Tag Archives: Ham Radio

Dec 10 2014

PocketQubes in SatMagazine

SatMagazine December 2014 PocketQube page 114The December 2014 edition of the free publication SatMagazine features an article on page 114 about PocketQubes by Tom Walkinshaw, Chief Executive Officer of the the Glasgow-based start-up PocketQube Shop.

Download the December 2014 SatMagazine from
http://www.satmagazine.com/

SatMagazine Archive
http://www.satmagazine.com/archive.php

PocketQube Shop featured in The Guardian newspaper http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/dec/07/tiny-space-satellite-make-at-home-pocketqube

PocketQube Shop http://www.pocketqubeshop.com/

Dec 9 2014

Polish radio amateurs two million km record

ARTSAT2:DESPATCH received at 2,316,759 km December 8, 2014

ARTSAT2:DESPATCH was received at 2,316,759 km on December 8, 2014

On December 8, 2014 Michal Zawada SQ5KTM reported – We have made a new record! Now we are listening [to] ARTSAT2:DESPATCH from deep space distance 2,316,759 km = 7.7 light seconds away!  Our great crew: SP5ULN [Piotr], SP5MG [Piotr], SQ5RWU [Lukasz], SQ5KTM [Michal], SQ7GMO [Arek], SQ5AAG [Jacek], Sebastian P. and PIAP Team http://www.piap.eu/

On December 6 the group received ARTSAT2:DESPATCH at 1,502,851 km

On December 6 the group received ARTSAT2:DESPATCH at 1,502,851 km

On December 7 the same group of radio amateurs also received the 437.385 MHz amateur radio signal from the Shin’en2 spacecraft at a distance of 1,511,246 km.

Shin’en2 437.385 MHz http://www.shin-en2.jp/index_E.html

ARTSAT2:DESPATCH 437.325 MHz CW
Web http://despatch.artsat.jp/en/Main_Page
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/artsat
Twitter https://twitter.com/DESPATCH_ARTSAT

DESPATCH reception reports are summarized at:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WP-FzXHe8axAzNy44SGbKpJqIRKWHAcIP9vXnaHMb6g/edit#gid=0
http://despatch.artsat.jp/en/Cooperative_Data_Reconstruction

Ham radio spacecraft launched into deep space
https://amsat-uk.org/2014/12/03/ham-radio-spacecraft-launched-into-deep-space/

Shin'en2 on left - ARTSAT2:DESPATCH on right

Shin’en2 on left – ARTSAT2:DESPATCH on right

Dec 6 2014

Amateur radio spacecraft received over 1 million km from Earth

ARTSAT:DESPATCH

ARTSAT2:DESPATCH signal received at a distance of 1,104,854 km on December 5, 2014

Michal Zawada SQ5KTM reports receiving signals from both the ARTSAT2:DESPATCH and Shin’en2 spacecraft on Friday evening, December 5 at a distance of around 1,100,000 km from Earth. The ham radio group comprising SP5ULN, SP5MG, SQ5RWU, SQ5KTM, SP5XMU and the PIAP Team also received the spacecraft Shin’en2 on Saturday evening GMT at a distance of 1,511,246 km.

Akihiro Kubota of the ARTSAT project reports:

DESPATCH reception reports we’ve received are summarized:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WP-FzXHe8axAzNy44SGbKpJqIRKWHAcIP9vXnaHMb6g/edit#gid=0

We received 33 reports from 7 countries, Japan, Czech Republic, Russia, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, and Buenos Aires.
Thank you very much for your cooperation. We’re waiting for further reports from you!
The transmission of will last about for more 10 days (until 5,500,000 km).

http://despatch.artsat.jp/en/Cooperative_Data_Reconstruction

※ If you cannot find your name in spite your reception, please contact→ info@artsat.jp
※※ Updated at 10:00 (JST) December 7, 2014

Ham radio spacecraft launched into deep space
https://amsat-uk.org/2014/12/03/ham-radio-spacecraft-launched-into-deep-space/

Shin'en2 signal received at 1,511,246 km on December 6, 2014

Shin’en2 signal received at a distance of 1,511,246 km on December 6, 2014

Dec 5 2014

Ofcom Amateur Radio Licence Statement

Ofcom-logo-col-tOfcom has published a decision to update the terms and conditions of the amateur radio licence.  This follows a consultation published in September.

These include changes which would provide amateurs with access to some frequency bands previously available only through the variation of individual licences.

The decision is further to changes announced in our April statement on Public Sector Spectrum Release. In that statement, we set out a decision to remove access for amateur radio operators to certain frequencies in the 2300 MHz and 3400 MHz ranges in order to support the release of these bands by the Ministry of Defence.

This document is likely to be of interest to individuals authorised to use the radio spectrum in the UK for the purposes of amateur radio activities.

Ofcom Statement
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/amateur-radio-licence/statement

PDF which includes new sample licence
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/amateur-radio-licence/statement/Updating_the_Amateur_Radio_Licence.pdf

Comment regarding Ofcom’s proposed change for the 75875-76000 MHz Amateur Satellite allocation http://www.essexham.co.uk/news/ofcom-licence-changes-consultation-results.html#comment-189720

The RSGB has opened a forum to discuss guidance to accompany the licence. Anyone, RSGB member or not, can contribute to the discussion on the forum which is at http://forums.thersgb.org/implementation

Dec 3 2014

RSGB Youth Committee Seek Input

Chair of RSGB Youth Committee Mike Jones 2E0MLJ

Chair of RSGB Youth Committee Mike Jones 2E0MLJ

The new Chair of the RSGB Youth Committee Mike Jones 2E0MLJ seeks your opinions on some things that are planned for the forthcoming year.

The topics covered are:

• Youngsters on the Air 2015 DX (YOTA)
• Youngsters on the Air 2015 UK
• 2015 Isle of Man DXpedition – Note this is hoped to include Amateur Satellite operation

Read Mike’s message at
http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=acc8d476eba710615541e5667&id=3bb3329aa2&e=5d4b3409c9

Dec 3 2014

Ham radio spacecraft launched into deep space

ARTSAT2-DESPATCH signal received

ARTSAT2-DESPATCH signal received

The amateur radio spacecraft Shin’en2 JG6YIG and ARTSAT2:DESPATCH JQ1ZNN were successfully launched on their journey to deep space at 04:22:04 UT on Wednesday, December 3, 2014 and signals from both spacecraft have been received.

ARTSAT2 DESPATCH Deep Space Sculpture

ARTSAT2 DESPATCH Deep Space Sculpture

They were on the H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 26 (H-IIA F26) which also carried the asteroid explorer “Hayabusa2”.

The two amateur radio spacecraft will have an elliptic orbit around the Sun and travel to a deep space orbit between Venus and Mars. The inclination will be almost zero, which means the spacecraft should stay in the Earth’s equatorial plane. The distance from the Sun will be between 0.7 and 1.3 AU. An Astronomical Unit (AU) is 149,597,871 km.

Shin'en 2

Shin’en 2

ARTSAT2:DESPATCH has a 7 watt CW transmitter on 437.325 MHz and is also the first 3D printed sculpture to be carried into deep space.

Shin’en2 has a CW beacon on 437.505 MHz (0.1 watt) and telemetry on 437.385 MHz (0.8 watt) using a mode which Seiji JH6RTO describes as similar to WSJT but not the same.

The Shin’en2 English language Ground Station page mentions WSJT but the equivalent Japanese language page does not.

The Shin’en2 site indicates there is also a F1D digital transponder with an uplink of 145.942 MHz with 435.270 MHz (0.4 watt) downlink.

Shin’en2 http://www.shin-en2.jp/index_E.html

Shin’en2 spacecraft prediction App
http://ji1izr.air-nifty.com/ham_satellite/2014/12/artsat2-despa-3.html

ARTSAT2:DESPATCH
Web http://despatch.artsat.jp/en/Main_Page
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/artsat
Twitter https://twitter.com/DESPATCH_ARTSAT

ARTSAT2:DESPATCH spacecraft prediction App
http://ji1izr.air-nifty.com/ham_satellite/in_english/index.html

Report reception of ARTSAT2DESPATCH at http://api.artsat.jp/report/

ARRL story 

Ham radio launches to deep space
https://amsat-uk.org/2014/11/19/ham-radio-launches-to-deep-space/

Japanese asteroid mission to carry amateur radio
https://amsat-uk.org/2014/09/01/japanese-asteroid-mission-to-carry-amateur-radio/

Shin'en2 on left - ARTSAT2:DESPATCH on right

Shin’en2 on left – ARTSAT2:DESPATCH on right