Tag Archives: Ham Radio

Nov 3 2013

FUNcube Forum

AMSAT-UK_Bevelled_LogoAMSAT-UK has announced a new FUNcube Forum to cater for the two FUNcube payloads that will be launched in the coming months.

FUNcube-1 is a complete educational single CubeSat project with the goal of enthusing and educating young people about radio, space, physics and electronics. It is planned to launch on a Dnepr from Dombarovsky near Yasny on November 21, 2013.

FUNcube-2 on UKube-1 comprises of a set of FUNcube boards that will fly as part of the UK Space Agency’s 3 Unit CubeSat UKube-1. It has identical goals and is expected to be launched on a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur in February 2014.

The FUNcube Forum is at http://forum.funcube.org.uk/

Nov 2 2013

FUNcube-1 Launch: Date and time confirmed

FUNcube-1 flight model - Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

FUNcube-1 flight model – Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

The latest news about the launch date and time has just been confirmed by Kosmotras.

The launch date of RS-20B rocket (Dnepr) with a group of satellites (DubaiSat-2 cluster mission) from Dombarovsky missile area (Yasny Launch Base) has been established for November 21, 2013 at 07:10:11 UT. The back-up launch date is November 22, 2013 at 07:10:11 UT.

We will shortly be providing prelaunch TLEs and, in about 7/10 days, the Dashboard software that is needed to demodulate and display the telemetry information. More information about the Dashboard can found here http://funcube.org.uk/working-documents/

FUNcube Yahoo Group https://amsat-uk.org/funcube/yahoo-group/

FUNcube communication subsystem:
• Inverting SSB/CW transponder 300 mW PEP
– 435.150 – 435.130 MHz Uplink
– 145.950 – 145.970 MHz Downlink
• 145.935 MHz BPSK Telemetry 300 mW

FUNcube information sheets:
•  FUNcube_Project Information_aug2013
•  FUNcube_Educational_Outreach aug2013

Nov 1 2013

FUNcube-1 Presentation PowerPoint Slides Released

FUNcube-1 flight model - Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

FUNcube-1 flight model – Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG

The PowerPoint slides used in the FUNcube-1 presentation given by Dave Johnson G4DPZ at the RSGB Convention in October 2013 have now been made available.

It is hoped they will be used by others to support presentations they may give on FUNcube-1 to local clubs.

Download the PowerPoint slides from http://funcubetest2.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/funcube_oct2013fin.ppt

Dave G4DPZ recently announced he was willing to give talks to clubs in his area and a number of clubs immediately took him up on the offer. It is believed there are many other clubs across the country that would welcome a talk on the new FUNcube-1 satellite and AMSAT-UK would like to hear from anyone willing to give such talks.

FUNcube-1 Talk for Local Clubs https://amsat-uk.org/2013/10/25/funcube-1-talk-for-local-clubs/

FUNcube Yahoo Group https://amsat-uk.org/funcube/yahoo-group/

Oct 31 2013

ISS HamTV Presentation by G3VZV

Front panel of the HamTV transmitter

Front panel of the HamTV transmitter

In this video radio amateur Graham Shirville G3VZV talks about the International Space Station (ISS) HamTV project. The presentation was given to the BATC Convention on October 26, 2013.

Watch ISS Ham TV

Noel Matthews G8GTZ, Chair of the BATC, has announced the first 11 presentation videos from the CAT13 convention on ATV/DATV, held October 26, 2013, have been put up on the BATC video archive area.

They can be found in the http://batc.tv/ Film Archive by selecting the BATC CAT13 category.

The direct links are as follows:

BATC review http://www.batc.tv/streams/cat1301

LNB developments http://www.batc.tv/streams/cat1302

HAB introduction http://www.batc.tv/streams/cat1303

Early colour cameras http://www.batc.tv/streams/cat1304

SMD techniques http://www.batc.tv/streams/cat1305

DTX1 DVB-S xmtr http://www.batc.tv/streams/cat1306

DATV in practice http://www.batc.tv/streams/cat1307

Spectrum matters http://www.batc.tv/streams/cat1308

10 GHz Tx multipliers http://www.batc.tv/streams/cat1309

10GHz PLL LNBs http://www.batc.tv/streams/cat1310

ISS HAMTV http://www.batc.tv/streams/cat1311

Oct 29 2013

Balloon Test for EagleSat Engineering Model

Project Arapaima

Project Arapaima

A student team from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Prescott Campus recently flew a payload on a NASA balloon launched from the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Fort Sumner, N.M. The High-Altitude Student Platform (HASP) flight gave 12 universities from across the nation the chance to conduct research and experiments.

After floating successfully for more than 10 hours at an altitude of 125,000 feet, the HASP gondola containing the payloads was recovered near Wickenburg, Ariz. Embry-Riddle student lead Zach Henney reports that the team is still analyzing the flight data but the results look promising so far.

The Embry-Riddle payload on the HASP flight was an early engineering model of the EagleSat, a small cube-shaped satellite (CubeSat) the students are developing to fly in Earth orbit in late 2015 through NASA’s highly selective CubeSat Launch Initiative. Among its objectives, EagleSat is designed to determine error rates in electronic parts exposed to space radiation. The Embry-Riddle students plan to launch an advanced EagleSat engineering model on next year’s HASP flight.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University CubeSat http://www.eraucubesat.org/

Facebook Project Arapaima https://www.facebook.com/ArapaimaProject

Press Release http://www.erau-news.com/news/2013/10/28/students-test-cubesat-payload-on-high-altitude-nasa-balloon-flight/

Oct 28 2013

ISS Slow Scan TV Active

RS0ISS SSTV 20131029-1121Z received by Dmitry Pashkov UB4UAD

RS0ISS SSTV 20131029-1121Z received by Dmitry Pashkov UB4UAD

Dmitry Pashkov UB4UAD reports that the Slow Scan Television (SSTV) experiment MAI-75 on the International Space Station (ISS) has been active on 145.800 MHz FM.

The experiment is expected to run for two days, October 28-29, 2013.

Dmitry also reports that on October 31, 2013 SSTV images will be transmitted from the  ISS on 145.800 MHz showing photographic images of the life and work of the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

ISS SSTV pictures received by Pete Sipple M0PSX can be seen at http://www.essexham.co.uk/news/iss-sstv-images-29-october-2013.html

All you need to do to receive the SSTV pictures from the space station is to  connected the audio output of a scanner or amateur rig via a simple interface to the soundcard on a Windows PC or an Apple iOS device, and tune in to 145.800 MHz FM. You can even receive pictures by holding an iPhone next to the radio’s loudspeaker.

Yuri Gagarin

Yuri Gagarin

The ISS puts out a strong signal on 145.800 MHz FM and a 2m handheld with a 1/4 wave antenna will be enough to receive it. The FM transmission uses 5 kHz deviation which is standard in much of the world.

Many FM rigs in the UK can be switched been wide and narrow deviation FM filters so select the wider deviation. Handhelds all seem to have a single wide filter fitted as standard.

On Windows PC’s the free application MMSSTV can be used to decode the signal, on Apple iOS devices you can use the SSTV app. The ISS Fan Club website will show you when the space station is in range.

For more on Slow Scan Television SSTV, see this article SSTV – The Basics
http://www.essexham.co.uk/sstv-the-basics

How to be successful with the ISS Slow Scan Television (SSTV) imaging system
http://www.marexmg.org/fileshtml/howtoisssstv.html

RS0ISS SSTV 20131029-1118Z received by Dmitry Pashkov UB4UAD

RS0ISS SSTV 20131029-1118Z received by Dmitry Pashkov UB4UAD

Information on the MAI-75 SSTV experiment
http://www.energia.ru/eng/iss/researches/education-26.html

MMSSTV software http://hamsoft.ca/pages/mmsstv.php

IZ8BLY Vox Recoder, enables you to record the signals from the ISS on 145.800 MHz while you’re away at work http://antoninoporcino.xoom.it/VoxRecorder/

ARISS Slow Scan TV (SSTV) Blog and Gallery http://ariss-sstv.blogspot.co.uk/

Dmitry Pashkov UB4UAD
http://tinyurl.com/ISS-SSTV-2013-10-28
http://tinyurl.com/ISS-SSTV-2013-10-31