Tag Archives: satellite

Mar 15 2013

AMSAT-LU to launch amateur radio FM repeater to an altitude of 30 km

AMSAT-LU SSTV and GPS Payload

View of communications experiment: Below is the plate of the repeater. Top left is the SSTV camera and top right is the GPS receiver module. Image credit LU7AA

On Saturday, March 23 at 1400 UT AMSAT-LU plan to launch a High Altitude Balloon (HAB) carrying a 435.950/145.950 MHz FM repeater, a SSTV transmitter on 145.850 MHz and an APRS transmitter on 144.930 MHz.

The 145.850 MHz SSTV ROBOT-36 mode images will be transmitted in real time showing the view from the balloon. The images can be displayed by using free software such as MMSSTV.

Since 145.850 MHz is the input frequency for the amateur radio satellite SO-50, part of the experiment will be a link between the balloon and the satellite with SO-50 retransmitting the SSTV images on 436.7950 MHz over a far wider area.

At an altitude of 30 km the FM repeater, which uses a 123 Hz CTCSS tone, could have a range of up to 750 km.

AMSAT-LU have issued the following announcement:

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Mar 8 2013

Status of active satellites on amateur radio frequencies

Mike Rupprecht DK3WN 640

Mike Rupprecht DK3WN

One of the most frequently asked questions from newcomers to amateur satellites must be “Which satellites can I receive?”

Mike Rupprecht DK3WN has produced a summary of all active amateur radio satellites with frequencies and links to more detailed information. It is available at  http://www.dk3wn.info/p/?page_id=29535

Feb 28 2013

PSLV-C20 Object-Satellite Pairings

STRaND-1 PSLV-C20 Launch - Image credit ISRO

STRaND-1 PSLV-C20 Launch – Image credit ISRO

On the AMSAT Bulletin Board Alan WA4SCA has posted information from Space Track of the object-satellite pairings for the PSLV-C20 launch that carried the UK smartphone satellite STRaND-1 into space. He writes:

JSpOC [Joint Space Operations Center] has named the following satellites:

39086 – SARAL
39087 – AAUSAT3
39088 – SAPPHIRE
39089 – NEOSSAT
39090 – STRAND 1
39091 – CANX 3A (BRITE-ASRA)
39092 – CANX 3B (UNIBRITE)
39093 – PSLV R/B
39094 – PSLV DEB

Due to catalog requirements, which requires payloads to be listed prior to the rocket body and another launch debris, objects 39086, 39087, 39092, 39093, and 39094 had to be shifted to be placed in proper sequence.

Elsets were shifted as follows:
39086 was moved to 39093 (PSLV R/B)
39087 was moved to 39094 (PSLV DEB)
39092 was moved to 39086 (SARAL)
39093 was moved to 39087 (AAUSAT3)
39094 was moved to 39092 (CANX 3B)

NORAD Keps/TLEs for recent satellites

Feb 28 2013

Radio Amateur receives STRaND-1 Smartphone Satellite in Brazil

AMSAT-UK_Bevelled_LogoRoland Zurmely PY4ZBZ in Brazil has received the 437.568 MHz telemetry signal from the STRaND-1 smartphone satellite launched on Monday, February 25.

See his STRaND-1 telemetry page in Google English at http://tinyurl.com/cf8l8n4

Page in Portugese http://www.qsl.net/py4zbz/strand.htm

Information on decoding the STRaND-1 amateur radio telemetry beacon

Feb 26 2013

Reception of UniBRITE amateur radio CW beacon reported from Sudan

AMSAT-UK_Bevelled_LogoUniBrite (CanX 3A) was launched Monday, February 25, on the same rocket as STRaND-1. It has an amateur radio Morse Code beacon on 145.980 MHz.

This report was posted on the AMSAT Bulletin Board by Yasir Osman ST2YM in Khartoum, Sudan.

ST2UOK ground station at the University of Khartoum, Sudan has tracked the
first pass over Africa of AAUSAT-3 , STRaND-1 and UniBRITE after the
launching in 12:25 UTC, a CW signal with high noise heard and expected to
be the beacon of the UniBRITE. As pointed by operators Abubakr, Yasir ,
Mustafa and Hala.

BRITE: World’s Smallest Space Telescopes Launching Monday http://www.amsat-uk.org/?p=13274

Details of other satellites on the same launch http://www.amsat-uk.org/?p=12180

Feb 26 2013

STRaND-1 received by radio amateur in Cuba using FUNcube Dongle SDR

Hector Martinez CO6CBF - 640

Hector Martinez CO6CBF

On the AMSAT bulletin board Hector Martinez, CO6CBF, reports receiving the smartphone satellite STRaND-1 using a FUNcube Dongle Software Defined Radio (SDR).

He posted:

On the 22:36 UTC pass both STRaND-1 and AAUSAT3 have been heard in Cienfuegos city (EL92sd). I was running a FUNcube Dongle with SDR-Radio V1.5 and a homebrew ARROW antenna with a homebrew preamplifier. The STRaND-1 beacon has a great signal (S9+).

Congratulations to the STRaND-1 and AAUSAT3 teams for the great job!

Information on the STRaND-1 smartphonecsatellite is at https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/strand-1/

Join the FUNcube Yahoo Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FUNcube

Further information on the FUNcubeDongle Software Defined Radio is at http://www.FUNcubeDongle.com/