Category: Ham Satellite news

Info from ANS: The University of Washington’s HuskySat-1 3U cubesat was launched on the Northrop Grumman NG-12 Cygnus supply mission to the ISS on November 2. HuskySat-1 has remained stowed aboard Cygnus scheduled for deployment after the cargo ship unberths from the International Space Station. Unberthing is scheduled for 1435 UTC (9:35 am EST) on Jan 31 and will be covered live on NASA TV.

Within 24 hours after departure from the ISS, HuskySat-1 and SwampSat will be deployed into orbit. After deployment, HuskySat-1’s 1,200 bps BPSK beacon on 435.800 MHz should be active and decodable with the latest release of AMSAT’s FoxTelem software. HuskySat-1 is expected to run its primary mission before being turned over to AMSAT for amateur radio operation. HuskySat-1 features a 30 kHz wide 145 to 435 MHz linear transponder for SSB/CW.

HuskySat-1
———-
Uplink: 145.910 – 145.940 MHz LSB/CW
Downlink: 435.840 – 435.810 MHz USB/CW (inverting)
Telemetry: 435.800 MHz 1K2 bps BPSK
24049.00 MHz (U of Washington experimental downlink)

The latest version of FoxTelem software to decode the 1200 bps BPSK beacon is available at: https://www.amsat.org/tlm

The Fox-In-A-Box FoxTelem software has been updated for HuskySat-1 Operation at it’s download website: http://burnsfisher.com/AMSAT/FoxInABox

This release now contains the SD card image, FIAB-distro8-V1.08w.zip. This file, when unzipped and written to a 16Gb SD card will give you the latest software for FoxTelem and will run on a Raspberry Pi 4. This is an image of the same SD card that has been shipping from the AMSAT store for several weeks. (It should work on an 8Gb card as well with less room to spare of course).

Version 1.08w has a few fixes from the previous 1.08r which was the previous download version. Improvements to the decoder will capture data a bit better. Remember that the later 1.08 versions (including r and w) know how to switch bands between listening on VHF and UHF based on which of Fox and Husky satellites are overhead at the time.

(Fox-In-A-Box information thanks to Burns Fisher, WB1FJ)

The linear transponder and telemetry system carried aboard Fox-1E was designed for use in different CubeSats by merely adding an interface adapter for connection to the host bus. Noting the prevalence of CubeSats built and launched by universities and other organizations, AMSAT adopted a goal of “amateur radio in every CubeSat.” Interested CubeSat programs wanting to fly an amateur radio payload may partner with AMSAT to carry one of these modules on their spacecraft. By providing amateur radio capability, the CubeSat program gets a worldwide ground station network to receive their telemetry and experiment data while the amateur radio community gets a transponder to use in orbit.

Additional information is posted on the University of Washington Husky Satellite Lab pages:
https://sites.google.com/uw.edu/huskysatellitelab/huskysat-1
https://sites.google.com/uw.edu/huskysatellitelab/huskysat-1/com1

[ANS thanks the HuskySat-1 Team, AMSAT Engineering, AMSAT Operations, the Fox Telemetry Team, and NASA for the above information]

Good news!

Thanks to an initiative by Heimir, W1ANT,  AMSAT added Application 
Programming Interfaces (APIs) to the AMSAT web site to make it easy 
for developers to write apps for mobile devices and the Internet of 
Things (IoT).  For example, the satellite status page 
www.amsat.org/status does not work well on small screens.  By 
accessing the status data directly developers can easily present the 
data in a way appropriate for their screens.   

These APIs also make it easy for IoT homebrewers to do things like 
build next pass reminder gizmos so they can beep out notices in CW.   
The developers have set a goal of February 15, 2020 to finalize the 
APIs, and consider them operational on March 1, 2020.   Developers 
are encouraged to send suggestions or questions to 
www.amsat.org/webmaster-contact/   For details of API use 
visit www.amsat.org/status/api/ and www.amsat.org/track/api/

[ANS thanks Joe Fitzgerald, KM1P for the above information.]

This is an english summary over the current re-organization of AMSAT-SM:

We are planning for the future for #amsat Sweden (AMSAT-SM)! If the members say Yes during the annual meeting in February and the next open meeting we are terminating AMSAT-SM as organization. Then a new group with the same name, AMSAT-SM, is started.

Group AMSAT-SM will be run by Håkan SM7WSJ, Lars SM0TGU and Inge SM4JLX. It is managed in agile style inspired by modern software development project. There will be no need for annual meetings.

We are doing this change because there is no interest in running a formal organization today. We think this is the only way to run AMSAT-SM into the future with minimal management overhead and maximum joy and fun! Current activities in AMSAT-SM will continue as normal and all members will be members in the new group. Stay tuned for updates! 

Info from ARRL:

Chinese Amateur Satellite Group (CAMSAT) CEO Alan Kung, BA1DU, tells ARRL that some problems with the precise attitude determination of the newly launched CAS-6 amateur radio satellite have delayed deployment of the antennas. The satellite was to have been put into service within 3 days.

“If the V/UHF antennas are deployed now, additional torque may affect determination of the satellite attitude,” Kung said. “Engineers need to modify and upload the software, which will take some time.” He said that taking into consideration the upcoming long Chinese New Year holiday, the test work is planned to be completed sometime in late February or early March. At that time, VHF/UHF antennas will be deployed, and the amateur radio payload will be available for use.

Kung points out that the satellite’s CW beacon has been turned on, although the antenna has not yet been deployed. “If you have a ‘big ear,’ you may be able to receive weak signal leaked from an undeployed antenna on 145.910 MHz,” he said. “A polyimide cover on the antenna chassis can help to leak some RF signal.”

CAS-6 launched successfully on December 20, piggybacked on a TIANQIN-1 technology test satellite. The microsatellite will be known as CAS-6/TIANQIN-1, and the call sign is BJ1SO. The primary launch payload was the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite, CBERS-4A.

CAS-6 is in a sun-synchronous orbit with an apogee of 390 miles. It carries a U/V linear transponder, with a downlink of 145.925, 20 kHz passband (inverted) and an uplink of 435.28 MHz. The CW telemetry beacon is on 145.910 MHz, while 4k9 baud GMSK telemetry will be transmitted on 145.890 MHz.

CAS-6 – en lite större satellit på 60 kg som har amatörradio ombord. Vi hoppas den blir en fin satellit med många FM-kontakter. Från AMSAT-UK:

CAMST’s amateur radio payload CAS-6 piggybacked on a technology test satellite TIANQIN-1 launched at 03:21 UTC on December 20, 2019 at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center of China using a CZ-4B launch vehicle.

Update December 20: Alan BA1DU reported:
“Today CAS-6 has been successfully launched, the satellite is currently in orbit testing, the amateur radio payload is expected to be operational in about three days. Thank you for your interest.”

The primary payload of this launch is China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite CBERS-4A.

Satellite Name: CAS-6/TIANQIN-1

Orbit:
• Orbit type : SSO
• Apogee : 629km
• Inclination : 97.89˚
• Period : 97min

Satellite Architecture: Micro-satellite
• Mass: 35kg
• Stabilization: three-axis stabilization system with its +Y surface facing the earth

Amateur Radio Payload:
• Call sign: BJ1SO
• VHF Antenna: one 1/4λ monopole antenna with max.0dBi gain is located at +Z side
• UHF Antenna: one 1/4λ monopole antenna with max.0dBi gain is located at -Z side
• CW Telemetry Beacon: 145.910 MHz 17dBm
• AX.25 4.8k Baud GMSK Telemetry: 145.890 MHz 20dBm
• U/V Linear Transponder Downlink: 145.925 MHz 20dBm, 20 kHz bandwidth, Inverted
• U/V Linear Transponder Uplink: 435.280 MHz

CAS-6 Satellites Digital Telemetry Description

CAS-6 CW Telemetry Encoding Format

CAMSAT News Release for CAS-6 Satellite

FloripaSat-1 CubeSat carrying a Digital Repeater payload is on the same launch as CAS-6
https://floripasat.ufsc.br/communication-info/