Author Archives: PE0SAT

FT-847 is sold

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Yaesu FT-847My Yaesu FT-847 is sold and therefore I have the Kenwood TS-711e and TS-811e reconnected. No cat control and therefore back to a manual operation and that takes some time getting used to. Fortunate that the antennas are still be controlled by software otherwise I came short of hands. For the people that I work via linear transponder, sorry I only correct doppler on the lowest frequentie I hope you can keep up.

Kenwood TS-711eMeanwhile I am looking for a solution to control the Kenwood TS-711 and TS-811 via SatPC32, but I think because the transceivers are already old, it will not be easy.

Eventually there will come a new transceiver, and at this moment I think it will be an Icom IC-910H. If you have experiences to share, please send me a message via the contact form.

ISS KIBO Cubesats Launched

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We-Wish, RAIKO launched.

We-Wish RAIKO

Satellite   Downlink           Beacon    Mode
---------   ----------------   -------   -----
WE WISH     437.505            437.505   SSTV, CW
RAIKO       2.2GHz, 13GHz      13GHz     38.4 - 500kbps
---------   ----------------   -------   ------------------

FITSat-1, F1 and TechEdSat launched.

FITSAT-1 F1 TechEdSat

Satellite   Downlink           Beacon    Mode
---------   ----------------   -------   -----
FITSAT-1    437.445, 5.84GHz   437.250   FM,CW
TechEdSat   437.465            437.465   CW
F-1         145.980            437.485   1200bps AFSK,FM,CW
---------   ----------------   -------   ------------------

F1, FITSAT-1 and TechEdSat leaving ISS

F1 FITSAT-1 TechEdSat Leave ISS

[PE0SAT Thanks DK3WN for the above information]

ISS Amateur Radio CubeSats to Deploy

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New ISS Cubesat deployment date, October 4th, 2012

First 14:30-14:40 UTC: Order of WE-WISH, RAIKO by Astronaut Akihiko Hoshide.
Second 15:35-15:45 UTC: Order of TechEdSat, NanoRack/F-1, FITSAT-1 by JAXA GS.

ISS Cubesats deployment September 27, 2012

J-SSODJAXA have announced the deployment of five CubeSats from the International Space Station (ISS) planned for  Thursday, September 27 at around 15:10 UTC and will be broadcast live on the web.

The CubeSats are mounted in a JEM-Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (J-SSOD). In one pod are FITSAT-1, TechEdSat and F-1 (NanoRacks) and in the second pod is WE-WISH and a scientific 2U CubeSat RAIKO.

FITSat 1 (Fukuoka Institute of Technology)
http://www.fit.ac.jp/~tanaka/fitsat.shtml
High-speed data test, high power LED visual tracking
CW Beacon 437.250 MHz,
FM Data   437.445 MHz,
High speed data 5840.00 MHz.

TechEdSat (NASA Ames)
http://ncasst.org/techedsat.htmlTelemetry downlink on 437.465 MHz.
It is also carrying SatPhone ground station hardware and had planned to transmit from space using frequencies allocated to ground stations to communicate via the Iridium and Orbcomm satellite phone networks. This would have been a first for a CubeSat, however, a statement from the team says: “We were forced to disable the Iridium modem as our FCC license did not come in time. As usual, building the satellite is the easy part.”

F-1 (FPT University) – Information for Radio Amateurs http://fspace.edu.vn/?page_id=27
http://fspace.edu.vn/?page_id=10
On-board camera for earth observation mission
Yaesu VX-3R 1, 437.485 MHz FM downlink:
o Solar cell power only, operates in sunlight only
o Output power: between 0.1W and 0.3W depending on illumination, half-wave dipole antenna
o Morse code beacon (10 chars) using FM CW every 30 seconds, listen here

Yaesu VX-3R 2, 145.980 MHz FM downlink:
o Rechargeable battery, operates in dark and sunlight
o Output power: max 1.0W, half-wave dipole antenna
o AFSK 1200bps, half duplex, one AX.25 packet every 60 seconds

WE-WISH (Meisei Electric Co., Ltd.)
http://www.meisei.co.jp/news/2011/0617_622.html
Infrared camera for environmental studies
Downlink on 437.505 MHz

ISS Kibo Launch

[PE0SAT Thanks amsat-bb and JE9PEL for this information]

Max Valier

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The Max Valier satellite is a 15 kg amateur radio microsat planned for launch into a 700 km Sun Synchronous Orbit from Plesetsk.

The first mission is educational and involves two Technical High Schools (TFO) in South Tyrol, Italy. Its aim is to demonstrate the possibility to realize a micro satellite by a team of students and teachers of a High School.

Max Valier satellite in space

Max Valier Satellite in spaceThe tasks of the two High Schools are:

1. Setup of two Ground Stations for communication with the satellite

2. Implementing a simple attitude control strategy which can be understood by High School Students

3. Realizing an Electronic Power Supply (EPS) for the Satellite

4. Manufacturing the mechanical structures of the satellite

5. Carrying out simple student experiments, such as a small CMOS camera

6. Measuring and Simulating radiation patterns of the employed antennas both in the satellite and in the ground stations

7. To carry out some communication experiments.

They are planning to use the following transceivers:
– A low power VHF Beacon built by DF2FQ that emits the identification of the spacecraft in CW at 60 characters per minute.
– An AstroDev HELIUM (UV/VU at 9600 bd) ISIS TRXUV (U/V at 1200/9600 bd
– A Schulze SRS TCM2 at 1200 bd
– A Schulze SRS TCM3 at 9600 bps

Max Valier block diagramThe two Technical High Schools have no commercial aims.

Max Valier block diagram – Image credit Max Valier Gewerbeoberschule

The second mission belongs to the Amateur Astronomers, an association without commercial aims.

The spacecraft carries an X-Ray telescope built by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (Garching, Germany). Its data are to be evaluated by the Amateur Astronomers and to be made available to the public on a website.

The goal is to complete an X-Ray map of the space. The third mission is an independent experimental mission carried out by OHB System AG (Bremen, Germany) with the following goals: 1. Receive and demodulate AIS (Automatic Identification System) signals sent by ships to an experimental AIS receiver on the spacecraft MaxValier and retransmit those data to the earth over an S-Band link 2. Testing the behavior of ORBCOMM and IRIDIUM modems in space.

Further information from http://sat.gobbz.net/indexe.php

Source: Amsat UK

HORYU-2 sending back images

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HORYU-2 ImageThe amateur radio CubeSat HORYU-2 has been successfully sending back images of the Earth.

The team also report the high-voltage power experiment has generated 300 volts. Built by students at the Kyushu Institute of Technology (KIT) HORYU-2 is 350 * 310 * 315 mm and mass is 7.1 kg. It is in a Sun-Synchronous 680 km orbit with an inclination of 98.2°.

The satellite’s callsign is JG6YBW and it transmits on 437.375 MHz  (+/- 9 kHz Doppler shift) using 20 wpm Morse Code or 1200 bps AX.25 FSK packet radio. Details of the telemetry format are available here. The telemetry software can be downloaded from here and an explanation of the software is here.

HORYU-2 ImageHORYU-2 Japanese Operating Schedule in Google English http://tinyurl.com/HORYU-2-Schedule

Read the KIT HORYU Blog in Google English http://tinyurl.com/HORYU-Blog

Further information on HORYU-2 … continue reading

Source: Amsat-UK