Tag Archives: satellite

Aug 5 2014

Amateur Radio Village at EMF 2014

EMF 2012 badge of attendee Graham Shirville G3VZV

EMF 2012 badge of attendee Graham Shirville G3VZV

There will be an amateur radio village and special event station GB2EMF at the Electromagnetic Field EMF 2014 event taking place August 29-31 at Bletchley near Milton Keynes.

EMF 2014 is a festival for anyone interested in radio, electronics, space, homebrewing, robots, UAVs, 3D printing, DIYBio, Internet culture or pretty much anything else you can think of. It is a volunteer effort by a non-profit group, inspired by European and US hacker camps like Chaos Communication Camp, HAR, and toorcamp.

Imagine a camping festival with a power grid and high-speed internet access; a temporary village of geeks, crafters, and technology enthusiasts that’s lit up by night, and buzzing with activity during the day. Over a thousand curious people will descend on the friendly open space to learn, share, and talk about what they love.

Over a long weekend, you can expect to see a huge variety of talks across three stages, a slew of workshops, as well as music, games, and installations dotted around the site.

Attendees are invited to set up their own villages — camps within the camp — where like-minded people can camp together and put on their own activities. The hard-working EMF team of volunteers will supply you with power and internet to your tent.

The special event station GB2EMF will be run from the Amateur Radio Village, it had been hoped to have a 70cm/2m crossband FM repeater operational during the event but it looks as though Ofcom licensing issues may preclude this.

At each EMF event the organisers try and give the attendees a great camp badge. Not just a ‘Hello my name is” sticker but a nice fun piece of technology that they can take away and use after the event.

EMF 2014 takes place August 29-31 near Newton Longville, just South of Bletchley, Milton Keynes, MK17 0BU. Talks include:
• High Altitude Ballooning by Adam Greig M0RND
• Amateur Radio – Practical Sign offs by Paul
• Amateur Radio: The Original Nerd Hobby! by Ryan Sayre 2E0RYS
• An Operator’s Guide to the Enigma Cipher Machine by Simon Singh
• Back to Basics Radio – build a self-powered solderless receiver by Iain Sharp
• InfraRed Communications by Michael Turner
• Surface Mount Soldering – SMD by hand isn’t hard, build your own Persistence of Vision kit to prove it! by Edinburgh Hacklab
Other talks https://www.emfcamp.org/talks/

Announcing TiLDA MKe, the incredible EMF 2014 camp badge
http://blog.emfcamp.org/post/94157161753/announcing-tilda-mke-the-incredible-emf-2014-camp

EMF 2014 https://www.emfcamp.org/
Twitter @emfcamp
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/emfcamp

Report on the EMF 2012 event https://amsat-uk.org/2012/09/01/emf-2012-milton-keynes/

Aug 5 2014

Online Amateur Radio Satellite Predictor

 

AMSAT-LU Satellite Predictions

Pedro Converso LU7ABF reports that AMSAT-LU have developed an online satellite prediction page which quickly provides on a single screen most data required for the amateur radio satellites and includes active maps and graphics.

The predictor allows selection of your location and satellite and shows current and future satellite passes.

The online satellite predictor is at http://amsat.org.ar/sat.htm

Jul 22 2014

144 MHz band to be used for Commonwealth Games

Ofcom-logo-col-tThe RSGB report that four 25 kHz bandwidth channels in the 144 MHz band between 144.00 and 144.100 MHz will be used at the Commonwealth Games from July 22 to Aug 4.

Following negotiations with the RSGB to minimise the impact on radio amateurs, Ofcom has announced that it will temporarily authorise up to four 25 kHz channels, 144.000, 144.025, 144.075 and 144.100 MHz, for the period July 22 to August 4, 2014, to support the operation of the Commonwealth Games. The frequencies to be used specifically exclude 144.0500 MHz (CW Calling Frequency).

Usage of this spectrum by Commonwealth Games users will be in the vicinity of Glasgow games venues and will be limited to handheld equipment operating on a maximum of 5W ERP. Ofcom emphasises that use of Primary Amateur spectrum is only for the specified time period and does not constitute a change of usage.

Ofcom are aware of the very short notice and will authorise this usage on a “non-interference, non-protection basis”.  Amateurs in the Glasgow area are requested to avoid these frequencies until 4th August.

Further information at http://rsgb.org/main/blog/all-regions/region-1/2014/07/22/channels-144mhz-band-used-commonwealth-games/

Jul 21 2014

Goodbye HAMSAT-VO52 – Rest In Peace

HAMSAT VO-52

HAMSAT VO-52

AMSAT-India’s satellite VO-52, launched on May 5, 2005, ceased operation on July 11, 2014. For over 9 years it proved to be a valuable communications resource for the amateur radio community.

Mani VU2WMY posted the sad news:

Dear Friends,

With heavy heart, I sadly convey, that our little angel ‘HAMSAT VO-52’ would no more be able to offer her services to the ‘Amateur Radio Fraternity. HAMSAT VO-52 succumbed in Space on 11th July 2014, while she was on her 49,675th orbit, due to the failure of on-board lithium ion batteries that have met their end of life.

Although her desires were to be at work with other systems and sub-systems working normal as per the latest telemetry received, the on-board computer recurring to ‘Reset’ mode due to the failure of batteries is preventing her to do so.  Hence, it is decided not to expect any more meaningful and reliable services from HAMSAT VO-52.

Since 11th July, every best possible effort has been put in by the spacecraft controllers here in ISTRAC Bangalore to revive her back to life and to help her with work load, so she won’t be swamped when she returns, but with no luck.  Though it is hard, the HAMSAT VO-52 designers and controllers insist that the time has come to let the little angel free in space to go drifting on her own from their care and custody.

Thus, today 21st July 2014, ISRO have decommissioned ‘HAMSAT-VO52’ officially.

We all here in ISRO do definitely hope that ‘HAMSAT VO-52’ worked tirelessly and was a good friend to the ‘Amateur Radio Fraternity’ around the World. We are sure that HAMSAT was loved by all who worked through her. Though, we are deeply saddened by the loss of HAMSAT VO-52, but she will never be forgotten and far from our hearts, minds and memories.

HAMSAT VO-52 will always be remembered by all of us here in ISRO as one of the greatest satellites of ours.

Dear ‘HAMSAT’, looking at the sky, we all say ‘Good Bye’ to you. You’ll be greatly missed. Rest in Peace.

Nevertheless, at this point of time, on behalf of the World Amateur Radio Fraternity, we thank each and everyone who contributed to the great success of ‘HAMSAT’.

Particularly, our sincere thanks to the Chairman ISRO, Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, past chairmen Dr. Kasthurirangan, Dr. G. Madhavan Nair, Director-ISAC Dr. S.K.Shiva Kumar, past ISAC Directors Dr. P.S. Goel, Dr. Shankara, Dr. T.K. Alex, Director-ISTRAC Shri. B.S. Chandrasekhar, scientific secretary Dr. Koteshwar Rao, Project Director-Shri. J.P. Gupta, Deputy project Directors, Mission Director-Shri. R.Suresh, Operations Director-Shri. Parimalarangan and each and every person directly or in-directly contributed.

At this point of time, we also thank AMSAT-India and in particular, lateShri. Nagesh Upadhyaya-VU2NUD,  Shri. B.S. Gajendra Kumar-VU2BGS, Shri. Prathap Kumar-VU2POP, Air Commodore. Subramanian-VU2UV, Shri.  V.P. Sandlas-VU2VP, Dr.R. Ramesh-VU2RMS, Shri. Nitin-VU3TYG, Mr. Williams Leijenaar PE1RAH and each and every member.

Pasted below is the message from Mr. R. Suresh, Mission Director:

HAMSAT, the first small satellite by ISRO has been Decommissioned after nearly a decade of service to the World Ham community.

A true masterpiece among small satellites, designed for one year mission life, but exceeded all expectations by serving for almost 10 years. A truly autonomous satellite, with “Zero maintenance“ in terms of Mission operations, it provided a springboard to test many new concepts such as BMU. LI-ion based power system, automatic Spin rate control and Auto SAOC for maintaining the Satellite attitude without any ground commanding.

HAMSAT known as “OSCAR-52” among the Amateur HAM operators has been very popular because of its high sensitivity receiver and strong transmitter. Indian Radio Amateurs on many occasions conveyed to us that they have been greatly honored to share the adulations showered on ISRO and INDIA by the International Radio Amateur for gifting this wonderful satellite “HAMSAT”.

I take this opportunity to applaud the HAMSAT teams at ISAC, ISTRAC and other centre for their efforts and  support, which has made ISRO proud among the HAM users across the globe.

R,SURESH
MISSION DIRECTOR
HAMSAT

—-
Mani [VU2WMY/KJ6LRS]
Secretary & Station-In-Charge
Upagrah Amateur Radio Club VU2URC
ISRO Satellite Centre

Jul 21 2014

Book Now for International Space Colloquium and CubeSat Workshop

AMSAT-UK Logo

AMSAT-UK Logo

The AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium will be held this weekend of July 26-27, 2014 at the Holiday Inn, Guildford, GU2 7XZ, UK. The event is open to all, admittance is £10 per day, this can be paid on the door or you can register in advance.

There will be a beginners satellite session run by Carlos Eavis G0AKI on Friday afternoon at 3:30pm.

Details at https://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/colloquium-2014/

If you plan to be a day visitor but wish to attend the Gala Meal on the Saturday evening you can book it at http://shop.amsat.org.uk/shop/category_10/Colloquium-2014-Fri-25-July-to-Sun-27-July.html (Please note that we need to give the hotel 48 hours notice for the dinner, so booking will close on Wed)

The BYOB ‪CubeSat‬ Workshop takes place at the Surrey Space Centre, University of Surrey, Guildford (1 km from the Holiday Inn) on Friday, July 25. The day will include ad-hoc tours to SSC’s cleanroom, ground–station, and new CubeSat experimentation facilities.

You must register in advance to attend the BYOB CubeSat Workshop. Information on Free registration is at https://amsat-uk.org/2014/07/15/byob-cubesat-day-july-25-free-registration/

Jun 18 2014

Dnepr Launch for D-STAR Satellite

TabletSat-Aurora - Image Credit Sputnix

TabletSat-Aurora – Image Credit Sputnix

The D-STAR satellite TabletSat-Aurora is expected to launch with 11 other satellites carrying amateur radio payloads from Dombarovsky near Yasny on Thursday, June 19, 2014 at 19:11:11 UT.

TabletSat-Aurora - Image Credit Sputnix

TabletSat-Aurora – Image Credit Sputnix

It carries a D-STAR Parrot (Store and Forward) Repeater running 0.8 watts of GMSK  on 437.050 MHz (+/- 10 kHz) to a whip antenna. It can store up to 8 seconds of voice message.

There are two other transceivers on the satellite that operate on 435.550 MHz and 436.100 MHz. Their power can be varied by command from the ground station between 0.8 and 2.0 watts and it is understood they will be used for command and control and transmit GMSK telemetry data. There is also a downlink on 8192 MHz.

Dmitry Pashkov R4UAB reports the D-STAR repeater could become operational in early July. It is understood that when the D-STAR repeater is active the telemetry transmitters will be inactive.

Description of TabletSat-Aurora in Google English
http://tinyurl.com/TabletSat-Aurora-Description

A description of the satellites amateur radio capability is at
https://www.facebook.com/SPUTNIX.ltd/photos/a.336584396454237.77484.293701294075881/569763353136339/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SPUTNIX.ltd/

There are 37 satellites and a 2U Mass Dummy on the launch and it is thought a dozen of them are carrying amateur radio payloads. A list of frequencies is at http://r4uab.ru/?p=6393

For a short description of each of the satellites see http://www.zarya.info/Calendar.php#Dnepr

Article about the launch and payloads
http://www.spaceflight101.com/dnepr-launch-updates—2014-cluster-launch.html

Check for updates on the satellites on the #cubesat IRC channel throughout the evening (GMT) of Thursday, June 19. A web client is available at http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#cubesat