December 4, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-338.01
The FASTRAC satellites have been in operation for more than a year and the team
has been able to get a lot of data from them, in great part due to the amazing
support from the amateur radio community.
Over the last month the team noticed that one of FASTRAC-1’s on board
microcontrollers which controls one of the experiments has not been booting up
correctly. The team has done everything possible to correct this issue apart
from turning it off which can only happen if the batteries fall below an
specific charge level. Since the satellites have been power positive throughout
this whole year the only way this can happen is if the satellites transmit more
often. Given that one of FASTRAC goals has always been to eventually provide a
platform for amateur radio enthusiasts to use after the primary mission was
over, the team has decided to open up FASTRAC-1 to the amateur radio community
with the hope as more people use it to digipeat through the satellite, the
battery levels will diminish and cause a hard reset of the microcontrollers on
board.
The satellite will be configured so that amateur radio operators can use it
beginning on Friday Dec 2 at 1600 UTC. Starting on this date people will be able
to digipeat through the satellites. The call sign and frequencies of the
satellite are summarized below and an example of digipeating through the
satellite is also shown in below. To increase the chances of causing a hard
reset, it is requested that as many amateur radio enthusiasts try to digipeat
through the satellite on the weekend of Dec 10. If you are successful at
digipeating through the satellites or have any problems doing so please let us
know at fastracsats@gmail.com, through our Facebook page
(www.facebook.com/fastracsats) or through the forums on our website
(http://fastrac.ae.utexas.edu/for_radio_operators/users/phpBB3/index.php).
*Frequency Information for FASTRAC-1*
– FASTRAC-1 “Sara Lily” Downlink Frequency: 437.345 MHz
– FASTRAC-1 “Sara Lily” Uplink Frequency (1200 or 9600 baud): 145.825MHz
– FASTRAC-1 “Sara Lily” Satellite Call Sign: FAST1
*Example of Digipeating through FAST1 *
– cmd: c CALLSIGN via fast1
– cmd: KE5DTW>CALLSIGN,FAST1/1: <<C>>:
– CALLSIGN>KE5DTW,FAST1*/1: <UA>:
– *** CONNECTED to CALLSIGN VIA FAST1
Here the example shows KE5DTW (UT Austin Ground Station) digipeating through
FAST1 to connect to CALLSIGN. CALLSIGN represents an arbitrary callsign and
should be replaced with the callsign of the station with whom a connection is
being attempted. The above example is based on a Kantronics KPC9612+ TNC.
For a PDF version of the announcement please go to the following link:
http://fastrac.ae.utexas.edu/FASTRAC_Digipeating_Announcement.pdf
[ANS thanks Sebastin, KE5FKV, for the above information]
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-338.01
FASTRAC-1 Opened for Digipeating
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 338.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
December 4, 2011
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-338.01
The FASTRAC satellites have been in operation for more than a year and the team
has been able to get a lot of data from them, in great part due to the amazing
support from the amateur radio community.
Over the last month the team noticed that one of FASTRAC-1’s on board
microcontrollers which controls one of the experiments has not been booting up
correctly. The team has done everything possible to correct this issue apart
from turning it off which can only happen if the batteries fall below an
specific charge level. Since the satellites have been power positive throughout
this whole year the only way this can happen is if the satellites transmit more
often. Given that one of FASTRAC goals has always been to eventually provide a
platform for amateur radio enthusiasts to use after the primary mission was
over, the team has decided to open up FASTRAC-1 to the amateur radio community
with the hope as more people use it to digipeat through the satellite, the
battery levels will diminish and cause a hard reset of the microcontrollers on
board.
The satellite will be configured so that amateur radio operators can use it
beginning on Friday Dec 2 at 1600 UTC. Starting on this date people will be able
to digipeat through the satellites. The call sign and frequencies of the
satellite are summarized below and an example of digipeating through the
satellite is also shown in below. To increase the chances of causing a hard
reset, it is requested that as many amateur radio enthusiasts try to digipeat
through the satellite on the weekend of Dec 10. If you are successful at
digipeating through the satellites or have any problems doing so please let us
know at fastracsats@gmail.com, through our Facebook page
(www.facebook.com/fastracsats) or through the forums on our website
(http://fastrac.ae.utexas.edu/for_radio_operators/users/phpBB3/index.php).
*Frequency Information for FASTRAC-1*
– FASTRAC-1 “Sara Lily” Downlink Frequency: 437.345 MHz
– FASTRAC-1 “Sara Lily” Uplink Frequency (1200 or 9600 baud): 145.825MHz
– FASTRAC-1 “Sara Lily” Satellite Call Sign: FAST1
*Example of Digipeating through FAST1 *
– cmd: c CALLSIGN via fast1
– cmd: KE5DTW>CALLSIGN,FAST1/1: <<C>>:
– CALLSIGN>KE5DTW,FAST1*/1: <UA>:
– *** CONNECTED to CALLSIGN VIA FAST1
Here the example shows KE5DTW (UT Austin Ground Station) digipeating through
FAST1 to connect to CALLSIGN. CALLSIGN represents an arbitrary callsign and
should be replaced with the callsign of the station with whom a connection is
being attempted. The above example is based on a Kantronics KPC9612+ TNC.
For a PDF version of the announcement please go to the following link:
http://fastrac.ae.utexas.edu/FASTRAC_Digipeating_Announcement.pdf
[ANS thanks Sebastin, KE5FKV, for the above information]