Tag Archives: Space

Sep 5 2011

Radio hams tune in to space airwaves

John Heath G7HIA has written an article about amateur radio space communications for the October edition of the British Interplanetary Society magazine Spaceflight.

The Spaceflight description says:
“Radio amateurs have always been keen to exploit new means of communication and John Heath [G7HIA] provides a fascinating insight into how satellite technology has transformed the world of the radio ham soon after the launch of Sputnik right up to the present day.”

The article covers the FUNcube satellite, ARISSat, GB4FUN and the FUNcube Dongle SDR.

You can buy the October edition of Spaceflight magazine via
http://www.spaceflightmagazine.com/pages/latest-issue.html

Sep 4 2011

World Amateur Radio Day – Celebrating 50 Years in Space

In light of the anniversary of the launch of OSCAR 1 on December 12, 1961 and the launch of OSCAR 2 on June 2, 1962, the IARU Administrative Council selected the phrase, “Amateur Radio Satellites: Celebrating 50 Years in Space” as the theme for World Amateur Radio Day, April 18, 2012

World Amateur Radio Day celebrates the founding on April 18, 1925 of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) and hams around the world will be on the air. The 2011 event attracted the interest of TV news broadcasters: http://www.southgatearc.org/news/april2011/amateur_rady_day_on_tv.htm

Facebook  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=189990007710376

Notes of the IARU Region 1 C5 committee meeting that took place in Sun City August 14-16, 2011 have been published in the VHF-UHF-MW newsletter Editon 58 that can be dowloaded at http://www.oevsv.at/export/oevsv/download/UKW/Newsletter_58.pdf

IARU Region 1 Minutes of the Final Plenary, August 17, 2011

IARU Administrative Council Summary Record August 19-20, 2011

Sep 3 2011

OSCAR-11 Report September 1, 2011

OSCAR-11 Report
September 1, 2011

Clive Wallis G3CWV says excellent signals from OSCAR-11 have been reported from stations located around the world.

clive_wallis_g3cwv

clive_wallis_g3cwv

This report covers the period from 27 April to 01 September 2011.
The satellite has continued to operate in a very predictable way since the last report, and no changes have been observed.

During this time the satellite has been heard reliably during its ten-day transmission periods. Excellent signals have been reported from stations located around the world, and good copy obtained from decoded telemetry frames.

Continue reading →

Aug 12 2011

Bath TOPCAT Project

Talini holding a mockup of a cubesat (for testing antenna perfomance)

Talini holding a mockup of a cubesat (for testing antenna perfomance)

TOPCAT (TOPside ionosphere Computer Assisted Tomography) is a payload being developed at the University of Bath that will be launched on the UK’s first 3U CubeSat, UKube-1, next year.

Continue reading →

Jul 25 2011

FUNcube Videos Released

AMSAT-UK have released a number of videos showing the Assembly, Integration and Verification (AIV) testing of the FUNcube satellite at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratories:

Wouter PA3WEG removes the stack from the Thermo Vac chamber after nearly 5 hot/cold cycles over a period of two and a half days in the chamber. The GOOD news is that the stack was still working after these tests!

FUNcube AIV Testing from Jim Heck on Vimeo.

Graham G3VZV and Wouter PA3WEG return to the lab with the stack after removal from the Thermo Vac chamber. They both make comments on how the test have gone so far.

FUNcube AIV Testing from Jim Heck on Vimeo.

Applying ‘Space Glue’ to the screws holding the side panels in place, ready for Vibration Testing on July 25.

FUNcube AIV Testing from Jim Heck on Vimeo.

Further FUNcube videos can be seen at
http://vimeo.com/user3575668

FUNcube Yahoo Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FUNcube/

There will be talks on the FUNcube satellite and FUNcube dongle SDR at the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium to be held July 30-31 at the Holiday Inn, Guildford, GU2 7XZ, England. The event is open to all.

Either day passes or full packages comprising overnight accommodation and meals are available. For futher information see http://www.uk.amsat.org/colloquium-2011/

Live webstream at http://www.batc.tv/ch_live.php?ch=3
The Colloquium schedule, times in BST (GMT+1), is at http://tinyurl.com/2011ColloquiumSchedule
The Spring issue of the AMSAT-UK newsletter OSCAR News can be downloaded free at http://www.uk.amsat.org/on_193_final.pdf
Join AMSAT-UK at http://tinyurl.com/JoinAMSAT-UK/