UNNE-1B Coordinated as Transporter-18 Prepares to Loft New Amateur Payloads

AMSAT-EA's UNNE-1B (also known as HADES-E2) has moved to the list of completed coordinations on the IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel's status pages, with a downlink on 436.888 MHz and an uplink on 145.925 MHz now coordinated - just in time for a launch that could put three new amateur payloads in orbit next month.

Last covered in ANS-214, UNNE-1B is a 1.5P PocketQube built on the same hardware and software as the original UNNE-1, which continues to await a Rocket Factory Augsburg launch from the United Kingdom. The satellite provides an SDR-based FM voice and FSK digital repeater, opened by squelch level with no tone required, along with FSK data at 50-1200 bps, telemetry at up to 1600 bps, a CW beacon, and a CODEC2 digital voice message. AMSAT-EA has positioned it as the successor to the FM repeater service of SO-124 and SO-125, both of which have since re-entered the atmosphere. An educational payload developed by students at Universidad de Nebrija in Madrid will send one clue per week in the telemetry as part of a guessing game for amateurs to solve.

UNNE-1B is manifested on SpaceX's Transporter-18 dedicated rideshare mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base, with the launch brokered by UARX. Transporter-18 is currently scheduled to launch on Thursday, October 1, at 18:18 UTC.

Two more amateur payloads are planning to share the ride. AMSAT-EA's HADES-L, an experimental 10 x 5 x 5 cm PocketQube reported in ANS-214, proposes a transponder with an uplink at 28.472 MHz USB - or alternatively on 145 MHz - and a 436.665 MHz FM downlink, capable of carrying a single FM voice channel or multiple simultaneous CW, FT4, or FT8 signals. And UTNH-Sat, from the Universidad Tecnologica Nacional Regional Haedo in Argentina, will transmit LoRa telemetry and a CW beacon on 436.850 MHz and offer an automatic LoRa ping-response service: amateurs who transmit a ping request to the satellite will receive a reply containing their own callsign. Both remain in the coordination process (see the coordination roundup below).

[ANS thanks AMSAT-EA, the IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel, and Exolaunch for the above information]

AMSAT-DL's ERMINAZ-2 PocketQube Trio Set for October 1 Launch on Transporter-18

It's official: AMSAT-DL's three ERMINAZ-2 PocketQubes - ERMINAZ-2U, ERMINAZ-2V, and ERMINAZ-2X - are set to launch aboard SpaceX's Transporter-18 rideshare mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Thursday, October 1, at 18:18 UTC (20:18 CEST), AMSAT-DL announced on September 25. The three spacecraft will be deployed from UARX's OSSIE mission using a PocketQube deployer provided by the Libre Space Foundation into a 500 x 600 km polar orbit.

The trio shares an identical design derived from AMSAT-DL's ERMINAZ-1 spacecraft, which were built on the Libre Space Foundation's QUBIK platform and still await the first flight of Rocket Factory Augsburg's RFA One from SaxaVord Spaceport in the United Kingdom. That makes the ERMINAZ-2 satellites the first of the ERMINAZ family to reach orbit. AMSAT-DL describes the build as its shortest satellite campaign to date: when the launch opportunity arose in early 2025, the flight models had to be ready for integration into the deployer within a matter of weeks. The satellites were originally manifested on Transporter-14, then Transporter-16, before settling on Transporter-18.

The ERMINAZ program is a syndicated multi-PocketQube mission led by AMSAT-DL in collaboration with AMSAT-EA, ESERO-Germany at the Bochum Observatory, and the Libre Space Foundation, with the goal of promoting, advancing, and developing knowledge about space and amateur radio. Each of the three ERMINAZ-2 spacecraft will transmit telemetry and science data from onboard radiation sensors and triaxial accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers, downlink SSDV images, and provide a digipeater and store-and-forward function allowing licensed amateurs to use the satellites as relays to communicate with one another worldwide. Only non-proprietary, open-source, and documented protocols will be used, including CCSDS telemetry, a CW beacon with callsign identification, SSDV, and AX.25, along with in-flight experiments using GFSK, GMSK, and BPSK modulation at data rates from 600 to 19,200 bps and both CCSDS and IEEE 802.15.4 framing.

The IARU has coordinated the following frequencies: ERMINAZ-2U will operate in the UHF amateur satellite band on 435.900 MHz, while ERMINAZ-2V and ERMINAZ-2X will operate in the VHF band on 145.920 MHz and 145.960 MHz, respectively. AMSAT-DL notes that these frequencies are to be used only for amateur purposes. Operators wishing to decode the satellites will find that Daniel Estevez, EA4GPZ, added a decoder for the ERMINAZ family's QUBIK-derived communications stack to gr-satellites in 2024, and telemetry reports via the SatNOGS network will be welcomed.

Transporter-18 is shaping up as a banner flight for amateur radio: AMSAT-EA's UNNE-1B and HADES-L and Argentina's UTNH-Sat are also manifested on the mission (see story above). Further details on the ERMINAZ program are available at https://amsat-dl.org/en/erminaz/

[ANS thanks AMSAT-DL and the IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel for the above information]

OrbitDeck for iOS Brings Full-Featured Satellite Tracking to iPhone and iPad

OrbitDeck for iOS, a comprehensive amateur satellite tracking application for iPhone and iPad, is now available on the Apple App Store. Developed by Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, the app runs natively on both iPhone and iPad with iOS 17 or later, and its source code is published on GitHub.

At its core, OrbitDeck computes live look angles, range, range rate, sub-point, and footprint for any satellite, along with next-pass predictions featuring quality scoring and elevation profiles, a daily schedule of every favorite satellite's passes ordered by AOS, multi-day pass progressions, a full ground-track map, an all-sky radar showing every favorite at once, an animated 3D globe, and a polar sky plot marking AOS, LOS, and direction of travel. Orbital elements are pulled from CelesTrak and AMSAT and refreshed automatically, with cached data keeping core tracking features working offline.

For operating, the app offers a four-dial DX Doppler display and a single-station Doppler playbook, per-satellite calibration shared across every Doppler screen with CSV import and export, a link budget with a per-elevation margin curve, the SatNOGS transponder database, an AO-7 Mode A/B timer, and mutual-visibility windows with paired sky plots for those chasing distance records. Full rig control lets the app Doppler-tune a transceiver over a BLE serial adapter or an Icom network connection, supporting Icom CI-V, Yaesu, and Kenwood radios - including the TS-2000 and TS-790 satellite modes and the TH-D74 and TH-D75 via the B.B. Link - as well as any Hamlib radio via rigctld, in single full-duplex, single uplink/downlink, or two-radio configurations. Rotator control follows the pass with support for GS-232, Easycomm, SPID Rot2Prog, SAEBRTrack, rotctld, PstRotator, and OZ9AAR URC protocols, complete with pre-positioning before AOS, slew lead, park on LOS, flip mode, alignment offsets, and magnetic correction.

Logging is built in, with an on-device QSO log, LoTW uploads signed directly on the device from the operator's own certificate, Cloudlog and Wavelog uploads, and ADIF import and export with automatic LoTW satellite naming. The app can also record a pass, decode SSTV images into an exportable gallery, and work full-duplex FT4 over USB or network audio, decoding the downlink while transmitting with a live Doppler readout, automatic transponder calibration, and PTT via CAT.

Rovers will find the station and grid tools especially handy: the app can operate from a fixed site or follow the device's GPS, recognizes VUCC grid lines and corners per ARRL rules so that every claimable grid is shown, and includes a Live Grid Finder that guides the operator onto a line or corner with a compass arrow, along with a display of the current DXCC entity, state, and county.

Rounding out the package are an orbital analysis suite covering J2 nodal and apsidal rates, beta angle, eclipse fraction, LTAN, conjunction awareness, and state-vector-to-element recovery; live space weather from NOAA SWPC and N0NBH's hamqsl.com; a MUF and HF path tool; a classic OSCARLOCATOR simulator with printable overlays and a reference-orbit schedule; more than 60 antenna, feedline, RF, and orbit calculators; a receipt-tape scientific calculator and a graphing calculator; a Tiny BASIC interpreter; and PDF, CSV, and XLSX exports.

OrbitDeck for iOS is available on the App Store at https://apps.apple.com/app/orbitdeck/id6802070968. Documentation, including guides to rig control, rotator control, logging, and digital modes, is available at https://orbitdeckios.n8hm.radio/, and the source code may be found at https://github.com/prstoetzer/OrbitDeckiOS. The app encourages users to support AMSAT, which builds and operates many of the satellites OrbitDeck is made to track.

Recent IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination Activity

September has been an unusually eventful month on the IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel's status pages, hosted by AMSAT-UK at https://iaru.amsat-uk.org/index.php. In addition to the UNNE-1B coordination reported above, the panel completed four coordinations, declined four requests in a single day, and posted six new applications during the month.

Newly Coordinated (September 7)

+ FramSat-1.5 - Orbit NTNU, Norway. ANS-235 reported that the panel had declined coordination for this 1U CubeSat on August 17. The request now appears on the list of completed coordinations, with a downlink on 435.060 MHz coordinated for its 2FSK 9k6 telemetry. Built by the student organization at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, FramSat-1.5 is planning an Isar Aerospace launch from Andoya in Q4 2026, following its predecessor FramSat-1, which reached orbit on Isar's "Onward and Upward" mission on September 5.

+ Qubesat-2 - Space Technologies at Cal, University of California, Berkeley. A 2U CubeSat carrying a store-and-forward digipeater that will accept packets of amateurs' own data and retransmit them at a time of the operator's choosing, with the open-source TinyGS ground station network used for broad accessibility. Its science payload is a proof-of-concept quantum gyroscope using nitrogen-vacancy center diamonds. The team proposed a UHF LoRa downlink at 1025 baud, with launch arranged through Voyager.

+ UTNH-SAJILO-SAT (SanoSat-3) - AMSAT Nepal. The follow-on to SanoSat-1 (NO-116) and SanoSat-2 carries an amateur digipeater for short messages, a 5-megapixel camera downlinking SSDV images via GFSK, a Morse code identification beacon, and a magnetorquer-based detumbling system, with telemetry openly available through SatNOGS.

+ Solar Flare and Ionosphere Explorer (SoFIE) - Saint Francis University, Pennsylvania. A 3U CubeSat that will observe HF radio bursts from the Sun while collecting ground-based transmissions with a broadband 3-30 MHz receiver, in collaboration with the University of Scranton's HamSCI initiative, with a 9k6 BPSK AX.25 UHF downlink and a 1 Mbps S-band downlink.

Coordination Declined (September 17)

Four requests were declined on the same day, in each case with the panel's reasoning noted on the request:

+ AlMunther - Bahrain Space Agency. A 3U CubeSat carrying a camera system, an in-house avionics board with encryption and AI image-processing experiments, and a beacon transmitting the Bahraini national anthem and a quote from the King of Bahrain for amateurs to collect. The satellite was launched on SpaceX's Transporter-14 mission in March 2025; coordination was not requested until July of that year.

+ MOI-1 - K J Somaiya Institute of Technology, India. A 6U CubeSat intended to provide AI computation infrastructure in space, with an "OrbitRadio" amateur-band downlink broadcasting telemetry and user-uploaded messages. The panel declined coordination as a commercial project.

+ GenexSat - Genex Space (Space Shaala Pvt. Ltd.), India. A 4P PocketQube proposing a LoRa digipeater and a lab-on-chip biological experiment. The panel declined coordination as a commercial project.

+ MRZN - Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Honduras. A 1U CubeSat measuring hydrometeorological variables to provide flood early warnings for Central American river basins, with SSTV images promised for amateurs in the summer months. The panel declined coordination as an Earth exploration mission.

New Applications

+ SCALAR - Washington University in St. Louis (applied September 6). The student club's first satellite mission, a 1U CubeSat demonstrating three-axis attitude control using custom magnetorquers and torque rods, with members obtaining amateur licenses and building their own ground station along the way.

+ Nyansat - Oakwood School, California (applied September 13). A 2U CubeSat designed, built, and operated by high school students, carrying acoustic structural measurement, radio-based orbit determination, distributed ledger, embedded Ethernet, imaging, and student artwork payloads, plus a materials science experiment that students at approximately 30 schools will follow with control observations. The team proposes a UHF GFSK downlink and a NASA launch to the ISS in June 2027. The responsible operator is Michael Lyle, AE6XM.

+ UTNH-Sat - Universidad Tecnologica Nacional Regional Haedo, Argentina (applied September 15). LoRa telemetry and a CW beacon on 436.850 MHz, an automatic LoRa ping-response service that returns the requesting station's callsign, and an onboard radiation counter for educational study of the space environment. The team is planning a SpaceX launch from Vandenberg in October 2026. The responsible operator is Gustavo Carpignano, LW2DTZ.

+ RSP-P00 - Rymansat PocketQube, Japan (applied September 16). A 1P PocketQube intended to demonstrate an ultra-small, rapidly iterated satellite platform whose hardware designs and protocols will be open-sourced to the amateur community. The satellite will transmit telemetry, CODEC2 digital voice (FreeDV 2400B), and SSDV images, and will offer an AX.25 echo-back practice mode for newcomers and an APRS repeater, with a downlink combining CW, GMSK at up to 19k2, AFSK, and ME-2FSK. A SpaceX launch from Vandenberg is planned for early 2028. The responsible operator is Takafumi Shimamura, JI1YSC.

+ Space-Ranger 1 and Space-Ranger 2 - Beihang University, China (applied September 22). A pair of 28 kg microsatellites developed from winning projects of the second Space Universities CubeSat Challenge, each carrying an optical camera, a deployable membrane demonstration, a neutron detector, and electric propulsion. Telemetry is to be open to radio amateurs worldwide upon application for authorization, with a UHF BPSK downlink at 4096 bps and an S-band QPSK downlink at 200 kbps proposed. Launch from Jiuquan is planned for January 2027.

Finally, the Slipper2Sat-2 entry from Antarikchya Pratisthan Nepal, reported as a new application in ANS-214, no longer appears on the panel's status pages.

Developers planning a mission are reminded to request coordination as early in the design process as possible - and, as this month's declines illustrate, well before launch.

[ANS thanks the IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination Panel and AMSAT-UK for the above information]

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IARU Region 1 General Conference Concludes in Vienna; New Executive Committee Elected