AMSAT NEWS SERVICE
ANS-356
The AMSAT News Service bulletins are a free, weekly news and infor-
mation service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite
Corporation. ANS publishes news related to Amateur Radio in Space
including reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur
Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building,
launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio
satellites.
The news feed on
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/713204964584/list.admin/aus-city.com/ publishes news of Amateur
Radio in Space as soon as our volunteers can post it.
Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to:
ans-editor at amsat.org.
In this edition:
* Saudisat 1C, SO-50, Eleven Years in Orbit
* NASA Space Life Sciences Training Program Applications Open
* ISS Cooling Pump Repair Delays Cubesat Missions
* Delfi-N3XT Update
* AMSAT SKN on OSCAR 2014 in Memory of W2LV
* Satellite Shorts
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-356.01
ANS-356 AMSAT News Service Weekly Bulletins
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 356.01
From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD.
December 22, 2013
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-356.01
Saudisat 1C, SO-50, Eleven Years in Orbit
Now known as SO-50, Saudisat 1C is a Saudi Arabian picosatellite that
was launched by a Dnepr rocket from Baikonur at 17:00 UT on December 20,
2002. SO-50 features a "Mode J" FM amateur repeater operating on a 2M
uplink and a 440 downlink.
"Most hams already own the necessary equipment to work SO-50," reports
long time AMSAT Area Coordinator Clint Bradford, K6LCS.
"It is preferable to work SO-50 in true, full-duplex mode - so you
can hear the
downlink as you transmit. This means - for most - using a second radio or
the Kenwood TH-D72A and its true full-duplex capability.
SO-50's repeater is available to amateurs worldwide, and it uses a 67.0 Hertz
PL tone on the uplink. SO-50 also has a 10 minute timer that must be armed
before use. If you know the satellite is there - but there is nothing heard -
you may need to shoot it a PL tone of 74.4 to turn it ON!
The repeater consists of a miniature VHF receiver with sensitivity of -124dBm,
with an IF bandwidth of 15 KHz. The receive antenna is a 1/4 wave vertical
mounted in the top corner of the spacecraft. Its UHF transmitter is a mere 250
mW, and downlink antenna is a 1/4 wave mounted in the bottom corner of the
spacecraft and canted at 45 degrees inward.
"Hams just with Technician licenses can work the satellite," Clint continues.
"We are talking about weak signals from 500 miles away - so improving
both your
TX and RX antennas is critical for success on this satellite."
"Do not forget to accommodate for the Doppler phenomenon on the 440 receive
side."
[ANS thanks Clint, K6LCS, for the above information]
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NASA Space Life Sciences Training Program Applications Open
The Space Life Sciences Training Program (SLSTP) provides undergraduate
students entering their junior or senior years with professional experience
in space life science disciplines. This challenging ten-week summer program
is held at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley. The
primary goal of the program is to train the next generation of scientists
and engineers, enabling NASA to meet future research and development
challenges in the space life sciences.
For more information, visit:
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/420530203706/list.admin/aus-city.com/The SLSTP is an equal opportunity program. Admission is by competitive
application process. U.S. Citizen undergraduate students who maintain a 3.2
or higher grade point average are invited to apply. Past student
participants were selected for their merit, passion for space and desire to
study space life science.
Applications for the SLSTP will be submitted through NASA's One Stop
Shopping Initiative (OSSI) website. Prospective applicants must pre-register
for a student account and create an interest profile on the OSSI student
login page. Links to the OSSI website are included on the SLSTP page
(above).
Although the application period for summer 2014 student internships closes
on March 15, 2014, offers for positions may be made as early as Feb. 2,
2014. Students are encouraged to submit their applications early. Details
about the 2014 SLSTP internship opportunities will be posted on the SLSTP
website in December.
[ANS thanks the NASA Ames Research Center for the above information]
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ISS Cooling Pump Repair Delays Cubesat Missions
The ARRL reports Expedition 38 Astronauts Mike Hopkins, KF5LJG, and Rick
Mastracchio, KC5ZTE, will leave the confines of the International Space Station
(ISS) December 21, 23, and 25 to repair a faulty cooling system pump.
The malfunction has already caused the postponement of one Amateur Radio on the
International Space Station (ARISS) school contact. It's unclear if the ISS
problem will affect additional ARISS school contacts.
Planet Labs CubeSat Constellation
Also postponed is the shipment of four amateur radio 1U CubeSats
LituanicaSAT-1,
LitSat-1, ArduSat-2, UAPSat-1, the 915 MHz CubeSat SkyCube and 28 CubeSats (3U)
from the company Planet Labs. The CubeSats were to have been sent to the ISS on
an Orbital Sciences Antares-120 rocket on December 18 but this launch will not
now take place until January.
LituanicaSAT-1 with amateur radio FM transponder to deploy from ISS
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/444366695094/list.admin/aus-city.com/LitSat-1 amateur radio frequencies announced
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/791910103042/list.admin/aus-city.com/ArduSat Open Source Ham Radio CubeSats
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/546816973135/list.admin/aus-city.com/UAPSat-1
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/929667209814/list.admin/aus-city.com/SkyCube to use 915 MHz CubeSat Ground Station Network
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/655716513558/list.admin/aus-city.com/network/
In the United States and a number of other countries 915 MHz is an
Amateur Radio
allocation. In the UK the regulator Ofcom plan to make 915-921 MHz license
exempt
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/665705491664/list.admin/aus-city.com/[ANS thanks ARRLL and AMSAT-UK for the above information]
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Delfi-N3XT Update
Delfi Nanosatellite Program Manager, Jasper Bouwmeester PC4JB, provides this
update on the Delfi-n3Xt amateur radio satellite which was launched November 21
and carries a 435/145 MHz linear transponder.
Dear radio amateurs,
Today, December 19, we have switched from the ISIS transmitter (ITRX) to the
Primary Transmitter (PTRX). This radio seems to have a significantly stronger
signal, so it should be easier to receive telemetry. The frequency is a bit
higher, 145.930 MHz so you will have to retune. I hope this will help some of
the radio amateurs who had trouble in decoding Delfi-n3Xt.
We have also put the S-band transmitter (STX) back in beacon mode on 2405.000
MHz. As the onboard patch antenna is however pointing in arbitrary
direction, it
is a matter of luck if it is pointed towards a ground station. In about 10% of
the passes it should in theory be possible to receive the signal with a >2.5m
dish, but I have to admit that it is only going to be fun to try to receive the
signal for those people who like to be the first and have the proper equipment.
Unfortunately we have not yet been able to make a new update of the
DUDe client.
The first issue we want to tackle for the new version is the frequency freeze.
After a while, DUDe seems to lock itself at an edge of the band. Currently this
means, that DUDe needs to be restarted before a pass. As temporary solution in
case you want to track the satellite automatically, you may use an auto-mouse
clicker to close and re-open DUDe. But I hope we will be able to fix this issue
early next year.
Finally, I would like to state that you may replay your SDR recordings a few
times to increase packet decoding as our server can handle more load. Our
statistics page however currently does not exclude doubles from a single radio
amateur, so please keep in mind that the packet counts for the
competition (more
details early next year) will eventually be corrected for this. It will take a
while though before we upgrade the statistics to exclude doubles from a single
radio amateur. We are very happy if we receive more telemetry packets, but
please don't exaggerate the amount of replays as there is not much more to be
gained after a few attempts.
Have a nice holidays and a prosperous 2014!
73,
Jasper, PC4JB
Telemetry reception
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/300950956599/list.admin/aus-city.com/Delfi-n3Xt
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/631601437523/list.admin/aus-city.com/Dnepr Yasny launch
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/376017964323/list.admin/aus-city.com/[ANS thanks Jasper, PC4JB, for the above information]
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AMSAT SKN on OSCAR 2014 in Memory of W2LV
You are cordially invited to participate in Straight Key Night on OSCAR 2014,
sponsored by AMSAT for all radio amateurs throughout the world.
Operate CW through any amateur satellite from 0001 through 2400 UTC
on 1 January
2014, using a manual, non-electronic key. Note that bugs are now allowed, as
they are in similar ARRL and SKCC events.
There is no need to send in a log, but please nominate someone you worked for
Best Fist. Your nominee need not have the best fist of those you
heard, just of
those you worked. Send your nomination to w2rs@amsat.org.. A list of those
nominated will be published in early February.
This year's event is being held in memory of Robert Morris (1902-1997), W2LV.
Bob's amateur and professional career in radio literally spanned the era from
spark to satellite. One of the first to work across the Atlantic in 1923, he
also received Satellite DXCC No. 2 in 1979. Bob was featured in the PBS-TV
documentary, "Empire of the Air."
[ANS thanks Ray, W2RS, for the above information]
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Satellite Shorts
+ LITHUANIA, LY. Vilmantas, LY3BY is QRV as LY2013SAT until December
24 to commemorate the first Lithuanian nano-satellite
LituanicaSAT-1. QSL via LY3BY. (ARLD050 DX news)
+ Tochigi Science Lion Project was successful.
15 students asked their question to Koichi. Koichi answered all equations.
2 or 3 answers were very weak signal.
280 people where in the audience including media representatives from TV,
Radio and Newspapers (ARISS)
+ Roland PY4ZBZ reports that the CAPE-2 amateur radio CubeSat responded to a
"Send Text to Speech" command with "Hello P Y 4 Z B Z" in the voice of Darth
Vader. Listen to the recording at
http://www.aus-city.com/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/r/RADIOCOMM_LIST/225214877061/list.admin/aus-city.com/[ANS thanks Everyone for the above information]
/EX
