Russian SiriusSat CubeSats to be deployed during spacewalk

Russian SiriusSat CubeSats to be deployed during spacewalk

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m5aka

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Amateur radio satellites in TX Factor Show episode 21

Amateur radio satellites in TX Factor Show episode 21

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

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m5aka

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Bulgarian CubeSat EnduroSat on ISS awaiting deployment

Bulgarian CubeSat EnduroSat on ISS awaiting deployment

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 build 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

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IARU R1 highlights threat to higher ham radio bands

IARU R1 highlights threat to higher ham radio bands

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

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DSLWP amateur radio satellites to launch to Lunar orbit

DSLWP amateur radio satellites to launch to Lunar orbit

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.

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

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m5aka

AMSAT-UK

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