Ham Video transmitter onboard Columbus
How a DATV transmitter on S-band is being added to the ARISS equipment
onboard the International Space Station has been related in an
announcement recently circulated and available at www.ariss-eu.org/HamVideo.pdf
The ARISS Ham Video transmitter is presently onboard Columbus. The
transmitter was delivered by Japanese cargo spacecraft HTV-4, which
launched August 4 and docked 5 days later.
ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano IR0ISS reported that the bags are stored
in Columbus. There are two bags: one for the transmitter, the other for
the power, camera and antenna cables.
Installation will be done by US astronaut Michael Hopkins KF5LJG who
has been trained for the commissioning of the Ham Video equipment.The
commissioning is planned later in the year, possibly end October when
there are favourable passes over Italy. Indeed, the tests transmissions
for the commissioning of the onboard equipment will be received by the
ground station of the ?Centro di Geodesia Spaziale? of the Italian
Space Agency, located in Matera, Southern Italy.
We will report in due time on the commissioning procedure which will
involve a series of tests to be performed during 3 or 4 ISS passes.
Possibly, the Ham Video transmitter will transmit continuously between
the commissioning steps offering amateur ground stations the
opportunity to test and tune their receiving equipment. The
transmissions will be performed in automatic mode, without requiring
crew time. The camera, which runs on a battery, will not be used and
the ground stations will receive a black image.
Meanwhile, commissioning is being prepared steadily. The kick-off
meeting took place November 2012 at ESTEC, the European Space Research
and Technology Centre, located in Noordwijk the Netherlands. Detailed
procedures are examined and finalized during weekly ESA/ARISS
teleconferences. A preliminary EST (Experiment Sequence Test) is
planned 28-29 August. The test will involve the ARISS ground station
IK1SLD, located in Casale Monferrato in Northern Italy.
IK1SLD, which is an ARISS telebridge station often used for
educational ARISS school contacts on VHF, has been upgraded for S-band
reception. Ham Video manufacturer Kayser Italia has delivered a 1.2
meter dish, a down converter and precision tracking motors, which are
part of the ESA funded equipment. For the EST, the station will receive
a DATV signal from a local low power S-band test transmitter. The
decoded signal will be webstreamed to the BATC server. The British
Amateur Television Club offers ARISS free access to their server. ESA
examiners will connect to the BATC server and evaluate the reception.
Test transmissions at IK1SLD will cover the different frequencies and
symbol rates available on the Ham Video transmitter.
Web streaming will take advantage of the special software developed by
Jean Pierre Courjaud, F6DZP. References are available in the HamVideo.
pdf.
When the Ham Video transmitter will become operational, it will be
used for ARISS educational school contacts. Video will be for downlink
only. Uplink will be VHF FM audio. The Ericsson transceiver onboard
Columbus will be used for reception onboard. This cross band and double
mode operation is called Ham TV. Ham Video is the name of the DATV
transmitter.
73,
Gaston Bertels ? ON4WF
ARISS-Europe chairman
This Bulletin is available from the frontpage of www.ariss-eu.org