In short, yes, in my opinion, unless they applied for and received an experimental (Part 5 I think) license in the 435 band, which has happened before. Even then I think there is a legal issue with a amateur service station communicating two-way with a part 5 station. I don't think any of them are aware of this from what I can see. THe FAQ on their kickstarter page has the following:
How do you communicate with ArduSat?
Our current plan is to use GENSO, a network of amateur-band ground stations connected through the internet that allows you to use any of the satellite communication terminals on the network from anywhere else. By connecting our interface to the network, we can communicate with ArduSat whenever it is in range of any of the stations. This means we can access the satellite more often and for longer.
As a backup option, we’re also looking discussing with private ground station operators for collaboration.
Last updated: Friday Jun 15, 11:55am EDT
I'm a big supporter of cubesats, but many of them need some education on the use of amateur frequencies in my opinion.
73, Drew KO4MA
-----Original Message-----
From: "Trevor ." m5aka@yahoo.co.uk Sent: Jun 15, 2012 2:08 PM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] ArduSat Arduino CubeSat Update
The latest update on the proposed ArduSat.
See http://www.uk.amsat.org/?p=8284
I wonder though about the fund raising idea of renting out time on the various space experiments.
Not a problem on UHF commercial frequencies but would it fall foul of FCC regs if the 435 MHz band were used ?
73 Trevor M5AKA
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