, 2015 Harbin Institute Of Technology Amateur Radio Club BY2HIT

Wei Mingchuan, BG2BHC, reports that the amateur radio FM voice transponder on the LilacSat-2 satellite should now be activated on a regular basis. LilacSat-2 is scheduled to switch on the FM transponder for 24 hours at about 2200 UT each Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

First LilacSat-2 infrared image Sept 24, 2015

First LilacSat-2 infrared image Sept 24, 2015

The FM transponder (and APRS) downlink is 437.200 MHz, remember the Doppler shift on the downlink during a pass will be about +/- 10 kHz. If your radio has selectable FM filters use the wider filter designed for 5 kHz deviation FM, sometimes referred to as a 25 kHz channel spacing filter.

LilacSat-2 was deployed into a 528 km by 551 km 97.5 degree inclination orbit. The NASA Orbital Lifetime Software indicates the satellite might remain in orbit for 18 years before reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere.

On September 24, 2015 the student team at the Harbin Institute of Technology successfully downloaded the first infrared image from the satellite.

Frequency information is given on the LilacSat-2 Radio Info page
http://lilacsat.hit.edu.cn/?page_id=257

Harbin Institute Of Technology Amateur Radio Club BY2HIT
Weibo: http://www.weibo.com/by2hit
QRZ: http://www.qrz.com/db/BY2HIT
Web in Google English: http://tinyurl.com/BY2HIT

AMSAT-UK LilacSat-2 page with tracking links https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/communications/lilacsat-2/

LilacSat-2 and some of the team

LilacSat-2 and some of the team

Sep 24 2015

ESA invites radio amateurs to listen for AAUSAT-5 CubeSat

AAUSat-5 and Deployer - Credit ESA

AAUSat-5 and Deployer – Credit ESA

The AAUSAT-5 amateur radio CubeSat built by students at the University of Aalborg, Denmark is planned to be released from the International Space Station sometime in the week of October 5.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is inviting radio amateurs to listen out for the signals from the satellite. The first to send in a recorded signal from AAUSAT-5 will receive a prize from ESA’s Education Office.

Launched on August 19, 2015 to the ISS, the Danish student CubeSat is now waiting for its deployment from the Japanese Kibo module’s airlock. An astronaut will manipulate the Kibo robotic arm to lift AAUSAT-5 from the airlock and place it in orbit.

Once deployed from the ISS the CubeSat will begin transmitting signals to Earth that can be picked up by anyone with common amateur radio equipment. ESA challenges anyone to record the signal and send it to ESA (cubesats@esa.int) and Aalborg University (studentspace@space.aau.dk).

The satellite will transmit on 437.425 MHz using CW and GMSK. The 30 WPM CW beacon will transmit every 3 minutes and the 9600 bps GMSK every 30 seconds.

The first correct email received will win the following prizes:
• ESA/AAUSAT5 poster with signatures of the team members
• ESA Education goodie bag
• Scale 1:1 3D printed model of the AAUSAT-5 satellite

Read the ESA article at
http://www.esa.int/Education/CubeSats_-_Fly_Your_Satellite/Be_the_first_to_catch_the_signals_from_a_new_Satellite_in_orbit

AAUSAT-5 amateur radio information http://www.space.aau.dk/aausat5/index.php?n=Main.HamInfo

ESA AAUSAT-5 Twitter hashtag #AAUSAT5 https://twitter.com/ESA__Education

Danish CubeSats head for ISS https://amsat-uk.org/2015/08/19/danish-cubesats-head-for-iss/

Sep 23 2015

Fox Telemetry Decoder Software Available

Fox-1A Flight Unit

Fox-1A Flight Unit

Chris Thompson G0KLA reports on the AMSAT Bulletin Board that the telemetry decoder software for the Fox FM transponder CubeSats is now available for download. At the time of writing Fox-1A was scheduled to be launched on Ocober 8, 2015 with Fox-1Cliff and Fox-1D slated for early 2016.

Version 1.0 of the FoxTelem software, the Fox Telemetry Decoder is being released to enable setup, testing, and debugging of your Fox-1A ground station prior to the launch of the satellite. FoxTelem is used to demodulate, store and analyze telemetry data from AMSAT’s Fox series of CubeSats.

Fox-1 satellites include two telemetry formats:

Fox1-Cliff-Logo+ Slow Speed, also called Data Under Voice (DUV) is 200 bps FSK data sent at the same time as the transponder audio. Whenever the transmitter is on, data is being sent. This happens during beacons and during live QSOs.

+ High Speed is 9600 bps FSK sent instead of the transponder. This is used for data intensive experiments such as the Virginia Tech Camera. This is only active when commanded from the ground. You can recognize High Speed because it sounds like an old school computer modem.

FoxTelem will receive and store both formats assuming you can feed it audio that does not have the frequencies below 200 Hz filtered.  For High Speed, the audio must also extend to include the full 9600bps bandwidth of the FM signal. For both modes this is best achieved from a Software Defined Radio or from the 9600 bps packet port of some radios. The FoxTelem User Guide provides more details.

Fox-1D-LogoFoxTelem is supplied as an archive file (.zip on windows, .dmg file on MacOs, .gzip on Linux). Links for downloading can be found at http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=4532
You can unzip the contents and put it in the directory of your choice. Also, detailed in the User Guide, are instructions to select the sound source and set received audio levels on your computer.

Until Fox-1A is launched you can confirm everything is working by testing with test wav file which will be available from:
http://amsat.us/FoxTelem/recordings
Access to the test file is accomplished by selecting “Load Wav File” from the FoxTelem File menu, then navigate to the directory where you saved the test wav file. Once you press the start button the file will play through the decoder.

The FoxTelem page can also be accessed from the main AMSAT web page:
http://www.amsat.org –> Fox Project –> FoxTelem Software for Windows, Mac, & Linux

The direct link to the page is: http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=4532

FoxTelem Notes:
• Please make sure “upload to server” is enabled in settings
• Goto INPUT tab, STOP the input, then FILE – DELETE PAYLOAD FILES, then START input again Just once, to clear test data.

Fox-Cam page http://amsat.us/?page_id=38

Sep 22 2015

Pig in Space

Pinky and Perky - M0NRD

Pinky and Perky – M0NRD

Andrew Garratt M0NRD plans to launch Pinky Pig into near-space along with several 434 MHz transmitters on Saturday, September 26 from the National Hamfest at the Newark Showground.

The launch had been planned for Friday but the weather has forced the postponement. If the weather is suitable it is understood the launch might now occur on Saturday at around mid-day. For the latest news check https://twitter.com/nerdsville

Andrew has two pigs, Pinky and Perky, but it is Pinky wearing his fetching headset who has been selected to be the passenger on the High Altitude Balloon flight. During the flight images of Pinky will be transmitted to radio amateurs back on Earth using the Slow Scan Digital Video (SSDV) system.

The SSDV payload, callsign PINKY, will transmit on 434.575 MHz USB RTTY 300 bps 880 Hz shift ASCII-8 no parity 2 stop bits. The backup telemetry tracker, callsign PIGLET, will transmit 434.150 MHz USB RTTY 50 bps 380 Hz shift ASCII-7 no parity 2 stop bits.

There may also be LoRa spread spectrum transmitter on 434.450 MHz, callsign PERKY, however, at the time of writing there was a fault with the module.

The signals from the balloon should be receivable across most of the UK. Those overseas can use the SUWS WebSDR to receive the 434 MHz USB signals.

Read Andrew’s Hamfest HAB – Pre Launch Update
http://nerdsville.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/hamfest-hab-pre-launch-update.html

National Hamfest Sep 25-26 http://www.nationalhamfest.org.uk/

High Altitude Balloon links for online tracking, SSDV, UKHAS mail list / chat room, WebSDR
https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/balloons/

Sep 20 2015

New XW-2 satellites – linear transponders active

CAMSAT XW-2A formerly known as CAS-3A

CAMSAT XW-2A formerly known as CAS-3A

Nine XW-2/CAS-3 amateur radio satellites were successfully launched on Saturday, September 19, 2015 at 23:01:14 UT on Beijing’s new Chang Zheng 6 (CZ-6) rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center (TSLC) in Shanxi.

Six satellites (designated XW-2A to XW-2F) carry 435/145 MHz U/V linear transponders for SSB/CW communications, LilacSat-2 (CAS-3H) has a V/U FM voice transponder and APRS. The other two satellites DCBB (CAS-3G) and NUDT‐Phone‐Sat (CAS-3i) only have telemetry downlinks.

The satellites were deployed into a 528 km by 551 km 97.5 degree inclination orbit. The NASA Orbital Lifetime Software provides an indication as to how long the satellites might remain in orbit before reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere:
• XW-2A = 8.5 years
• XW-2B/2C/2D = 9.2 years
• XW-2E/2F = 8.5 years
• LilacSat-2 = 18.2 years

The frequencies used by the satellites are here. Some satellite frequencies fall outside the international amateur satellite bandplan, so please be aware of local terrestrial users.

David Bowman G0MRF reported “Good signals from CAS3-F at 07.00 UTC  over Europe. Managed QSOs with SP5ULN in KO02  and F1AFZ in JN17 using the special event station at GB0RWC (Rugby World Cup).”

XW-2 / CAS-3 Satellite Frequencies PDF

For the latest status reports join the AMSAT Bulletin Board at
http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb

Further information on the XW-2 (CAS-3) satellites is at
https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/communications/camsat-xw-2/

LilacSat-2 https://amsat-uk.org/2015/09/20/lilacsat-2-linux-telemetry-decoding/

Online orbital predictor (select XW-2) http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/predict/index.php

Satellite tracking information https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/satellite-tracking/

Adding new satellites to SatPC32, Gpredict and Nova
https://amsat-uk.org/2013/11/23/adding-new-satellites-to-satpc32/

NASA Orbital Lifetime Software http://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/mitigate/das.html

Sep 20 2015

LilacSat-2 – Linux Live CD for Telemetry Decoding

Artists impression of LilacSat-2 in orbit

Artists impression of LilacSat-2 in orbit

LilacSat-2 (CAS-3H) was launched along with eight other XW-2/CAS-3 amateur radio satellites on Saturday, September 19, 2015 at 23:01:14 UT on Beijing’s new Chang Zheng 6 (CZ-6) rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. The satellite, built by students at the Harbin Institute of Technology, has an APRS digipeater and a V/U FM voice transponder which can transmit telemetry data at the same time as voice by using sub-audible tones.

LilacSat-2

LilacSat-2

Note: The FM transponder and APRS downlink is 437.200 MHz not that given in the XW-2/CAS-3 Frequency Chart. There is also a telemetry downlink on 437.325 MHz. Further information is given on the LilacSat-2 website Radio Info page.

LilacSat-2 is scheduled to switch on the FM transponder at about 2200 UT each Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Remember the Doppler shift on the downlink during a pass will be about +/- 10 kHz. If your radio has selectable FM filters use the wider filter designed for 5 kHz deviation FM, sometimes referred to as a 25 kHz channel spacing filter.

LilacSat-2 was deployed into a 528 km by 551 km 97.5 degree inclination orbit. The NASA Orbital Lifetime Software indicates the satellite might remain in orbit for 18 years before reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere.

First LilacSat-2 infrared image Sept 24, 2015

First LilacSat-2 infrared image Sept 24, 2015

Wei Mingchuan, BG2BHC provides this report on the first 16 hours in space:

During the first 16 hours in orbit, we have received nearly 1000 packets of LilacSat-2 from Harbin (BY2HIT), Shihezi (B0/BY2HIT), Nanjing (BI4ST), Xian (Northwestern Polytechnical University) and Singapore (9V1SV). Many thank to all!

Now we have a Linux LiveCD for telemetry decoding released.

We have support for FCDPP, USRP and RTL-SDR. Not hard to edit the GRC flowcharts to support other devices.

It can be burned into a USB stick to boot a computer directly, run from a virtual machine or installed into a hard disk. The User manual is also included.

It can be downloaded from: http://pan.baidu.com/s/1eQfNsGE

LilacSat-2 Live CD also has a magnet link with the help of M6SIG:
magnet:?xt=urn:btih:doljmvwcvpnj3iaqfkiwu6bjienko5iv&dn=lilacsat-2_livecd_20150918.iso

More details: http://lilacsat.hit.edu.cn/

73!
Wei Mingchuan, BG2BHC

Telemetry decoder software on GitHub https://github.com/bg2bhc/gr-lilacsat

Harbin Institute Of Technology Amateur Radio Club BY2HIT
Weibo: http://www.weibo.com/by2hit
QRZ: http://www.qrz.com/db/BY2HIT
Web in Google English: http://tinyurl.com/BY2HIT

Information on the XW-2 (CAS-3) satellites is at
https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/communications/camsat-xw-2/

Online orbital predictor (select LilacSat-2) http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/predict/index.php

Satellite tracking information https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/satellite-tracking/

Adding new satellites to SatPC32, Gpredict and Nova
https://amsat-uk.org/2013/11/23/adding-new-satellites-to-satpc32/

How to Work FM Satellites https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/how-to-work-fm-satellites/