November 2017 - AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

Fw: AO73 Mode change
by Graham Shirville 11 Jun '19

11 Jun '19

Hi folks, AO73/FUNcube is now in amateur mode for the weekend with the transponder on! Please see below for all FUNcube mission info 73s Graham G3VZV and the FUNcube team. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ FUNcube frequencies and other details ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ AO-73 FUNcube-1 The transponder is normally operational only when the satellite is in eclipse, ie the solar panels are NOT being illuminated. During weekends (from pm Fridays UTC to PM Sundays UTC) the transponder is operational 24/7. When the transponder is switched off, the telemetry beacon is on full power, when the transponder is on the beacon it is on low power. During holidays, eg Christmas, New Year, Easter, etc, the transponder maybe activated for extended periods. Watch AMSAT-BB for announcements which are usually made on Friday evenings (UTC) The nominal transponder frequencies are: Uplink: 435.150 - 435.130 MHz LSB (Inverting) Downlink: 145.950 - 145.970 MHz USB Telemetry Tx: 145.935 MHz BPSK (The passband may be up to 15kHz higher depending on on-board temps. Lower temperatures give higher freqs!) FUNcube-2 (aka FUNcube on UKube) The FUNcube-2 sub-system continues to operate autonomously and, almost continuously, in amateur mode. The transponder is operational and the telemetry downlink is functioning with about 70mW output. The FUNcube-1 Dashboard does not correctly display the telemetry but it does correctly decode the data and uploads it to the FUNcube Data Warehouse from where it can be examined. Most of the real time data channels are operational and these include battery voltages, temperatures and ADCS data coming via the main On Board Computer (OBC). The transponder is interrupted for a few seconds every 2 minutes when the other transmitter sends its CW beacon and, occasionally, for a few seconds when the main OBC reboots (approx seven times each orbit). The nominal transponder frequencies are: Uplink: 435.080 - 435.060 MHz LSB (Inverting) Downlink: 145.930 - 145.950 MHz USB Telemetry Tx: 145.915 MHz BPSK (The passband may be up to 10kHz higher depending on on-board temps. Low temperatures give higher freqs!) EO79 FUNcube-3 Due to power budget constraints the transponder cannot be operational 24/7 and an orbit specific schedule has been developed. The transponder will commence operation 27 minutes after the spacecraft enters sunlight and will stay on for a period of 25 minutes. This schedule may be modified in future months as a result of experience. The nominal transponder frequencies are: Uplink: 435.0723-435.0473 MHz LSB (Inverting) Downlink: 145.946-145.971 MHz USB Further detailed info on EO79 transponder frequencies is at: https://amsat-uk.org/2016/11/10/eo79-funcube-3-transponder-commences-regula… EO88/Nayif-1/FUNcube-5 EO88 is presently operating in autonomous mode. The transponder is operational when the satellite is in eclipse, ie the solar panels are NOT being illuminated. When the transponder is switched off, the telemetry beacon is on full power, when the transponder is on the beacon it is on low power. The transponder frequencies are: Uplink: 435.045 – 435.015 MHz LSB (inverting) Downlink: 145.960-145.990 MHz USB Telemetry Tx: 145.940MHz All FUNcube transponders are sponsored by AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NL. We are very grateful for the assistance given by Innovative Solution In Space Bv, The Netherlands. _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb

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EQUiSat Optical Beacon CubeSat
by Trevor . 17 Oct '18

17 Oct '18

Students at the Ivy League Brown University are developing an amateur radio satellite EQUiSat that will carry a Xenon Flash Tube (XFT) subsystem to act as an Optical Beacon that should be visible to the unaided eye of observers on Earth. See http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=10635 73 Trevor M5AKA AMSAK-UK http://www.amsat-uk.org/ ----

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Using 1.2Ghz
by Todd 04 Apr '18

04 Apr '18

Thinking about adding the 1.2Ghz module for my 9100. Prices have dropped a little and units will start become harder to find once production ends. Anybody using this band? I read it's used as a uplink frequency for some satellites. Any input appreciated.ToddAL7PX

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Outernet L-Band now carries AMSAT and ARISS weekly bulletins
by Robert Bruninga 17 Mar '18

17 Mar '18

The Outernet L-band feed is now carrying a condensed version of the AMSAT and ARISS weekly news files. (Global Geosat coverage except for Northern Alaska)... Receivers are simple: http://aprs.org/outnet.html For ARISS, I manually added a 2 char grid square to each school listed in the school schedule and am asking the outernet folks to parse out that location info and plot a 1200 km footprint on their weather globe showing where people can tune in the ARISS contacts. Then their RTL-SDR dongle could then actually be retuned to hear the contact. Just an idea... Bob, WB4APR -----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dani EA4GPZ Sent: Saturday, October 15, 2016 7:36 AM To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] New Outernet L-Band service... >> I hope someday a service like this will be available >> from an AMSAT geostationary service. > I'm pretty confident that the guys at AMSAT-DL are capable > of doing this much better on the upcoming EsHail'2 > than what Outernet is currently doing on Inmarsat... > They already have in mind a "DVB-S beacon"... broadcast > from the ground station at Qatar ... carrying videos > about Ham radio and Ham radio events on this signal. > What is more, if you have equipment to operate EsHail'2 on SSB, > it's more or less easy to use either the narrowband transponder > or the wideband transponder to transmit an Outernet-type signal > through EsHail'2, so anyone can have a go with this. > Outernet uses 4200baud BPSK and half of the bitrate is spent for FEC. > You can use a bit less bitrate to get a signal that will even pass > through a conventional 2.7kHz SSB filter and you can use less > bits for FEC to get increased data throughput (but more SNR required). > Dani EA4GPZ.

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Fox 1B/RadFxSat launched successfully
by Nico Janssen 16 Feb '18

16 Feb '18

All, Fox 1B was released from its P-POD at 11:09 UTC today over northern Europe. It is in a slightly elliptical orbit with a perigee of 439 km and an apogee of 811 km. The orbit inclination is 97.7 degrees. No downlink signals received yet. The pre-lauch TLE set appears to be almost 20 minutes late. 73, Nico PA0DLO

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High Speed Telemetry, SDR#, and RTS/SDR
by Fred Castello 11 Dec '17

11 Dec '17

Is anyone using this particular combination with the Fox 1 Telemetry Analysis Tool? Today on one of my good passes with AO-91 I believe it was transmitting high speed telemetry and it seemed no matter what combination I used, I could not get the tool to decode the high speed telemetry. I have no problem with the low speed Data Under Voice with this combination. I have always assumed that the high speed telemetry is on the same frequency as voice and low speed DUV. I would appreciate any thoughts anyone has as usual. Best Regards, Fred – KF4FC

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Question - Icom IC910-H full duplex operation using the Data jack inputs
by N6RFM1 gmail 04 Dec '17

04 Dec '17

I have an IC-910H question maybe someone can help with? Would like to set up mine for full duplex to work Falconsast-3 using the Data jacks for TX/RX data jacks for I/O but cannot seem to get the TX input side working. I do get RX data out of the radio no problem, so issue seems isolated to TX input side of the Data jacks. In brief, I made a cable so that the output of an UZ7HO sound modem will pass audio into the Data jack input. The cable ohms out OK, but I do not seem to be getting the data/audio into the radio via either Data jack. I have set the audio going into the data jacks at ~ 0.4 V p-p. I am aware that when the rig is in Satellite mode, the Data jacks act in reverse. To troubleshoot further, I have tried Split mode. As I understand, this should leverage the Main Data jack only? With the radio in split FM mode only, even if I feed a 1k2 tone to the Main or Sub Data jack input and key the radio (by pushing the front panel TX button), I cannot hear modulation on a second radio set up to monitor the IC-910H TX frequency. Have also tried all sorts of combinations for the Main and Sub Data inputs, but no joy. Is it required to assert PTT from the Data jack itself? BYW, I already have 1K2 packet set up for the sound modem using the ACC jack. Works FB. I'd just like to use the Data jacks for 9K2. Any suggestions on how to troubleshoot further? I will try an even lower audio input level (as suggested by N8MH), but the TX light is bright with 0.4 V input suggesting that the automatic limiter may not be the problem? Hopefully, I have missed something very simple. Direct email replies OK too. Thanks, Bob N6RFM n6rfm at gmail.com

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Upcoming Rocket Lab Launch
by B J 01 Dec '17

01 Dec '17

The window for it opens 2017-12-08: http://parabolicarc.com/2017/11/29/rocket-lab-electron-launch-window-set-op… While on the subject of scheduling launches: http://parabolicarc.com/2017/11/29/falcon-heavy-debut-slips-january/ Meanwhile, there have been a number of launch failures this year, the most recent being a Russian rocket: http://parabolicarc.com/2017/11/28/soyuz/ 73s Bernhard VA6BMJ @ DO33FL

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K8BL Rover Q's --> LoTW
by R.T.Liddy 30 Nov '17

30 Nov '17

Gridders, The Rover QSO's from my trip 11/20-11/28/17 have beenuploaded to LoTW. Let me know by e-mail with details ifone of yours appears to be missing. 73, Bob K8BL

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AMSAT-OSCAR 91 identified
by Nico Janssen 30 Nov '17

30 Nov '17

All, Detailed doppler measurements show that AMSAT-OSCAR 91 (AO 91) is object 43017, 2017-073E. There is a small frequency drift on the downlink of OSCAR 91. During ascending passes, i.e. early afternoon passes from south to north, with the satellite in full sunlight, the downlink shows a frequency drift of about -19 Hz per minute. 73, Nico PA0DLO

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