Category Archives: AMSAT

The 2018 AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium is combined with the RSGB Convention on October 13-14 at the Kent Hills Park Conference Centre in Milton Keynes, MK7 6BZ.

If you wish to attend the 2018 AMSAT-UK Colloquium, you should book to attend the RSGB Convention.

The schedule is at http://rsgb.org/main/about-us/rsgb-convention/rsgb-convention-programme/

BUT BEFORE YOU BOOK you might like to consider attending the AMSAT-UK Gala Dinner on the evening of Saturday. October 13 as an alternative to the RSGB Convention dinner. The AMSAT-UK dinner will be held at the Hilton Hotel, which is about 1 km from the Kent Hills Conference Centre; a taxi ride is about £3 per cab. Detailed times will follow, but it will follow similar lines to AMSAT-UK Gala Dinners in previous years. There are normally a few speeches, trophy presentations etc etc.

If you wish to attend the dinner you MUST book this in advance. Dinner Jackets or suits definitely NOT required.

The dinner will be a three course affair, and the cost above does not include drinks which will be available from the hotel bar.

Note that when you book on the RSGB web site you should use the Pick and Mix option to avoid paying for their dinner!

You can book the RSGB Colloquium via http://rsgb.org/main/about-us/rsgb-convention/

You can book the AMSAT-UK Gala Dinner at
https://shop.amsat-uk.org/Colloquium_2018_Sat_Gala_Dinner/p3815740_15631151.aspx

Click here to visit Original posting

The June PDF of the weather satellite publication GEO Newsletter produced by the Group for Earth Observation is now available for free download.

The Group for Earth Observation’s aim is to enable amateur reception of weather and earth imaging satellites that are in orbit or planned for launch in the near future. Membership of GEO is free.

Among the items in this newsletter Francis Bell G7CND writes about the GEO display at the Kempton Park Amateur Radio Rally, Les Hamilton provides an update on the Meteor M2 satellite and of course there are the impressive weather satellite images received by members.

Download the June 2018 GEO Newsletter from
http://www.geo-web.org.uk/geoquarterly.php

Group for Earth Observation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GEO-Subscribers/
https://twitter.com/GEOWEBUK
https://www.facebook.com/groupforearthobservation

Click here to visit Original posting

Ofcom has published a consultation on the UK’s preparations for the World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19) of the International Telecommunication Union.

WRCs are held approximately every four years, and take decisions concerning the identification and international harmonisation of spectrum bands. Ofcom represents the UK at WRCs.

The next conference will take place between October 28 and November 22, 2019. It will consider a wide range of issues across a number of sector interests including mobile broadband, maritime, aeronautical, satellite and scientific use of spectrum.

The public consultation closes on September 13, 2018, details at
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/consultations-and-statements/category-1/uk-preparations-wrc-19

Click here to visit Original posting

Click here to visit Original posting

SiriusSat-1 (RS13S) and SiriusSat-2 (RS14S) CubeSats

It is planned that two Russian CubeSats will be deployed from the International Space Station in August during a spacewalk (EVA).

SiriusSat-1 (SXC1-181) call sign RS13S beacon 435.570 MHz
SiriusSat-2 (SXC1-182) call sign RS14S beacon 435.670 MHz

The satellites are at RSC Energia, where they are undergoing additional checks before being sent to the International Space Station. A launch is planned for July 10 on a Progress cargo vehicle to the ISS with deployment in August during a spacewalk.

Sputnix Facebook post https://www.facebook.com/Sputnixru/posts/1589717307807600

Click here to visit Original posting

In episode 21 of the TX Factor show Bob McCreadie G0FGX and Mike Marsh G1IAR discuss the linear (SSB/CW) amateur radio satellites and give a demonstration with the CAMSAT XW-2F satellite.

They also review the new Icom IC-7610 transceiver, and look at programming your SDR handie and running a SharkRF openSPOT digital radio IP gateway.

As always, in their free-to-enter draw, there’s a chance to win two great amateur radio-related items – a Prism dust cover for your rig, and a copy of the book “Amsats and HamSats”.

Bob and Mike discuss satellites near the start of the show and towards the end at 48:08 they give a live demonstration of the CAMSAT XW-2F SSB transponder satellite.

Watch TX Factor – Episode 21 (TXF021)

CAMSAT XW-2 Satellites https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/communications/camsat-xw-2/

AMSAT-UK: https://amsat-uk.org/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmsatUK
Facebook: https://facebook.com/AmsatUK
YouTube: https://youtube.com/AmsatUK

Click here to visit Original posting

EnduroSat One

Bulgaria’s first CubeSat, EnduroSat One, was launched to the International Space Station on the cargo resupply OA-9 mission on May 21, 2018 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia, USA. On May 24 the Cygnus capsule docked to the Station and the satellite was taken onboard the ISS.

The satellite will be deployed from the ISS in the coming weeks.

The mission aims to popularize the Radio Amateur activities in Bulgaria and it will include cooperation with Bulgarian Federation of Radio Amateurs (BFRA), including workshops and additional educational activities.

The spacecraft has been completely built in Bulgaria. This first educational mission aims to inspire young Bulgarians and give them the chance to participate in a real space program!

The Space Challenges and EnduroSat teams have invested considerable resources, time and effort in preparing the Bulgarian CubeSat. In order to support the Radio Amateur community, the satellite emits in frequencies which are readily available for receiving by anyone with basic communication skills and radio equipment.

It is hoped the mission will help more young Bulgarians learn the basics of satellite communications through practical exercises empowered by the orbiting satellite.

Radio amateurs from around the Globe will be able to listen to the satellite beacon and to receive telemetry data from the satellite on a regular basis. They will be able to connect to the satellite, receive detailed telemetry information and receive a confirmation from the satellite for every established connection which will serve as QSL card.

Beacon: 437.050 MHz CW and 9600 bps GMSK AX.25

See the EnduroSat site for further information http://one.endurosat.com/

Bulgarian Federation of Radio Amateurs (BFRA) http://bfra.bg/
Google English site translation http://tinyurl.com/BulgariaBFRA

Click here to visit Original posting

In issue 77 of the free IARU Region 1 VHF newsletter the Chair of VHF-UHF-uW committee Jacques Verleijen ON4AVJ highlights the threats to vital amateur radio spectrum at VHF, UHF and Microwaves.

In less than a year we will have our interim meeting about the use of the spectrum above 30 MHz. We have to face some challenges. I want to invite all Member Societies to think about how to promote, defend and use our frequencies.

They are wanted by others, both government and commercial, users. So this is a wake-up call to be aware that if we not are using those bands we will lose them. Such a setback will not be the responsibility of IARU(R1), if we lose them, but from the amateur community who often have more commitment to HF, than VHF&up.

I know that this statement will shock some of you, but it is true. Our survey on the use of VHF&up made this clear. So I want to invite all Member Societies to think creatively (out of the box, as we say now) to think how to improve activity on our dear bands.

Like some have said: “use them or lose them” and “HF is not the only bands for ham radio, but they are the easiest to use”.

Download the May 2018 newsletter from http://www.iaru-r1.org/index.php/vhfuhsshf/newsletters

Click here to visit Original posting

Hu Chaoran BG2CRY tests 435/2250 MHz dish feed for DSLWP ground station – Image credit Wei Mingchuan BG2BHC

DSLWP is a lunar formation flying mission led by Harbin Institute of Technology for low frequency radio astronomy, amateur radio and education. It consists of a pair of 47 kg microsatellites, to be launched into a lunar transfer orbit UTC this Sunday evening, and finally enter a 300 x 9000km lunar elliptical orbit. Onboard each satellite, there are two VHF/UHF SDR transceivers to provide beacon, telemetry, telecommand, digital image downlink and a GMSK-JT4 repeater. Onboard transmitting power is about 2 W.

Chen Yue with 435/2250 MHz feed for the 12m dish at the DSLWP ground station – Image credit Wei Mingchuan BG2BHC

Wei Mingchuan BG2BHC reports the satellites are 50x50x40 cm with a mass of about 45 kg and are 3-axis stabilized. Two linear polarization antennas are mounted along and normal to the flight direction.

Harbin Institute of Technology Amateur Radio Club expects radio amateurs to join in this mission. We will prepare different QSL cards for different flight phase for amateurs successfully made QSO or received telemetry. Awards will also be given to the first 10 amateurs in each continent who successfully decoded the signals from the satellites, received the most number of packets, or received an image. Your participation will also help the team to get a better knowledge of the status of the satellites.

An open source decoding software based on GNU Radio to work with RTL-SDR and USRP is provided. Not difficult to change the grc files to support other SDR receivers. A small proxy software will send the decoded data to a server for real-time display.

IARU frequency coordination page:
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=530

Link budgets: http://lilacsat.hit.edu.cn/wp/?page_id=676

Decoder (GNU Radio OOT module): https://github.com/bg2bhc/gr-dslwp

Decoder (Linux Live CD): https://1drv.ms/u/s!Av6J6WjI3UbMhHm8gwMr4Z_keqWH

TLE: http://lilacsat.hit.edu.cn/tle/dslwp.txt

DSLWP-A Telemetry Display: http://lilacsat.hit.edu.cn/dashboard/pages_en/telemetry-a.html

DSLWP-B Telemetry Display: http://lilacsat.hit.edu.cn/dashboard/pages_en/telemetry-b.html

DSLWP Lunar Satellite

Click here to visit Original posting

CAMSAT has released details of three new amateur radio satellites, CAS-5A, CAS-5B and CAS-6, that are hoped to launch in September 2018. Two of the satellites CAS-5A and CAS-6 will carry transponders.

CAS-5A a 6U CubeSat which will include the following capabilities:
• HF/HF – H/T Mode Linear Transponder
• HF/UHF – H/U Mode Linear Transponder
• HF – CW Telemetry Beacon
• VHF/UHF – V/U Mode Linear Transponder
• VHF/UHF – V/U Mode FM Transponder
• UHF – CW Telemetry Beacon
• UHF – AX.25 4.8k/9.6k Baud GMSK Telemetry.

The transponders will have 30 kHz bandwidths except the H/U one which will be 15 kHz. Planning a launch in September 2018 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center into a 539×533 km 97.5 degree orbit.
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/formal_detail.php?serialnum=619

CAS-5B a femto-satellite architecture 90Lx80Wx50H mm with a mass of 0.5kg Proposing a UHF CW beacon and to be deployed from CAS-5A when in space.
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/formal_detail.php?serialnum=620

CAS-6 a 50 kg micro satellite approx 490 x 499 x 430 mm. It will include:
• VHF CW Telemetry Beacon
• U/V Mode 20 kHz Linear Transponder
• AX.25 4.8k baud GMSK telemetry downlink
• Deployable Antennas
• Solar Panels, Lithium ion battery and power controller
• Integrated Housekeeping Unit
• Three-axis stabilization system
• Atmospheric Wind detector
• S-band TT&C system (non-amateur radio band)
• X-band Data link system (non-amateur radio band)

Planning a Sea Launch Pad from the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology in September 2018 into a 579 x 579 km 45 degree orbit.
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/formal_detail.php?serialnum=622

IARU Satellite Frequency Coordination Status http://www.amsat.org.uk/iaru/

Click here to visit Original posting