Been getting antsy about satellites with amateur radio capability that we can look forward to in the near future? Me too. So I looked around the web to glean some tidbits about what might be on our horizons in the near future if all goes well.

Here are the ham sats projected for 2013 that I’m aware of:

Turksat-3U, the Turkish 3U Cubesat with a planned launch from a site in China, in MAY 2013, with a projected 680KM orbit . The sat has a V/ U linear transponder: input of 145.940-145.990 and an output of 435.200-435.250 MHz. There will be a CW beacon on 437.225 MHz and a camera on board.

KiwiSAT, is fight ready. AMSAT-ZL is hoping for a DNEPR launch in mid-2013

* KiwiSAT carries a 435 or 1268 MHz to 145 MHz linear transponder for SSSB/CW operation.

* Transmit Power: 2 Watts PEP.

* Beacon frequency: 145.885 MHz

* Uplink: (U-Band) 435.265 to 435.235 MHZ LSB or

* Uplink: (L-Band) 1268.880 to 1268.850 MHz LSB

* Down link: 145.850 to 145.880 MHz USB

The target will be to achieve a launch into a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of approximately 800km with a period of about 100 minutes.

UKube-1, the UK Space Agency's sat has a planned launch from Baikonor in JUNE, 2013 on a Soyuz. UKube-1 will carry a set of AMSAT-UK FUNcube boards to provide an amateur radio 435/145 MHz linear transponder and a 1200 bps BPSK beacon for educational outreach.

FunCube-1, AMSAT-UK’s sat planned launch in 2013 in an 600-700km orbit and will provide an amateur radio 435/145 MHz linear transponder that will have approx 500mW PEP output for SSB/CW communications and a 1200 bps BPSK beacon for educational outreach.

Fox-1, a 1U AMSAT-USA Cubesat carrying an educational science experiment from Penn State University and an FM transponder with telemetry mode. Anticipated launch in 4Q, 2013 to a 650km orbit. Work on the proto-type is on-going. There is a currently a $25,000 matching challenge grant for funding donations in effect.

Welcome to anyone with more current or accurate info. Please fill us in.

73, Nick, KB1RVT