Archivos de la categoría AMSAT

E-members of AMSAT-UK can now download the March 2020 edition of OSCAR News, issue 229, here.

The paper edition edition is being sent to postal members and should arrive in the coming week.

In this issue:
• From the Secretary’s Keyboard
• QO-100 Wideband Transponder – 2020 Operating Guidelines and Bandplan
• AMSAT QO-100 NB Transponder Bandplan Update
• 5-watt 2.4 GHz amplifier kit for QO-100
• My experience with the AMSAT-UK 5W QO-100 Amplifier
• Review of the DJ0ABR 5W 2.4GHz Amplifier
• Under Development!
• AMSAT Files Comments Opposing Deletion of 3.4 GHz Band
• The eSatellite Award by eQSL
• Ad Astra!
• One Year of Operation for the Goonhilly WebSDRs for QO-100
• HuskySat-1
• How Phoenix went from a Paper Proposal to ASU’s First Student-Led CubeSat in Space
• The Qarman Cubesat
• The latest FUNcube Groundstation – in Antarctica
• From the Archives – An AMSAT-NA Symposium early this century

AMSAT-UK FUNcube Mission Patch

Membership of AMSAT-UK is open to anyone who has an interest in amateur radio satellites or space activities, including the International Space Station (ISS).

E-members of AMSAT-UK are able to download the quarterly publication OSCAR News as a convenient PDF that can be read on laptops, tablets or smartphones anytime, anyplace, anywhere. Join as an E-member at Electronic (PDF) E-membership

PDF sample copy of “Oscar News” here.

Join AMSAT-UK using PayPal, Debit or Credit card at
http://shop.amsat-uk.org/

E-members can download their copies of OSCAR News here.

Online Space Workshop 2020 #OSW2020

The Online Space Workshop #OSW2020 takes place this weekend May 2-3.

You can watch live on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4SHJxCLutZRWK9uQXFVXxQ

The full schedule of presentations is on the AMSAT Nepal site. Note the times are given in Nepali Time which is 5:45 hours ahead of GMT and 4:45 ahead of BST, see
http://amsat-np.org/osw2020/

Among the speakers are:

• Tom Walkinshaw, founder and CEO of UK-based Alba Orbital, on Getting PocketQubes on Orbit, cheaply, regularly and reliably

• Félix Páez EA4GQS, President of AMSAT Spain (AMSAT EA), on AMSAT EA PocketQube Missions and Designs

• Julián Fernández EA4HCD, Co-Founder and CEO of Fossa Systems, on FOSSASAT-1, Data from the first IOT Picosatellites in Space

Follow AMSAT Nepal on Twitter at https://twitter.com/AmsatNepal

Quetzal-1 CubeSat – Credit Universidad del Valle de Guatemala

Guatemala’s first satellite, a small CubeSat called QUETZAL-1, was deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday, April 28, 2020.

Its primary mission is to test a sensor for remote data acquisition for natural resource management, which could be used to monitor water quality in inland water bodies.

The satellite is part of the Japanese Kibo cubesat program, a product of the cooperation between, among others, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG), and more institutions. The operational frequencies were chosen through cooperation from Guatemalan radio amateurs and the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU).

Downlink 4800 bps GMSK on 437.200 MHz.

The Quetzal-1 project team director is Guatemalan engineer José Bagur, TG8JAV, a graduate from mechatronics engineering at Universidad Del Valle.

Source IARU Region 2 https://iaru-r2.org/

IARU Quetzal-1 http://amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=653

Quetzal-1 Telemetry info https://uvg.edu.gt/cubesat-en/

Quetzal-1 Telemetry decoder http://www.dk3wn.info/p/?page_id=75524

Follow Quetzal-1 on Twitter https://twitter.com/quetzal1_uvg

DOSAAF-85 / RS-44

The amateur radio linear transponder (SSB/CW) payload on the Russian satellite DOSAAF-85 (RS-44) has been activated.

Dmitry Pashkov R4UAB reports:

DOSAAF-85 / RS-44 under construction

DOSAAF-85 is a small scientific satellite created by specialists of the company Information Satellite Systems (ISS) Reshetnev and students of the Siberian State Aerospace University (SibSAU) Krasnoyarsk.

The satellite is named after the 85th anniversary of the Voluntary Society for the Assistance to the Army, Aviation and Navy, the organization responsible for the military training of Soviet youth.

The DOSAAF-85 satellite is designed to provide amateur radio communications, as well as to develop promising technologies. This is the third satellite that was created by specialists of ISS-Reshetnev and is based on the Yubileyniy platform, which features a hexagonal prism structure with body mounted solar cells.

The satellite was launched into orbit on December 26, 2019 from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome and is in an elliptical orbit with a perigee of 1175 km, an apogee of 1511 km and an inclination of 82.5 degrees.

Transmitter power: 5 watts
Beacon: 435.605 MHz – transmits CW call sign RS44

Inverting transponder:
Earth-to-Space: 145.965 MHz +/- 30 kHz
Space-to-Earth: 435.640 MHz +/- 30 kHz

Source Dmitry Pashkov R4UAB whose page also contains the satellite’s TLE, see
https://tinyurl.com/RussiaR4UAB

Peter 2M0SQL has added RS-44 to the AMSAT Live OSCAR Satellite Status Page at
https://www.amsat.org/status/

Linear Satellite Frequency Summary https://www.amsat.org/linear-satellite-frequency-summary/

ARRL Washington Counsel Dave Siddall, K3ZJ, and AMSAT Executive Vice President Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, on April 8, discussed with senior FCC International Bureau staff by telephone the FCC’s draft Report & Order (R&O) on mitigation of orbital debris (IB Docket No. 18-313). The amateur representatives told the FCC staff that “two aspects of the draft regulations are of particular concern…. and would seriously hinder amateur radio’s future operations in space, if adopted as proposed without the relatively minor changes that we propose.”

First, ARRL and AMSAT requested a revision to proposed language that otherwise would allow only private individual licensees to indemnify the U.S. for the operations of an amateur space satellite. ARRL and AMSAT requested that satellite owners be added to that provision. The amateur representatives, noting that amateur radio licensees may only be individuals under the amateur rules, stated that “[i]n no other service would an individual be required to personally make a similar indemnification” and that “it would be difficult to impossible to find an individual Amateur Radio licensee willing to bear that risk.”

Second, ARRL and AMSAT asked the FCC to delay by 3 years the proposed effective date of April 23, 2022, for a rule that would require satellite operators to certify that space stations “be designed with the maneuvering capabilities sufficient to perform collision avoidance” for spacecraft designed to operate above 400 kilometers in altitude. Citing the long lead times to design and construct Amateur satellites, ARRL and AMSAT suggested that a more reasonable date would be April 23, 2025 and noted that, based on recent past years, only an estimated 3-5 amateur satellites likely would be launched during the extra period.

“We do not disagree with the purpose of this requirement,” they told the FCC staff, but “the proposed effective date is unreasonable in the case of amateur radio satellites.” The new effective date “would allow time for amateur spacecraft designers to adapt to this new requirement,” they said.

Citing the value of amateur satellites to the development of the commercial small satellite industry, and student participation in such projects, ARRL and AMSAT said a strong and robust Amateur Satellite Service will help inspire future developments in satellite technology. The requested changes to the draft R&O would help ensure that amateur radio continues to have a future in space and contribute to the public interest on an educational, non-pecuniary basis.

The FCC is expected to consider the R&O at its April 23 open meeting.
The AMSAT/ARRL document may be read in full at
https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/10409353709408/AMSAT%20ARRL%2018-313%20Ex%20Parte%2004_08_2020.pdf

Source AMSAT News Service and ARRL https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/ans