Archivo de la etiqueta: communication

AMSAT EA will be on air on all available satellites with callsign AM1SAT from Sept 10-17 to celebrate IberRadio 2018 – IV Radiocommunications Fair, the biggest HAM party event in Spain and Portugal, Sept 15-16

Main grid will be IN70 but other ones will be activated as well. Our operators will work transatlantic QSOs too. QSLs by LOTW and eqsl

Any questions, please write to contacto@amsat-ea.org

AMSAT-EA will be transmitting its special call AM1SAT via all active satellites from September 10-17 as part of the IV RadioHam Fair IberRadio 2018 activities. IberRadio is the biggest event for the ham community in SouthWest Europe and will open doors September 15th and 16th. AM1SAT callsign will be active from a minimum of 14 different grids during that time to help satellite operators to collect as much EA locators as possible.

As part of this activity and in order to promote the participation, AMSAT-EA is sponsoring the AM1SAT Special Award in two categories: SILVER and GOLD.

AWARD RULES

1. This award can be requested and issued to any licensed amateur station and also SWLs

2. Will be valid contacts all those done via AMSAT satellites from September 10th 2018 to September 17th 2018 in all transmission modes.

3. There are two different requirements to get the awards, depending of the applicant location.

Applicant in a EU entity.

To get the award in its SILVER category, the applicant has to contact AM1SAT in 5 different grids (We consider “grid” as a 4-digits main locator. For example IN71, IM68, JN00, etc). To get the award in its GOLD category the applicant has to contact AM1SAT in 10 different grids.

Applicant in a Non-EU entity.

To get the award in its SILVER category, the applicant has to contact AM1SAT in 2 different grids (We consider “grid” as a 4-digits main locator. For example IN71, IM68, JN00, etc). To get the award in its GOLD category the applicant has to contact AM1SAT in 4 different grids.

4. There is no need of paper QSLs nor EQSLs to ask for the award. When the applicant gets the requirements, s/he has to send via email a log with the QSOs, listing his callsign, name, and QSO data (Date, GMT time, frequencies, mode, received grid and used satellite). Also we need the applicant email to send the award. The awards will be send, latest in 2 months and only in PDF format, free of charge.

5. Logs and any question about this activity must be send to eb1ao@amsat-ea.org

6. Logs must be received by October 1st 2018. We will consider the AM1SAT operators logs as the valid ones to check and cross the QSOs. Disputes or open issues will be solved by AMSAT-EA committee.

AMSAT-EA https://www.amsat-ea.org/

English AMSAT-EA newsletter
https://www.amsat-ea.org/app/download/10708456/AMSAT-EA-Newsletter_09-2018.pdf

IberRadio 2018 http://www.iberradio.es/en/

Dr Chris Bridges M0IEB and Pete Bartram from Surrey Space Centre with the AMSAT-UK payload and some of the ESEO electronics

Dr Chris Bridges M0IEB will be giving a presentation on FUNcube-4, an amateur radio transponder payload on the ESEO satellite mission, to the combined AMSAT-UK Colloquium / RSGB Convention in Milton Keynes at 1:30 pm on Sunday, October 14.

Thanks to the British Amateur Television Club the talk will be streamed live to a global audience at https://batc.org.uk/live/

ESEO is a 20kg class microsat which incorporates experimental payloads from a number of universities around Europe.

The FUNcube payload will provide similar telemetry to its predecessors but will have a more powerful transmitter and thus be even easier to hear. For amateurs, this payload will also provide a single channel L/V transponder for FM.

The downlink will be transmitted on 145.895 MHz and the uplink will be on 1263.5 MHz with a 67Hz PL tone (CTCSS) required. The ESEO project is being funded by the ESA Education Office. The launch date for this mission has not yet been confirmed but “late 2018” is now looking possible.

More information on the ESEO mission can be seen at https://www.esa.int/Education/ESEO

On Sunday, October 14 at 1330 BST (1230 GMT) Chris Bridges M0IEB will be giving a presentation on ESEO to the RSGB Convention in Milton Keynes. The talk will be streamed live to a global audience at https://batc.org.uk/live/

You can book tickets for the RSGB Convention at https://rsgb.org/convention

AMSAT-UK is holding a separate Dinner on the evening of Saturday, October 13, booking details at
https://amsat-uk.org/2018/06/18/colloquium-2018-saturday-gala-dinner/

AO73/FUNcube-1 has been in space for almost five years and the original Sun Synchronous Orbit has now changed slightly such that the spacecraft will no longer be in eclipse for 35 mins every orbit.

The eclipse period has already reduced and will again become zero on September 8, 2018. This means that our usual autonomous switching between transponder on in eclipse and high-power telemetry when in sunlight will no longer be effective!

This schedule was originally planned to provide a very strong telemetry signal for schools to use during daylight hours and for amateur operation at night (and also at weekends and over holidays).

We have already experienced a short period of full sunlight but this time it looks like the spacecraft will be in this situation for more than eight months until sometime in April next year.

In addition to the additional thermal effect that will occur during this period, we also expect that the spin rate will increase. The reason for this effect is not yet fully understood but may be related to the amount of current flowing from the solar panels to the spacecraft bus being sufficient to cause a torque effect with the earth’s magnetic field.

We have therefore decided to have AO73/FUNcube-1 initially operate for alternate periods of one week in either safe or educational modes. This should enable us to evaluate whether the currents do affect the spin rate. Safe mode provides low power telemetry and education mode the usual high power telemetry. It will also enable an analysis to see whether the satellite becomes hotter or cooler in each mode.

This schedule may be changed in light of experience and we will update everyone on such changes via the AMSAT-BB in the usual way http://www.amsat.org/pipermail/amsat-bb/

The new schedule will be put into effect on Friday, August 31, 2018.

This will be a new experience for the spacecraft so the capture of the largest possible amount of telemetry remains an important tool for the team to have. We are very grateful to everyone who continues to upload the telemetry they have received to the Data Warehouse. It is invaluable.

In addition to AO73/FUNcube-1, the FUNcube-2 transponder on UKube-1 remains operational and EO88/Nayif-1 continues to operate autonomously with the transponder on when in eclipse and high- power telemetry in sunlight.

Diwata-2 satellite

The Philippine Diwata-2 satellite carrying an amateur radio FM transponder and APRS digipeater is expected to launch in October.

The Business Mirror reports:

The 50-kilogram satellite shall soon be sent into orbit by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) through its partner, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa).

It should be recalled that the DOST had the Philippines’s first microsatellite—the maiden Diwata-1 that was designed, developed and assembled in Japan by nine pioneering Filipino engineers and scientists along with their “sensei” (instructors) from the Tohoku University (TU) and Hokkaido University (HU).

Diwata-1 was launched into the International Space Station onboard the Orbital ATK’s Cygnus spacecraft on March 23, 2016. It was deployed from the ISS into her orbit on April 27 by the Japanese Experimental Module (JEM)—”Kibo” or Hope—around 400 km above Earth’s surface.

Now, two years and four months later, the government is about to unveil the second iteration of Diwata-1—named Diwata-2 targeted for launching onboard Jaxa’s H-IIA rocket from Tanegashima Island in Japan.

Ariston Gonzalez, a researcher/lead research and development engineer for PHL-Microsat at DOST-Asti, is quoted in the article as saying:

“All one has to do is tune in [a ham radio] to the frequency of Diwata-2 to send voice messages while the other party stands by to receive the voice message.”

“target use for ham radio [of Diwata-2] is for emergency situations wherein all commercial communications are down.”

“What Diwata-2 does is to serve as a relay or connecting point for two persons communicating with each other,” he pointed out.”

“One can also store messages on Diwata-2 that can be broadcasted repeatedly across and over the Philippines, such as prerecorded emergency messages in times of disasters, calamities and other kinds of emergency.”

The IARU has coordinated these frequencies for Diwata-2:
– 145.900 MHz downlink
– 437.500 MHz uplink

Read the full Business Mirror story at
https://businessmirror.com.ph/diwata-2-microsatellite-nears-completion-handover-to-jaxa/

Diwata-2 information
http://phl-microsat.upd.edu.ph/diwata2
https://www.facebook.com/PHLMicrosat