Hi all.
Delfi C3 is being launched at 03.53 UTC on Monday.
I've loaded the keps from the web site, and it looks like the first stations to hear the satellite will be on the west coast of the USA at around 05.01 when the satellite exits eclipse heading north. Can anyone confirm this sounds about right?
It doesn't look like the satellite will have a good pass over the University ground station until around 4.5 hours after launch. All the more reason to collect some valuable telemetry in the first few hours.
Exciting times......
David
Hi David,
you are totally right. Indeed, Delfi-C3 will first exit eclipse over the US at 0501 UTC and this is the chance to hear the spacecraft boot up and hear its very very first signals. (The satellite has no battery so is not active in eclipse) So we would like to ask hams especially around the Western US and Alaska to listen to the spacecraft during that phase.
Telemetry downlink is on continuously, approx 1 frame every second. A sample recording of the 1200bd BPSK AX.25 downlink can be heard at
http://www.delfic3.nl/photoblog/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/delfic3_sciencemo...
If all goes as planned, the spacecraft should come up on the primary downlink frequency of 145.870MHz broadcasting AX.25 telemetry, but please also check the backup downlink at 145.930MHz (also AX.25, similar signal as the primary freq) in case nothing is heard on the primary frequency. The downlink is continuous, periods of no data are filled with flags, similar to AO-16. Keep in mind to tune for Doppler, and when using RASCAL, tune 1600Hz lower in frequency when using USB mode in order to center the signal at 1600Hz. (This also holds for those who set the freqs in a SATPC32 file) In any case, tuning around slowly would probably be the best strategy, due to TLE uncertainty and spacecraft transmitter frequency drift caused by temperature variations. The spacecraft will most likely be tumbling, especially during this phase, so note that polarization fades might occur. It is advantageous to switch polarization if you have the ability to do so.
If you hear Delfi-C3, please send reception reports to [email protected] and state the following items: -your name / callsign -your location (Maidenhead gridsquare or latitude / longitude) -time of AOS & LOS (UTC) -frequency -signal strength -equipment (antenna, receiver) -please record a wav file if possible -please decode telemetry if possible with the RASCAL software. If you use a PSK TNC instead, please append a KISS (.kss) file
more info on spacecraft modes / freqs and latest TLE's can be found on our Mission Operations Page at:
http://www.delfic3.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=93&a...
RASCAL can be downloaded at:
http://www.delfic3.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=94&a...
Also, if you have listened for the spacecraft but not heard signals, please do report "nothing heard", since this still is valuable information to the team.
thanks on behalf of the team, everything is good to go now!
Wouter Jan Ubbels PE4WJ
On Sun, Apr 27, 2008 at 1:58 AM, [email protected] wrote:
Hi all.
Delfi C3 is being launched at 03.53 UTC on Monday.
I've loaded the keps from the web site, and it looks like the first stations to hear the satellite will be on the west coast of the USA at around 05.01 when the satellite exits eclipse heading north. Can anyone confirm this sounds about right?
It doesn't look like the satellite will have a good pass over the University ground station until around 4.5 hours after launch. All the more reason to collect some valuable telemetry in the first few hours.
Exciting times......
David
Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
On Apr 27, 2008, at 2:24 AM, Wouter Jan Ubbels wrote:
Indeed, Delfi-C3 will first exit eclipse over the US at 0501 UTC and this is
I am in the San Francisco, CA Bay Area. I have a Mac, and am not yet able to use RASCAL, but I can make a recording of the pass starting at 0455 UTC tonight. I would very much like to contribute.
I want to be sure I set things up correctly. Please confirm that I should do the following:
Set radio to USB mode. Tune to 145.870 MHz - 0.0016 MHz = 145.8684 MHz, +/- Doppler
if no signal found on that, tune to 145.930 - 0.0016 = 145.9284, +/- Doppler
I also have a Kantronics PacketCommunicator 3 Plus. Can someone tell me how to configure it to decode the telemetry and produce a .kss file?
Thank you!
On Apr 27, 2008, at 12:21 PM, Rick Mann wrote:
On Apr 27, 2008, at 2:24 AM, Wouter Jan Ubbels wrote:
Indeed, Delfi-C3 will first exit eclipse over the US at 0501 UTC and this is
I am in the San Francisco, CA Bay Area. I have a Mac, and am not yet able to use RASCAL, but I can make a recording of the pass starting at 0455 UTC tonight. I would very much like to contribute.
Me too!
1. Bay Area: check! 2. Mac: check! 3. Recording: check!
I got RASCAL working on one of my Linux boxes, but not the Mac. My idea is that I am going to record the pass using my Macbook, and then play it back later and see if I can get it to decode with RASCAL.
Using my FT-817 and a simple Doppler correcting control script that I wrote using my Python satellite library, I hope that the TLE's they have will be good enough to find the signal. I'll post here if I succeed. Best wishes to all the cubesat developers for a good launch!
Mark (KF6KYI)
I want to be sure I set things up correctly. Please confirm that I should do the following:
Set radio to USB mode. Tune to 145.870 MHz - 0.0016 MHz = 145.8684 MHz, +/- Doppler
if no signal found on that, tune to 145.930 - 0.0016 = 145.9284, +/- Doppler
I also have a Kantronics PacketCommunicator 3 Plus. Can someone tell me how to configure it to decode the telemetry and produce a .kss file?
Thank you!
-- Rick
Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
On Apr 27, 2008, at 3:03 PM, Mark Vandewettering wrote:
Me too!
- Bay Area: check!
- Mac: check!
- Recording: check!
I got RASCAL working on one of my Linux boxes, but not the Mac. My idea is that I am going to record the pass using my Macbook, and then play it back later and see if I can get it to decode with RASCAL.
Using my FT-817 and a simple Doppler correcting control script that I wrote using my Python satellite library, I hope that the TLE's they have will be good enough to find the signal. I'll post here if I succeed. Best wishes to all the cubesat developers for a good launch!
I'll leave Wouter out of this reply since I know he's overwhelmed with stuff right now.
I've got both an ICOM IC-910H and an ICOM IC-R1500 receiver. I'm tempted to just use the R1500 because it shows up as a USB Audio Device when I plug it in to my Mac, making it much easier to record from. Oh, and it's very portable, which the IC-910H is not. I plan to drive up to a high spot on Crestview in San Carlos (Belmont?) and point my antenna and do Doppler correction by hand (sadly, I don't think MacDoppler Pro can tune the R1500 yet).
I think the receiver in the IC-910H is better than the R1500, but it's just going to be so hard to lug up there, and I don't have a cable to record its audio. I have time to make one, so I probably should, but I've got a mental block for some reason.
Maybe someone with more experience can tell me what I should do instead.
Let me suggest that for the first couple of orbits you forego the automatic Doppler tuning and just tune the +/- 3 kHz by hand. You'll have a much greater possibility of success. Frequencies may not be stable or exactly as published, and keplerian elements are an educated guess at this stage. Predictive Doppler tuning is a recipe for failure until those parameters stabilize. On the other hand, if you have a TNC or program with Costas loop tuning for the 1200 baud BPSK, you are a step ahead.
Just a bit of advice, take it or leave it.
73, Drew KO4MA
----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Vandewettering" [email protected] To: "Rick Mann" [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, April 27, 2008 6:03 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Delfi C3 first orbit
On Apr 27, 2008, at 12:21 PM, Rick Mann wrote:
On Apr 27, 2008, at 2:24 AM, Wouter Jan Ubbels wrote:
Indeed, Delfi-C3 will first exit eclipse over the US at 0501 UTC and this is
I am in the San Francisco, CA Bay Area. I have a Mac, and am not yet able to use RASCAL, but I can make a recording of the pass starting at 0455 UTC tonight. I would very much like to contribute.
Me too!
- Bay Area: check!
- Mac: check!
- Recording: check!
I got RASCAL working on one of my Linux boxes, but not the Mac. My idea is that I am going to record the pass using my Macbook, and then play it back later and see if I can get it to decode with RASCAL.
Using my FT-817 and a simple Doppler correcting control script that I wrote using my Python satellite library, I hope that the TLE's they have will be good enough to find the signal. I'll post here if I succeed. Best wishes to all the cubesat developers for a good launch!
Mark (KF6KYI)
I want to be sure I set things up correctly. Please confirm that I should do the following:
Set radio to USB mode. Tune to 145.870 MHz - 0.0016 MHz = 145.8684 MHz, +/- Doppler
if no signal found on that, tune to 145.930 - 0.0016 = 145.9284, +/- Doppler
I also have a Kantronics PacketCommunicator 3 Plus. Can someone tell me how to configure it to decode the telemetry and produce a .kss file?
Thank you!
-- Rick
Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
On Apr 27, 2008, at 17:49:32, Andrew Glasbrenner wrote:
Let me suggest that for the first couple of orbits you forego the automatic Doppler tuning and just tune the +/- 3 kHz by hand. You'll have a much greater possibility of success. Frequencies may not be stable or exactly as published, and keplerian elements are an educated guess at this stage. Predictive Doppler tuning is a recipe for failure until those parameters stabilize. On the other hand, if you have a TNC or program with Costas loop tuning for the 1200 baud BPSK, you are a step ahead.
Just a bit of advice, take it or leave it.
That sounds good; I'll use the R1500 and tune manually. I hope the pitch changes in the recorded audio don't prevent it from being decoded.
participants (5)
-
Andrew Glasbrenner -
G0MRF＠aol.com -
Mark Vandewettering -
Rick Mann -
Wouter Jan Ubbels