Did you miss it?
Here's another chance: See the FUNcube news below and especially the "FUNcube Dongle Presentation Video" and message way below.
Have you ordered your FUNcube Dongle Pro receiver from http://www.funcubedongle.com yet? Well, ...
Do it soon!
Then let's talk.
The FUNcube Dongle Pro can receive not only the amateur satellites -- as a general coverage all- mode VHF-UHF receiver -- but also high-altitude balloon experiments like the PICetSat module series as seen at http://simsat.net/carrollsat and beyond.
More later.
Cheers,
Pat Kilroy N8PK MDC Area
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-008.01 ANS-001 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins AMSAT News Service Bulletin 008.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
January 8, 2012 To All RADIO AMATEURS
[snip]
--------------------------------------------------------------------- FUNcube - Launch Details and Time Frame Finalized
An agreement has now been reached with ISIS Launch Services BV, who are based in Delft in the Netherlands, for them to provide a launch of the FUNcube-1 CubeSat.
It is anticipated that FUNcube-1, which has been created by a team of volunteer radio amateurs and other specialists over the past two years, will be launched with a number of other spacecraft from a DNEPR rocket sometime in the third quarter of 2012. The flight is planned to take place from the Yasny launch facility which is in southern Russia near to the Kazakhstan border. The spacecraft needs to be completed by the end of July 2012, ready for shipping from the Netherlands to Russia.
The orbit is still to be defined precisely but it is expected to be nearly circular and approximately sun synchronous. This will ensure that the spacecraft has the necessary solar illumination and that it will appear at regular times for educational outreach activities at schools and colleges.
The FUNcube-1 spacecraft will transmit signals that can be easily received directly by schools and colleges for educational outreach purposes. This telemetry will give details of the spacecraft's health - battery voltages and temperatures and from this it will be possible to determine its spin rate and attitude by plotting simple graphs. Additionally, experimental data and messages can be displayed in an attractive format and provide stimulation and encouragement for stu- dents to become interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects in a unique way.
The target audience for this project is students at both primary and secondary levels and a simple and cheap "ground station" - actually it looks just like a USB dongle, for schools to use, has already been developed.
In addition to providing educational outreach for schools and colleges around the world, the spacecraft will also provide a U/V linear trans- ponder for radio amateurs during local "night", at weekends and during holiday periods.
The IARU amateur satellite frequency coordination panel has announced new frequencies for the FUNcube-1 satellite to take into account other payloads on the same launch. The new frequencies are:
FUNcube-1 New Frequencies -------------------------------
Uplink 435.080 - 435.060 MHz Downlink 145.960 - 145.980 MHz Beacon 145.955 MHz CW and BPSK
The production and testing of the spacecraft itself has already been funded via a legacy and other sources. It will however really help the project if radio amateurs and other interested supporters could contribute something towards the cost of the actual launch itself. With this in mind a special donation scheme has been setup using the Virgin Giving charity donation website.
All donations received from UK tax payers can be "Gift Aided" which will add 20% to the value of your donation.
More information about this exciting project will be made available over the coming months at the FUNcube website.
Journalist David Meyer interviewed Jim Heck G3WGM for his article on FUNcube-1. Read the article at: http://tinyurl.com/7nr9sec (www.zdnet.co.uk)
FUNcube Giving: http://tinyurl.com/funcubegiving/ FUNcube: http://www.funcube.org.uk/
[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK and the FUNcube Team for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
DNEPR Launch Includes Triton-1 and Triton-2 Amateur Satellites
AMSAT-UK reported this week that the same DNEPR launch in the third quarter of 2012 carrying FUNcube-1 will also have additional amateur satellite payloads aboard.
Triton-1 --------
Comprising of a 3U CubeSat, the Triton-1 mission is a radio science mission which aims to test an experimental advanced AIS (Automatic Identification System) receiver.
Telemetry decoding software will be made available which will allow radio amateur operators to listen to periodic downlink broadcasts containing housekeeping telemetry, payload telemetry as well as re- ceived AIS messages. Telemetry downlinks will be 9k6 RC-BPSK on VHF (145MHz).
The satellite also includes two similar secondary amateur radio pay- loads, being two single channel mode U/V (435-145MHz) FM to DSB transponders.
After the Triton-1 three month science mission is complete plans are to have the satellite continue in the Amateur Satellite Service for as long as possible.
The following downlink frequencies have been coordinated for Triton-1:
Main Downlink 145.815 MHz Backup Downlink 145.860 MHz
Uplink frequencies will be announced by the project team once the satellite becomes available for amateur operations.
Triton-2 --------
Comprising of a 3U CubeSat, the Triton-2 mission is a radio science mission which aims to test an experimental advanced AIS (Automatic Identification System) receiver.
Telemetry decoding software will be made available which will allow radio amateur operators to listen to periodic downlink broadcasts containing housekeeping telemetry, payload telemetry as well as re- ceived AIS messages. Telemetry downlinks will be 9k6 RC-BPSK on VHF (145MHz) and 38k4 RC-BPSK on S Band (2400MHz).
After the Triton-2 three month science mission is complete plans are to have the satellite continue in the Amateur Satellite Service for as long as possible. The satellite includes two secondary amateur radio payloads:
+ A single channel mode U/V (435-145 MHz) FM to DSB transponder. + A single channel mode U/S (435-2400 MHz) FM to FM transponder.
Downlink frequency details will be published shortly. Uplink fre- quencies will be announced by the project team once the satellite becomes available for amateur operations. Power budget permitting, both payloads may be switched on at the same time.
In addition to Funcube, Triton-1, and Triton-2 this DNEPR rocket will launch UKube-1, Delfi n3Xt (also carrying a linear amateur U/V linear transponder), Trio-Cinema 1 & 2 and other spacecraft using frequencies in the amateur satellite service.
AMSAT-UK published the story at: http://www.uk.amsat.org/3434
[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
FUNcube Dongle Presentation Video
The AMSAT-UK FUNcube Dongle is a VHF/UHF (64-1700 MHz) Software Defined Radio (SDR) on a USB Dongle. Howard Long G6VLB traveled from London to the 2011 ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC) in Baltimore to address the group on this project. He details the trials and tribulations behind designing and manufacturing what turned out to be an extremely popular product.
The primary aim of the FUNcube Dongle is to interest young students in science, satellites and radio. The FUNcube itself is a satellite that will be launched specifically to be monitored by all those dongles that have been sold.
Watch 2011 DCC – FUNcube Dongle: http://www.uk.amsat.org/2012/01/02/funcube-dongle-presentation-video/
[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information]
--------------------------------------------------------------------- [snip]