RAFT and ANDE are APRS satellites to be deployed on Thursday.

We ask that ALL radio amateurs (except for command stations) refrain from any transmissions until after the spacecraft have been opened for general use. There are many stations involved in the checkout, so wait until you see specific authorization for general use before using the digipeater. If all goes well in a few days, we hope to open the satellites up for general use in accordance with the User Service Agreement. See: http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/ande/ANDEcontract.txt

The success of these digipeaters is protocol driven and depends on user adherence to published operating parameters. Please check the User Service Agreement before operating and periodically throughout the short life of these satellites. Basically it says you are authorized for these initial beacon rates:

Unattended, beacon one APRS packet per 5 minutes only Attended Base, beacon one Position packet per 2 minutes Mobile, beacon no higher than 2 minutes Attended 5W HT, is authorized to beacon at a 1 minute rate.

To aid everyone in understanding the statistics of this channel, please include your Effective Radiated Power (ERP) and beacon rate in your packet. Example: !DDMM.HHN/DDDMM.HHW-Bob,50W,2min mobile.

Remember that ERP is your TX power plus your antenna system gain.

Operating authorization will change as we learn the demands on the uplink and the load on the systems. Keep up to date on WEB page that covers all three satellites (ANDE, RAFT and NMARS). See: http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/ande-raft-ops.html

All of these new satellites have less than optimum antennas and so they will probably be harder to operate than PCSAT-1. We do hope that PCSAT-1 will come out of hybernation the first week of January for some multi-satellite opportunities. Stay tuned.

Bob Bruninga, WB4APR USNA Satellite Lab