October 2011 - AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

KickSat - a personal spacecraft of your own in space
by Zac Manchester 11 Oct '11

11 Oct '11

Hello, I'm launching a project in my spare time that some AMSAT members might be interested in. I'm a graduate student in Aerospace Engineering at Cornell, and I've been working on a ChipSat/Femtosatellite called Sprite for the last several years. I want to launch a CubeSat full of Sprites into low Earth orbit to demonstrate their viability in space. I'm raising money to build the hardware via the Kickstarter website (kicksat.org). Donors who sponsor a sprite will get to name it and specify the text that it will transmit. A group or club can also sponsor a fleet of Sprites together. I'm doing this to try to get more people involved in spaceflight. I want to make it easy enough and cheap enough so that anyone can take part. Please check out my page on Kickstarter for more information - kicksat.org Thanks, Zac Manchester

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Re: Geostationary Satellites
by Tony Langdon 10 Oct '11

10 Oct '11

At 09:24 AM 10/11/2011, Bob- W7LRD wrote: >simple reason money money!!Â WeÂ should all >pool our Visa cards and create another AO-40 (sobsob). Oh, if I had the money, I'd love to chip in something for another AO-40 like bird, but not so keen on its originally planned orbit, because down here, the elevation would have been less than 20 degrees most of the time, except near perigee, when there's not a lot of places within the footprint. I wonder what a good "compromise" orbital inclination would be for a P3 type amateur sat. Equatorial orbits make it hard for higher northern latitudes, while high inclination orbits make southern hemisphere access more difficult. 73 de VK3JED / VK3IRL http://vkradio.com

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Re: KickSat - a personal spacecraft of your own in space
by Tony Langdon 10 Oct '11

10 Oct '11

At 09:07 AM 10/11/2011, Trevor . wrote: >--- On Mon, 10/10/11, Tony Langdon <vk3jed(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Still >seems a strange choice of frequency, given that GSM > phones use >these frequencies in many parts of the world. ITU Region 1 seems to >be moving closer to permitting unlicensed low power use, RFID etc, >around 915-921 MHz but as you say the rest is mobile phones. Given >there is no mechanism to command these Sprite ChipSats so they are >only on over the USA the use of 902 MHz would seem inapropriate. 73 >Trevor M5AKA Australia has allowed unlicenced low power devices in the range above 915 MHz for some time, and they seem to coexist with GSM phones "next door". 73 de VK3JED / VK3IRL http://vkradio.com

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Re: SRMSAT Keps and Down Link Details
by Dinesh Cyanam 10 Oct '11

10 Oct '11

Hi Drew, Thank you for your wishes… Well it is a Nanosat. Shouldn't have called it a cubesat… my bad… As far as I am know, there is no possibility of a secondary communications mission. I have graduated from the University so the information I have is kind of limited. They have asked me and other Ham radio operators to track the satellite. Hence, I have posted it here. Will let you you if I hear anything about a secondary communications mission. Also, Pete, WB2OQQ, reported that he was not able to load the TLEs into his tracking program. I believe the email system has reformatted the keps. So now the keps can be downloaded from here: http://dinesh.cyanam.net/dl/SRMSAT_TLEs.txt 73 Dinesh KC2YQJ > ------------------------------ > > Message: 8 > Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:36:51 -0400 (GMT-04:00) > From: Andrew Glasbrenner <glasbrenner(a)mindspring.com> > To: Dinesh Cyanam <dinesh(a)cyanam.net>, amsat-bb(a)amsat.org > Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: SRMSAT Keps and Down Link Details > Message-ID: > <5265569.1318271811579.JavaMail.root(a)elwamui-cypress.atl.sa.earthlink.net> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > > Hi Dinesh, > > Is this a cubesat, or a microsat? The webpage indicates it is 286mmx286mmx294mm and 10kg, which is more the size of AO-51 than a 100mm^3 cubesat. > > Is there any possibility of a secondary amateur communications mission? > > Good Luck with the launch. > > 73, Drew KO4MA > > > -----Original Message----- >> From: Dinesh Cyanam <dinesh(a)cyanam.net> >> Sent: Oct 10, 2011 1:43 PM >> To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org >> Subject: [amsat-bb] SRMSAT Keps and Down Link Details >> >> SRMSAT, A cubesat developed by the students of SRM University, India will be launched on October 12th, 2011 along with the Megha Tropique satellite on the PSLV-C18 launch vehicle from ISRO's spaceport in Sriharikota, India. >> >> Payload Details: >> SRMSAT will monitor the green house gases in near infrared region (900nm - 1700nm). >> >> Launch Date and Time: >> October 12, 2011 >> 0530 hrs UTC >> >> Telemetry down link and CW beacon on the same frequency: 437.425 MHz (10 dbm) >> (Telemetry decoding info will be posted soon) >> >> Preliminary TLEs from ISTRAC (ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network): >> SRM >> 1 99999U 11072A 11278.34967500 .00001077 00000-0 60876-3 0 1233 >> 2 99999 20.0603 97.4017 0010015 338.6461 208.4324 14.09199968 14 >> >> Website: http://srmsat.in >> >> All Radio Amateurs are requested to track SRMSAT and provide us with the reception reports via AMSAT-BB mailing list or via email to KC2YQJ <at> arrl.net >> >> 73 >> KC2YQJ >> Dinesh Cyanam >> >>

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for sale
by Dads 10 Oct '11

10 Oct '11

I have for sale a elevation and Azimuth controller Model KR-5600A Which is compatible to a 5400 It has a problem though. The elevation works 100 percent The Azimuth doesn,t turn my rotor I consider this a tech special I will sell it as is for $75.00 plus shipping in CONUS payment by US postal money order. Jerry w0sat

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Geostationary Satellites
by ka9qjg 10 Oct '11

10 Oct '11

Thanks for all the Fast answers I "am glad it was NOT for the reasons I have been hearing for 40 Yrs , That Some Ham radio Operators Would Fig out a Way to be the Biggest and Baddest on the Bird and the ones on it all the time and not sharing with others , Everyone knows the Type Thanks Again Don KA9QJG Yrs ago I had a 8ft C/KU Band System It was fun searching the Skies

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Re: KickSat - a personal spacecraft of your own in space
by Howie DeFelice 10 Oct '11

10 Oct '11

I had several email exchanges with Zac earlier in the year when the call went out for Amateur involvement. I was trying to get enough information to attempt to put together a hardware decoder for the spread spectrum signal. The Cornell team seemed only interested in having hams send in data files of broadband collections from a USRP radio. While these receivers are very common in educational and commercial labs, they are not that common in ham shacks. In my opinion, if the Cornell team wants to generate interest inside the ham community, they need better information on the typical capabilities of the average operator. The greater the appeal, the more support they will get. HowieAB2S

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Re: SRMSAT Keps and Down Link Details
by Andrew Glasbrenner 10 Oct '11

10 Oct '11

Hi Dinesh, Is this a cubesat, or a microsat? The webpage indicates it is 286mmx286mmx294mm and 10kg, which is more the size of AO-51 than a 100mm^3 cubesat. Is there any possibility of a secondary amateur communications mission? Good Luck with the launch. 73, Drew KO4MA -----Original Message----- >From: Dinesh Cyanam <dinesh(a)cyanam.net> >Sent: Oct 10, 2011 1:43 PM >To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org >Subject: [amsat-bb] SRMSAT Keps and Down Link Details > >SRMSAT, A cubesat developed by the students of SRM University, India will be launched on October 12th, 2011 along with the Megha Tropique satellite on the PSLV-C18 launch vehicle from ISRO's spaceport in Sriharikota, India. > >Payload Details: >SRMSAT will monitor the green house gases in near infrared region (900nm - 1700nm). > >Launch Date and Time: >October 12, 2011 >0530 hrs UTC > >Telemetry down link and CW beacon on the same frequency: 437.425 MHz (10 dbm) >(Telemetry decoding info will be posted soon) > >Preliminary TLEs from ISTRAC (ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network): >SRM >1 99999U 11072A 11278.34967500 .00001077 00000-0 60876-3 0 1233 >2 99999 20.0603 97.4017 0010015 338.6461 208.4324 14.09199968 14 > >Website: http://srmsat.in > >All Radio Amateurs are requested to track SRMSAT and provide us with the reception reports via AMSAT-BB mailing list or via email to KC2YQJ <at> arrl.net > >73 >KC2YQJ >Dinesh Cyanam > >

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Boy Scouts Jamboree on the Air 10/15 - 10/16
by George Henry 09 Oct '11

09 Oct '11

On Saturday, October 15th, I will be on the satellites as WA9BSA from the Three Fires Council (Illinois) Camporall for Jamboree on the Air. I plan to try all workable passes of the FM and linear sats, between 1400Z and 2200Z (if set up in time, I may start even earlier), using both an HT and my 910H (QRP) with an Arrow antenna. The scouts will participate by holding & aiming the antenna, logging, and may even make some contacts (although in the past, they've been pretty mic-shy). More than 5000 scouts have registered for the Camporall, and we anticipate several hundred passing thru the amateur radio demo area throughout the day. In addition to the satellites, we will have HF stations operating on several of the published JOTA frequencies, +/- QRM (see http://www.scouting.org/jota/operators_guides.aspx), and will attempt a sked with the World Scout Bureau station in Geneva, Switzerland. Be sure to give JOTA stations a chance on the birds this coming weekend! 73, George, KA3HSW

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ARRISAT Certificate
by James Luhn 09 Oct '11

09 Oct '11

Please do not spam me for asking about a ARRISAT reception certificate as I am in no hurry and I know all concerned are special and appreciated volunteers. On August 10 I sent in a reception report along with a recording of the audio. Should I have received a certificate by now? Perhaps I should resend my report. I am so excited to have received the satellite. A certificate would be nice to have but reception is what really counts. A big thank you to all involved. 73, -james W5AOO

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