Hi All,
Today, 21st of December 2015 at 1038 UTC, it is planned that the EO-79 transponder will be turned on for a prolonged period.
The FUNcube transponder subsystem on QB50p1 (EO-79) had been provided by AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NL and is a similar subsystem as on FUNcube-1, but without the telemetry downlink circuitry.
The current software running on EO-79 does experience occasional reboots. When these reboots happen, the transponder is automatically turned off and will have to be turned back on by a command station. The FUNcube team has selected a few command stations to do so, but be advised the transponder may be off.
TLEs: AMSAT keps name: EO-79 Celestrak keps Name: QB50P1 Celestrak file: cubesat.txt NORAD # 40025 COSPAR designator 2014-033-R
Frequencies: *Uplink:* 435.035-435.065 MHz LSB *Downlink:* 145.935-145.965 MHz USB
EO-79 has been set to only beacon the normal AX.25 beacon every 30 seconds instead of 10 seconds. The beacon frequency is 145.815MHz and consists of AX.25 frames on BPSK. more details about the downlink can be found on the ISIS HAM page at http://isispace.nl/HAM/qb50p.html
We kindly request you to share your experiences with the BB so everyone can benefit from operating tips and tricks, as well as being up-to-date on the status. We would also welcome any observation related to the transponder behaviour when the AX.25 beacon comes on.
Just like FUNcube-1, the crystal oscillator circuits exhibit drift with temperature. This means manual tuning will probably work best.
Lastly, the commanding team will not be available over Christmas, so the current activations are planned from today until Thursday 24th and from Monday 28th until Thursday 31st
73 and have FUN Happy Holidays
Wouter Weggelaar, PA3WEG AMSAT-NL AMSAT-UK