Categories
Ham Satellite news

AMSAT-EA’s HADES-ICM now SO-125

Re-post from ANS-152

AMSAT-EA’s HADES-ICM satellite, a 1.5U PocketQube carrying an SDR-based FM and digital repeater payload for amateur radio use, was launched on March 14, 2025, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket during SpaceX’s Transporter-13 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Following deployment from the ION-SCV-017 Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) on March 31, the satellite has been undergoing commissioning. The FM repeater is expected to be activated in June—initially on weekends, with plans to eventually transition to full-time (24/7) operation, as is currently the case with AMSAT-EA’s earlier HADES-R mission.

HADES-ICM also hosts an experimental payload from the University of Manchester’s Smart IR/Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC), designed to test a very low-power active radiator under space conditions. Data from this experiment will be publicly transmitted via telemetry packets.

The satellite carries an FM and digital repeater payload, built on an improved SDR-based platform capable of transmitting up to 0.25W when battery conditions allow. This makes it accessible to stations using handheld antennas like the Arrow antenna. The coordinated uplink frequency is 145.875 MHz, and the downlink is 436.666 MHz. The repeater operates with an open squelch and does not require a subtone. The satellite has been cataloged with NORAD ID 63492.

At the request of AMSAT-EA, AMSAT hereby designates HADES-ICM as SO-125 (Spain-OSCAR 125). We congratulate AMSAT-EA, thank them for their continued contributions to the amateur satellite community, and wish them success with this and future missions!

[ANS thanks Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, AMSAT VP Operations / OSCAR Number Administrator for the above information]

Categories
Ham Satellite news Operations

How to use UISS for SONATE-2

This is how I used UISS to work a QSO via SONATE-2 satellite. Note: it is not a complete setup guide how UISS and Soundmodem. You can use Google if you need a guide, see this post for IC-9700 or look at this post for IC-705.

  1. Be sure to use DP0SNX as your “via” callsign, to be able to get digipeater via SONATE-2.
  2. Press F7 och click Message to send your text in the “TX APRS Message” area. When you call CQ, change “For” to CQ. In the Message area you can enter your locator.
  3. When someone answer you you can see the callsign the “MHeard” area. Just click on the callsign, and “For” in the “TX APRS Message” area will change to this callsign.
  4. Now you can answer back (reply and confirm) to complete the QSO.

SONATE-2 is using simplex 145.825 MHz FM. More info at this page.

Categories
Ham Satellite news

Satellite report May 2025

This is some observations of the most popular satellites made by me during the first week of May 2025. In swedish below.

AO-7

Updated 2025-03-13: Mode-B working again. Do not use high power on uplink! Signal on the downlink is weaker then other sats but fully usable.

RS-44

Working great, many stations QRV. A good satellite to start listening if you never have tried ham sats before.

SO-124

FM-repeater works fine. Has also telemetry on the same downlink.

AO-73

Good and clean signal/audio, good receiver at the satellite, no need for high power at the uplink. Fast and deep fading make QSOs a challenge. Not the best satellite to start with. Can also be much QRM on the downlink passband.

QO-100

Rock stable, nothing more to say! Use it!

SO-50

Satellites works OK but lots of traffic and hard no get in to it during weekend. I think it sometimes can be very noisy and hard to heard. QRM on the uplink or FM collisions on the uplink maybe? A good satellite for start listening but far from the best beginner sat.

JO-97

Very good linear satellite with 145 MHz downlink. Good and clean signal/audio, good receiver at the satellite, no need for high power at the uplink. Very good beginner sat for SSB/CW, few people using it. Can be some QRM at the downlink passband.

ISS

Not worked by myself in a long time but the FM repeater is frequently reported to work fine.

AO-91
Fox-1-Engineering-Prototype
Not heard when I tested.

SONATE-2

AX.25 packet on 145.825 MHz FM. Made a QSO during a high elevation pass. Only one station QRV when I tested.

PO-101

Not heard when I tested.


Sammanfattning på svenska:

AO-7

Uppdaterat 2025-05-13: Satelliten fungerar igen i Mode-B. Kom ihåg att använda så lite effekt som möjligt på upplänken, annars finns risken att den stängs av. Jag använde max 10 watt idag till 13 element yagi. Upplevs som svagare på nerlänken än andra satelliter men den är fullt körbar. Jag har kört ett QSO idag, bara en annan station QRV 🙂

RS-44

Fungerar mycket bra, bra aktivitet, många stationer QRV. Bra satellit att börja lyssna på för SSB och CW om du aldrig testat förut.

SO-124

FM-repeatern fungerar bra. Sänder också telemetri på samma nerlänk.

AO-73

Fint och ren signal/ljudkvalité. Satelliten har bra mottagare så det behövs inte mycket effekt på upplänken. Djup och ganska snabb fading på signalen gör den dock svårkörd, det gäller att ha timing och försöka bokstavera vid rätt tidpunkt. Kanske inte den bästa satelliten att börja med. Kan också vara en del QRM på nerlänken.

QO-100

Väldigt stabil, inte mycket att säga. Om du har utrustning, använd den!

SO-50

Satelliten fungerar bra men som den enda riktiga FM-satelliten som fungerar dagligen har den många stationer på sig. Det gör det svårt att komma in på den, speciellt på helger. Jag tycker även att den är ganska brusig och har dålig ljudkvalité, det är svårt att höra vad som sägs ibland och ibland blir signalstyrkan ganska svag (roterar den?). QRM kan bero på många som kör samtidigt på upplänken (“FM-gnissel” på signalen). En bra satellit att börja lyssna på men jag tycker absolut inte det är en lätt satellit att börja använda för QSOn.

JO-97

Fint och ren signal/ljudkvalité, en mycket bra satellit på 145 MHz nerlänk. Satelliten har bra mottagare så det behövs inte mycket effekt på upplänken. En mycket bra satellit att börja träna för SSB/CW och transponder. Inte så många som är QRV på den dock så kan vara svårt att få till ett QSO. Kan också vara en del QRM på nerlänken.

ISS

Jag har inte kört den själv på länge men FM-repeatern rapporteras fungera bra.

AO-91
Fox-1-Engineering-Prototype
Fungerar bara när den är solbelyst, men när jag testade fungerade den inte dvs var helt tyst. Satelliten är i dåligt skick och det börjar bli dags att ta bort den som en av de satelliter som rekommenderas som nybörjarsatellit.

SONATE-2

Har kört ett AX.25 packet QSO på 145.825 MHz FM. Verkar vara väldigt få personer igång här. Kul om man vill testa sin AX.25-setup.

PO-101

Ej hörd när jag testat. Bara igång enligt schema.

Categories
Ham Satellite news

Discovery Dish Project update 10 of 10

KrakenRF Inc has published a new update about the Discovery Dish, several links to community projects and an update about the rotator work.

https://www.crowdsupply.com/krakenrf/discovery-dish/updates/community-projects

Categories
Ham Satellite news

Fram2Ham SSTV Transmissions Planned

Re-post from ANS-082

Astronaut and radio amateur, Rabea Rogge LB9NJ / KD3AID, will be transmitting amateur radio Slow Scan TV images from space during the SpaceX Fram2 mission, planned for launch on March 31.

The Fram2 mission is set to become the first human space flight in polar orbit – flying over the North and South poles. Named after the famous polar exploration ship Fram, which completed voyages to both the Arctic and Antarctica. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch four astronauts from Europe and Australia into orbit for 3-5 days.

During the Fram2 mission Rabea Rogge, LB9NJ (Norway) and KD3AID (USA), will be operating the onboard amateur (ham) radio system sending SSTV images as part of a high school and university student competition. These SSTV images will also be available to be received by the general public during the mission.

The International Space Station simulated the Fram2 SSTV mode PD-120 transmissions from February 13-17 on 437.550 MHz FM to enable people to gain proficiency in receiving the signals before the mission.

Fram2Ham is an experimental radio competition open to high school and university ages. Rogge will send pictures of three geographical locations via an onboard ham radio, but here’s the twist: they’ll be cut into pieces and mixed up! Participants will receive only fragments of the locations and need to guess where on Earth they are and what their role in polar history was. While anyone can receive the pictures, forming an international team may help you solve the puzzle!

There are several challenges like low transmit power, variations of antenna orientation, and a short, 3-day mission duration, with only a limited time assigned for the SSTV operation. These challenges require operating proficiency and the use of the best attainable radio station and this simulation shall give the possibility to exercise this.

For more information on the Fram2 mission and for youth organizations interested in participating in the Fram2Ham SSTV competition, see https://fram2ham.com/

First human Spaceflight to Earth’s polar regions https://f2.com/

Fram2Ham on Discord https://discord.com/invite/GYQzmSh5sp

Competition details https://fram2ham.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/amapay_user_manual-ver-2-7-2025.pdf

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK and FRAM2 Ham for the above information]

Categories
Ham Satellite news

HADES-R designated Spain-OSCAR 124 (SO-124)

From ANS-054:

AMSAT-EA has confirmed that the FM repeater aboard the HADES-R satellite has been successfully activated and is now available for amateur radio operators worldwide. The activation took place on February 19th, 2025, following a series of telemetry and command tests to ensure the satellite’s stability and performance. Early reports indicate that the repeater is functioning as expected, providing strong two-way FM voice communications. AMSAT-EA expressed its gratitude to the amateur radio community for submitting telemetry reports, which contributed to the successful commissioning of the satellite.

HADES-R was launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on January 14th, 2025, as part of SpaceX’s Transporter-12 mission. Developed by AMSAT-EA, the satellite carries an FM and digital repeater payload designed to provide communication services to amateur radio enthusiasts worldwide. It was deployed from the D-Orbit ION-SCV-016 orbital transfer vehicle on January 22nd and has since been transmitting telemetry data while undergoing operational testing. With the repeater now active, operators can use the uplink frequency of 145.925 MHz and the downlink frequency of 436.885 MHz for communication, with additional support for digital modes such as APRS and FSK telemetry at various data rates.

At the request of AMSAT-EA, AMSAT has officially designated HADES-R as Spain-OSCAR 124 (SO-124) in recognition of its contributions to amateur satellite communications. This designation underscores the satellite’s role in expanding access to space-based communications for the amateur radio community. AMSAT congratulates AMSAT-EA on this achievement and looks forward to the continued success of this and future projects. Meanwhile, amateur radio operators eagerly anticipate the upcoming launch of HADES-ICM on the Transporter-13 mission in March 2025, which will further enhance satellite-based communication capabilities.

[ANS thanks AMSAT-EA and Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, AMSAT VP Operations / OSCAR Number Administrator for the above information]