Categories
Ham Satellite news

Nya AMSAT-videos från Dayton Hamvention

Från den stora amatörradio-träffen i USA, Dayton Hamvention, finns ett antal nya videos från AMSAT-NA:

+ AMSAT ARISS Program Status, by Frank KA3HDO – 2013 Dayton Hamvention
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hju20svHK5k

+ AMSAT Education and You, by Mark N8MH – 2013 Dayton Hamvention
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXzCRiNaTXw&feature=youtu.be

+ AMSAT Status Report, by Barry WD4ASW – 2013 Dayton Hamvention
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGj5_wjomzI&feature=youtu.be

+ FUNcube Satellites, by Howard G6LVB – 2013 Dayton Hamvention
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NSD39MNKe0&feature=youtu.be

+ Fox Classroom Experiments, by Spence WA8SME – 2013 Dayton Hamvent
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl8HCBEGv4Q

+ Fox-1 Status Update, by Tony AA2TX – 2013 Dayton Hamvention
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gub5182mowg

You can view these videos, collectively, and lots of other AMSAT
video content by going to:

www.amsat.org and click on “AMSAT YOUTUBE CHANNEL”
or by going to www.youtube.com/AMSATNA

Categories
Ham Satellite news

AMSAT-SM HF-nätet 19/5 2013

Hej!

Dagens nät med

SM4EFW
SM5HL
SM6NZV
SM7WSJ

*FOX-1 upp 2014

Ersättaren till den populära FM satelliten AO-51 har ju redan ordnat
sponsrad uppskjutning, så nu kan vi se fram mot en fin satellit för portabla
satellitkontakter.

AMSAT Fox-1 Launch Date Announced

NASA announced on May 13, 2013 that AMSAT’s Fox-1 spacecraft has been
assigned for launch in 2014 on the ELaNa XII mission. The expected orbit is 470 x 780
km at 64 degrees inclination. This orbit has a lifetime of about 11 years.

AMSAT Vice President Engineering, Tony Monteiro, AA2TX, reported that the
software development team successfully brought up the Fox-1 system software
on the Internal Housekeeping Unit (IHU). The IHU is the brains of the Fox-1
satellite and it has a 32-bit, STM32L microprocessor. The operating IHU card was
shown in the AMSAT Engineering booth at the Dayton Hamvention.

The Fox-1 Engineering Team will deliver the satellite for integration with
the launch vehicle during May, 2014 with the launch scheduled for November,
2014. Tony commented, “While this is later than we had hoped, it is well within
the normal variance of ELaNa launch dates and the extra time will be most
welcome for additional satellite testing. This is very exciting news and really puts the
focus on finishing the satellite and ground station software development.”

President Barry Baines says, “AMSAT’s focus on STEM education and development of
a cubesat platform capable of flying a science mission with a reliable communications link resulted in the selection of Fox-1 in the third round
and RadFxSat (Fox-1B) in the fourth round of NASA’s Cubesat Launch Initiative.”

All Fox cubesats are designed to host advanced science payloads to support
future science missions that help us to continue qualify for NASA ELaNa
(free) launches. The Phase 1 Fox satellites are 1-Unit CubeSats. They each include
an analog FM repeater that will allow simple ground stations using an HT and an
“arrow” type antenna to make contacts using the satellite. This was the mode
made so popular by AO-51. The Phase 1 CubeSats also have the capability of
operating in a high-speed digital mode for data communications. Phase 2 Fox
satellites will include software-defined-transponders (SDX) like the one
tested on ARISSat-1. These will be able to operate in a wide variety of analog and
digital communications modes including linear transponders. Since this
requires more power for reliable operation, these will probably all be 3-Unit
CubeSats.
Watch the AMSAT Journal and the AMSAT web (http://www.amsat.org) page for
more news and details.

*ISS kommer med videolänk på 2,4 GHz

Frequencies announced for HamTV from the International Space Station

Frequencies have been announced for the new Ham Radio Digital TV transmitter
that will send video from the ISS in the amateur radio 2400 MHz band.

The main mission of HamTV is to perform school contacts between the
astronauts onboard ISS and the scholarship, not only by voice, but also by
unidirectional video from the ISS to the ground within the ARISS program.

In addition to the existing VHF radio amateur station, ISS will host a
S-Band video transmitting station. This new equipment can broadcast images from the ISS
during the school contacts or other pre-recorded video images up to 24 hours
a day to allow ground stations tuning.

It is planned to transmit DVB-S signals on 2.4GHz at either 1.3Msps or
2.3Msps with 10 watts of RF from the ISS Columbus module. The IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel have announced
frequencies of 2422.0 MHz and 2437.0 MHz.

HamVideo is the name of the onboard DATV S-band transmitter. HamTV is the
name of the complete system, comprising DATV downlink and VHF voice uplink.
Kaiser Italia SRL was the prime-contractor for the design and development of the flight
and ground segment http://www.kayser.it/index.php/exploration-2/ham-tv

Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano KF5KDP is planned to launch from Baikonur
in Kazhakstan to the ISS on May 28 (see High School Student’s RocketHub
Project). It is understood that the HamTV equipment will be carried to the ISS on the
Japanese HTV-4 spacecraft currently planned for a launch on August 4.

HamTV on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Hamtvproject

More information from AMSAT-Italia at
http://www.amsat.it/Amsat-Italia_HamTV_brochure.pdf

Link Budget http://www.amsat.it/Amsat-Italia_HamTV.pdf

ARISS Antennas Installed on Columbus http://www.ariss-eu.org/columbus.htm

Vi hörs på 370 KHz nästa söndag.

73 Håkan SM7WSJ

Categories
Ham Satellite news

Förändringar på AMSAT-SMs hemsida

I och med framtidsenkäten fick vi även in några synpunkter på vår hemsida. Det är mycket tacksamt då vi sällan får feedback runt hemsidan! Jag (Lars SM0TGU) kommer nu under maj/juni påbörja ett par förändringar:

  • Det har i vissa fall varit otydliga kategorier (“avdelningar” på nyhetsinlägg) som jag nu ska försöka ordna till.
  • Nuvarande utseende (tema som det kallas på WordPress-språk) är inte speciellt snyggt och ser inte bra ut på mobiltelefoner med mindre skärmar. Jag kommer därför snart att byta tema.
  • Det ska bli tydligare för nya besökare vad AMSAT-SM är, vår historia och hur man blir medlem.
  • Den stora utmaningen är dock att publicera bra nybörjarartiklar – hur kommer jag igång på satellit. Ett arbete som kommer att pågå hela året!

Jag tar tacksamt emot synpunkter runt vår hemsida på info@amsat.se

/Lars SM0TGU   – ansvarig för hemsidan

Categories
Ham Satellite news

Fox-1 planerad uppskjutning 2014

Nu är det klart att satelliten Fox-1 är planerad att komma upp 2014:

NASA announced Monday that AMSAT’s Fox-1 spacecraft has been
assigned for launch in 2014. For details on the launch vehicle,
targeted launch date, orbit specifics, and more, please attend
the AMSAT Forum or visit the AMSAT booth at the Dayton Hamven-
tion this weekend. Watch http://www.amsat.org and the AMSAT News
Service for more details to follow.

[ANS thanks AMSAT Vioe President Engineeing Tony Monteiro,
AA2TX for the above information]

Categories
Ham Satellite news

FUNcube at the AMSAT-UK Colloquium

The 2013 AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium will start late afternoon on Friday, July 19 and will run through until the afternoon on Sunday, July 21 at the Holiday Inn, Guildford, GU2 7XZ, UK.

It will be preceded by an exciting “Hands-on” CubeSat Workshop which will take place at the nearby University of Surrey on the Friday.
http://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/cubesat-workshop-2013/

This will be followed, at the hotel, by the usual Colloquium “Beginners Session” in the late afternoon.

It is anticipated that both the FUNcube-1 and FUNcube-2 missions will be launched later this year and the FUNcube team will be on hand to talk about the missions and the planned educational outreach. A full demonstration of the Engineering Model of FUNcube-1, which has been performing flawlessly for almost a year, will also be provided.

A number of keynote presentations have already been arranged for the Colloquium. These include Alistair Scott, the President of the British Interplanetary Society. The BIS has, over many decades, developed ideas and concepts about the future of space travel and both Patrick Moore and Arthur C Clarke were members. Alistair has had many years experience working in the space industry and will be reviewing the future possibilities for ventures into space both small and large. The BIS is presently developing one of the Sprites for the Kicksat mission and Andrew Vaudin will be presenting a paper about this and also providing a demonstration.

On the Sunday, the General Manager of the RSGB, Graham Coomber, G0NBI will be talking about the Society’s vision of the future of amateur radio and how amateur satellites can play a major part in helping to secure that future.

We will also have updates on a number of the other current amateur satellite projects including HAMtv from the ISS, spectrum matters, operating methods, new products etc. Additionally there will be a satellite demonstration station operating over the weekend and visits to the new technical facilities at the University are planned.

There are still a few slots available for additional speakers, so if you would like to make a presentation, please contact Dave Johnson e-mail: dave at g4dpz dot me dot uk as soon as possible.

The AMSAT-UK organising committee looks forward to welcoming both regular attendees and newcomers – you can be assured of a warm welcome and an exciting weekend.

Full details of the accommodation, travel and booking arrangements can be found here:
http://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/colloquium-2013/
and details of the “Hands On” CubeSat Workshop are available here
http://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/cubesat-workshop-2013/

—-
73 Trevor M5AKA

Categories
Ham Satellite news

AMSAT-SM HF-nätet 16/5 2013

Hej!

Deltagare

SM4EFW
SM4JLX
SM5HL
SM6NZV
SM7WSJ

*Radar satellit på 70cm?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22435656

*ESTCube-1

Signals Received From Estonia’s ESTCube-1 CubeSat

Estonia’s first CubeSat ESTCube-1, amateur radio callsign ES5E/S,
was successfully launched from the ESA Spaceport in Kourou in French
Guiana on May 7, 2013 aboard an ESA VEGA rocket.

Built by students at the University of Tartu ESTCube-1 the main
mission of the satellite is to test electric solar wind sail tech-
nology, a novel space propulsion technology that could revolution-
alize transportation within the solar system. It will deploy a 10
meter conductive electrodynamic tether and the force interacting
with the tether will be measured.

Information about the satellite is posted at:
http://www.estcube.eu/en/

The IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel have pub-
lished these frequencies for ESTCube-1:

+ 437.250 MHz – CW beacon, callsign ES5E/S
+ 437.505 MHz – 9600 bps AX.25 telemetry, callsign ES5E-11
+ See http://www.estcube.eu/en/radio-details for additional news.
+ A beacon decoder can also be found on a link from this page.

The AMSAT-UK web shows additional photos and a description of the
mission for ESTCube-1 at:
http://amsat-uk.org/2013/05/06/estcube-1-estonias-first-cubesat-2/

The ESTCube-1 Team has begun posting updates on their facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/estcube

Here is a google maps page that tracks ESTCube-1:
http://tinyurl.com/ESTCube-Tracker (lizard-tail.com)

ESTCube-1 keplerian elements are included in the AMSAT.ORG elements
set sent out this week via the keps@amsat.org e-mail list.

After deployment from the VEGA upper stage reception reports of
ESTCube-1 reception reports from amateur radio stations worldwide
were posted:

+ Ib, OZ1MY received the signal, noting, “Using the preliminary
TLEs I heard ESTCube-1 beacon at 0908 UTC May 7. The received
frequency is approximately 2 KHz higher than published.”

+ Nader, ST2NH reported, “EstCube-1 Beacon heard over Africa strong
and clear.”

+ Ken, GW1FKY reported, “Monday 7th May 2013 – Time here in Wales, UK
1235hrs UTC. Hearing ESTcube-1 very well with just my Elk antenna
and a Kenwood TS-2000.

+ Jean-Pierre, F5YG wrote, “On orbit number 4, good signal but only
small pieces of text as there is a lot of time between CW frames.

+ Hector, CO6CBF said, “ESTCube-1 was heard in EL92sd with a great
signal. I was running a FUNcube Dongle with SDR-Radio V2.0 and ELK
antenna with a homebrew preamplifier.

Approximately 12 hours after launch the ESTCube-1 team posted a status
that received telemetry packets indicate the satellite had charged its
batteries completely.

*2,3-2,4 GHz

The loss of 2300-2400 MHz in a number of counties is resulting in the
investigation of the use of 2400 MHz, see IARU Region 1 paper VIE13_C5_27
New Narrow?Band working frequencies in the 2300 ? 2450 MHz band
http://amsat-uk.org/2013/04/30/iaru-region-1-agrees-addition-2m-satellite-allocation/

As I understand it Japan has always been restricted to 2400-2450 MHz with an
EME allocation at 2424 MHz. The 432 and Above EME newsletter reports that
WiFi is making this unusable and that JARL is now looking at the use of 2400
MHz instead.
http://www.nitehawk.com/rasmit/em70cm.html

The newsletter says:

“As discussed in past NLs, our 13 cm allocations, no matter where we are
located, will be difficult to maintain and are subject to attack by
commercial interests. Mike (JH1KRC) writes that the JARL frequency board
would like to renew their band plan (the JARL plan for the legal frequency
allocation), and has requested public opinion on a frequency change.
Specifically it is the JA 13 cm EME band that is being considered for
relocation. It appears that the present JA 2424 EME band may be totally
covered in the near future by WiFi/wireless LAN services worldwide. Thus, JA
EMEers are considering having their EME 13 cm frequency allocation moved to
2400. They would like to hear from you on the interference present at your
location on the present (2424) band and the new (2400) proposed band. Are
these bands clean or jammed? Please send this and any other related
information to Mike email: jh1krc[at]syd.odn.ne.jp by the last week of May,
2013.”

*FOX-1 modell

Through the dedicated work of Stefan Wagener, VE4NSA, AMSAT-NA will debut
its new 1:1 scale cardboard
model of the Fox-1
CubeSat at Hamvention 2013. We will have a complete display at the AMSAT
booth. It is life size, and
based on the latest Fox-1 engineering drawings for highest fidelity in
design and appearance. The
model is
printed in color on heavy stock paper, includes all components and the
instructions are carefully
prepared to allow
for easy assembly requiring scissors, glue etc. Depending on experience,
assembly will take
approximately 10+ hours.
The complete model will be a perfect addition to any satellite operator’s
shack, and a chance to show
visitors what is being done by AMSAT today. We will have finished models at
the AMSAT booth for
display and printed models for sale.

They will be available at the AMSAT booth for a recommended donation of $25.
All proceeds will go to
supporting the Fox Project.

Vi hörs nästa söndag!

73 Håkan SM7WSJ