Almasat would have been a GREAT satellite to have had a secondary amateur two-way capability on; big, lots of power, and a great orbit. A few CTCSS decoders and maybe one or two extra command lines, and there could have been V/U or V/S voice capability, in a 1500km apogee orbit.
It's a good example of why all the individual AMSAT groups should be as involved as possible with their own local educational projects from the beginning. The right ham at the right place could have turned this into a real gift for the community, and the university would have seen a huge increase in outside help with telemetry.
The good thing is PWsat is on the same launch, has a FM to DSB transponder capability, and it appears the team is planning on exercising it. I know which satellite I'll help with telemetry before the others.
73, Drew KO4MA
-----Original Message-----
From: "Trevor ." [email protected] Sent: Dec 8, 2011 9:57 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: LARES To Test Einstein's Theory
--- On Thu, 8/12/11, Giulio AB2VY [email protected] wrote:
The Microsatellite on the left of LARES http://spaceflightnow.com/vega/vv01/111207lares/ is "AlmaSat", first microsatellite of the University of Bologna (ITALY)
IARU Coordinated frequencies at http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=39
also see http://www.almasat.org/
73 Trevor M5AKA