Tag Archives: Ham Radio

Nov 24 2013

Foundation radio amateur first to receive ICUBE-1

ICUBE-1 - Image credit Institute of Space Technology in Pakistan

ICUBE-1 – Image credit Institute of Space Technology in Pakistan

UK Foundation holder Andrew Garratt M6GTG was the first person to report reception of signals from the ICUBE-1 satellite launched by a Dnepr from Dombarovsky near Yasny.

ICUBE-1 was carried within the UNISAT-5 microsatellite which launched at 07:10:11 UT on November 21. At 07:25:48 UT the Dnepr deployed UNISAT-5 into a near Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) with an altitude of 634 km. UNISAT-5 later deployed ICUBE-1 and the other satellites it was carrying.

Andrew was capturing telemetry from FUNcube-1 on 145.935 MHz during the 10:21 pass when he noticed a CW signal near the edge of the listed FUNCube-1 transponder downlink (145.950 MHz) although the transponder wasn’t operational on launch day.

He had captured the pass as an IQ file, and so set about trying to decode the CW and managed to get ***ISTAN. On the next pass he got the word CUBESAT several times.

The signal had the same Doppler shift as FUNCube-1 so was from the same launch constellation. Andrew checked the satellites on the launch and spotted ICUBE-1 from the Institute of Space Technology in Pakistan which was listed as using 145.947 MHz with 1200 bps data rather than CW.

Andrew sent a message to the ICUBE-1 team on their Facebook page and they confirmed that at this stage of the mission they were indeed transmitting a CW beacon and what he decoded was part of the message.

Dr. Khurram Project Manager of ICube-1 said “Thanx Andrew … your message was a great relief for us”

Read the full story by Andrew Garratt M6GTG at
http://nerdsville.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/did-i-make-icube-1s-first-signal-report.html

The 145.947 MHz downlink will operate as a 1200 bps BPSK beacon but has the capability of being configured as a 435/145 MHz FM-DSB transponder.

ICUBE-1 on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ICUBE1

ICUBE-1 website http://www.icube.org.pk/

ICUBE-1 https://amsat-uk.org/2012/01/13/icube-1-cubesat/

Watch the video iCUBE-1 The first cube satellite of Pakistan by Usama BinTariq
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x17lk4v_icube-1-the-first-cube-satellite-of-pakistan_news

Pakistan launches first Varsity-level satellite
http://www.samaa.tv/Pakistan-launches-first-Varsity-level-satellite-74226-1.html

Pakistan’s first CubeSat satellite, iCUBE-1 launched
http://www.app.com.pk/en_/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=250462&Itemid=2

Dnepr Yasny launch https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/dnepr-november-2013/

Nov 24 2013

Launch success for TshepisoSat (ZACube-1)

ZACUBE-1, FUNcube-1 and HiNCube in the deployment pod - Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

ZACUBE-1, FUNcube-1 and HiNCube in the deployment pod – Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

On Thursday, November 21, 2013 the French South African Institute of Technology (F’SATI), at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, made history by being the first in South Africa, and indeed the first in Africa, to launch a locally built nano satellite into orbit from a site in Russia.

Deon Coetzee, ZR1DE, who represented SA AMSAT at a ceremony held in the auditorium at the university campus reports that Vice Chancellor, Prof. Vuyisa Mazwi-Tonga, paid tribute to all at the university who made this achievement possible, and said she was immensely proud of being part of it all.

CPUT ZACUBE-1 TshepisoSat

CPUT ZACUBE-1 TshepisoSat

Original known as ZACube-1, the satellite has been named TshepisoSat, after a competition held for Grade 9 learners. Tshepiso is the seSotho word meaning promise.

The launch was the culmination of five years’ work after the first proposal to build a small satellite as part of the engineering curriculum was put forward by Professor Robert van Zyl in February 2008. Co-operation of the French Government made possible the forming of F’SATI and the French Ambassador in South Africa, Elizabeth Barbier, during a video address, promised continued support by France for the programme.

ZACUBE-1 TshepisoSat HF beacon antenna deployment unit - Image credit CPUT

ZACUBE-1 TshepisoSat HF beacon antenna deployment unit – Image credit CPUT

ZACUBE-1 was one of fourteen cubesats aboard the thirty metre tall, three stage rocket. All the cubesats were successfully released at a height of 600 km above the Earth. TshepisoSat will circle the Earth up to fifteen times per day in a polar orbit.

“At 11h13 the first signals from ZACUBE-1 were received amongst loud cheers”, Deon said. According to Francois Visser, ZS1CED, who was the principal engineer and student mentor, the satellite was functioning well. The satellite also includes a small camera which will be used to monitor the releases of the 20 metre beacon antenna. The beacon will operate on 14099 kHz and will be used to characterise the Superdarn antennas at the Antarctic which are used to study the ionosphere. A UHF beacon operates on 437.345 MHz.
Follow progress at http://www.cput.ac.za/fsati and http://www.amsatsa.org.za/

The second of the 14 CubeSats of interest to radio amateurs is FUNcube. The satellite is an AMSAT-UK project built in conjunction with ISIS. The first signals from FUNcube were received by Alan Soal, ZS1LS, about 10 minutes after separation, telemetry was successfully decoded, and uploaded to the FUNcube data warehouse. All main parameters on FUNcube look nominal; temp, battery voltage, and solar panel charging rate.

FUNcube carries several interesting payloads and has already been given an OSCAR designation, AMSAT-Oscar-73. Follow FUNcube on http://www.funcube.org.uk/

Source: South African Radio League (SARL)

Nov 23 2013

Assistance requested in receiving UNISAT-5 payloads

UniSat-5 with labelsThe Group of Astrodynamics for the Use of Space Systems (GAUSS) has asked for assistance in receiving some of the satellites deployed by the UNISAT-5 mini-satellite which was launched on a Dnepr from Yasny on November 21.

Dear All,
 
The Dnepr Cluster Launch 2013 has just been successfully accomplished:
if anyone of the CubeSat community has the chance, please support GAUSS team in receiving some of the US5 payloads.
Try to get:
– PUCPSAT (from Perù): beacon @ 145.840 MHz (transmitting call sign OA0PUCP)
– WREN: 437.405 MHz
 
Thank you for your support!
 
GAUSSteam
—
Gruppo di Astrodinamica per l’Uso dei Sistemi Spaziali – Group of Astrodynamics for the Use of Space Systems
Via Lariana, 5
00199 Roma

Dnepr Yasny launch https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/dnepr-november-2013/

Nov 23 2013

Adding new satellites to SatPC32, Gpredict and Nova

SatPC32Erich, DK1TB, has provided a short guide on how to manually add new satellites to the SatPC32 satellite tracking app which is available from the AMSAT-UK shop.

The FUNcube-1 AO-73 satellite is used as an example.

a. Copy  the following address to the aux. file Celestrak.SQF (all aux. files can be opened and edited from menu “?”, “Auxiliary Files”):
http://www.celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/tle-new.txt

b. Copy the following line to the file AmsatNames.txt
39417 13066B  AO-73
That will convert the CelesTrak sat name 213-066B to AO-73. In menu “Satellites” choose “SatNames”, “Use Amsat Names if Available”.

c. Copy the following lines to Doppler.SQF:
AO-73,145934.0,,USB,,,,TLM
AO-73,145960.0,435140.0,USB,LS
B,REV,,, Transponder

In menu “Satellites” choose “Sat Groups” and select – for example- the group “Diverse” to have the sat in a separate list. With “Update Keps” download the Celestrak file. It will appear in  the left list of the menu. Click on the file name. In the middle list you will see AO-73 with this name. Select it for the right list and click “OK”. The group will  later automatically use the chosen CelesTrak file.

73s, Erich, DK1TB

Watch How to add the new XW-2/CAS3 satellites into SatPC32

Gpredict

Bryce KB1LQC describes how to update the free satellite tracking software Gpredict:

You can add new TLE’s by using the Edit->Update TLE and choose network or local files. I’ve found it interesting to get some of the FUNcube TLE’s in there, maybe Gpredict is being picky but it’s worked. Also, there’s a downward facing arrow in the top right window of Gpredict with a “configure” menu option. I’ve placed my cursor over it in one of the screenshots. When you are in there you can add and remove satellites as shown in the second screenshot. Hope this helps!

Location of configure menu:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/101448394@N02/11015569633/ (Preview)
Inside Configure menu:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/101448394@N02/11015526594/ (Preview)

Nova

Cor PD0RKC describes how he manually added the FUNcube-1/AO73 keps in Nova satellite tracker software.

• Copy and paste this 2 line keps into a text file:

Funcube-1
1 39417U 13066B  13328.52822701  .00004709  00000-0  65186-3 0  152
2 39417  97.7995  41.0710 0063010 185.6906 174.3718 14.77115537  473

I gave the file name the name funcube1.txt

• Go to Nova for windows menu to —> Kep Elements—> Disk file update—->Manual update from file—–> Click on the “Update” button.
• Now you see a window appear and browse to the funcube1.txt file.
• If you can not find click in the same window all files.
• If you have uploaded the keps from the file than go to the Nova menu to —> Views configure current view —> Click on Artificial satellites —> browse through the satellite – list till you see FUNcube-1 and drag it to the right window.
•Click on the OK button and now you should see FUNcube-1 on the world map.

Keplerian Two Line Elements (TLEs) ‘Keps’ for new satellites launched in past 30 days
http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/tle-new.txt

Satellite TLE Challenge Begins https://amsat-uk.org/2013/11/23/tle-challenge-begins/

Nov 23 2013

Triton-1 Update November 23

Triton-1 in orbit

Triton-1 in orbit

Triton-1 is a 3U cubesat from ISIS-BV (Innovative Solutions In Space BV) with a AIS (ship location service) radio science experiment which was launched on November 21. After the experiment is complete (est. 3 months), the spacecraft radios will be reconfigured to U/V FM to DSB (“AO-16 mode”) repeaters open for amateur use.

This update was issued at 08:48 on November 23, 2013.

Hi all,

New TLE’s for the DNEPR launch have been issued, we believe that
Triton-1 is object M.

2013-066M
1 39427U 13066M  13326.98436826 -.00002391  00000-0 -39688-3 0 10
2 39427  97.7901  39.5474 0120424 185.3601 174.6374 14.64539763 201

Meanwhile, Triton-1 is still in nominal mode, transmitting AX.25 BPSK on
145.822 MHz. Reception reports, especially in case the satellite is in
safe mode (transmitting the safe mode CW beacon) are welcome!

73 on behalf of the team,

Wouter Jan Ubbels PE4WJ

Triton missions http://www.isispace.nl/cms/index.php/projects/triton-missions

Dnepr Yasny launch https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/dnepr-november-2013/

Nov 23 2013

Delfi-n3Xt Update November 22

Delfi-n3Xt Satellite

Delfi-n3Xt Satellite

Delfi Nanosatellite Program Manager, Jasper Bouwmeester PC4JB, provides this update on the Delfi-n3Xt satellite which was launched November 21 and carries a 435/145 MHz linear transponder.

Dear radio amateurs,

We had a fantastic launch and early reception of Delfi-n3Xt! The good news is that Delfi-n3Xt is transmitting when in the Sun and is off in eclipse to save battery power; just as we want it to be. The signal strength is also good.

VHF Reception

We have noticed however that the DUDe telemetry client does not properly indicate the frequency offset and it is very difficult to get a lock on the signal.

Also our ICOM910 receivers have too limited bandwidth to receive a 2400 bit/s BPSK signal properly (although we had a few packets decoded with this, so it is just on the edge of what is possible). We now use only AR5000 in combination with an SDR to record a wide spectrum in IQ files. This way we can replay the files and retune the signal again and have been able to decode more packets than before. This morning at our second pass we were lucky to have a real time lock on the signal and retrieve many packets, so it is possible to have it right at once. But of course we would like to get the ‘luck-factor’ out of it.

A few people will look into the Costas PLL inside DUDe to see if we can improve its performance.  Meanwhile, you can regard Delfi-n3Xt as a real challenging game to decode packets…

S-band reception

With respect to the S-band, we have not been able to test this as all our efforts go into VHF reception. The beacon is however on (also in eclipse), transmitting packets in a duty cycle of 5%, 1 Hz at 50 kbit/s MSK. The satellite is however still tumbling, so the antenna might be pointing in arbitrary direction. Next to this, a lot of gain is needed to be able to even see something above the noise floor (we have an 38dB dish). I believe that dish antenna below 25 dB will not be able to receive the beacon (let alone decode it). If someone however has the right equipment and good see the 1 Hz beacon, e.g. in a waterfall plot, please let us know and sent us a picture!

TLEs

These are the latest TLEs we have received:
1 00371U 00371A   13325.30974640  .00000000  00000-0  10000-4 0     7
2 00371  97.7888  38.2587 0131876 190.4863 345.6615 14.61864099    08

73,

Jasper PC4JB

Telemetry reception http://www.delfispace.nl/operations/delfi-n3xt-telemetry-reception

Delfi-n3Xt http://www.delfispace.nl/operations/radio-amateurs

Dnepr Yasny launch https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/dnepr-november-2013/