ARISS Next Generation Radio System Completes Critical Flight Certification Tests

ARISS Next Generation Radio System Completes Critical Flight Certification Tests

ARISS 25 watt JVC Kenwood D710GA at Hamvention 2017 - Credit John Brier KG4AKVARISS 25 watt JVC Kenwood D710GA at Hamvention 2017 – Credit John Brier KG4AKV

The Interoperable Radio System (IORS), ARISS’ next generation radio system successfully completed a battery of stressful tests required as part of the final certification of the hardware for launch to and operation on the International Space Station.

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) logoDuring the week of July 8, the IORS, consisting of the JVC Kenwood D-710GA Radio and the AMSAT developed Multi-Voltage Power Supply, successfully completed a series of Electro-magnetic Interference (EMI)/Electro-Magnetic Compatibility (EMC) tests to ensure that the ARISS hardware will not interfere with the ISS systems or other payloads. Testing continued into the following week, where the IORS successfully passed power quality and acoustics testing. These tests verified that the ARISS IORS will not introduce harmful signals back into the ISS power system and is quiet enough to meet ISS acoustic requirements. ARISS Hardware Team members Lou McFadin, W5DID and Kerry Banke, N6IZW were at the NASA Johnson Space Center supporting this two week battery of tests in concert with the NASA test and certification team.

Kerry Banke states, “Since the IORS is being qualified to operate on 120VDC, 28VDC and Russian 28VDC as well as transmitting on VHF or UHF, a lot of test combinations were required to cover all cases. Each input voltage type was also tested at low, medium and high line voltage. Moreover, additional permutations were required to test the IORS under no load, medium load and full load at each voltage level. So it should not be surprising why the tests took two weeks to complete.”

Successful completion of these tests represents a key milestone in preparing the IORS for launch. ARISS can now begin final assembly of the flight safety certification in preparation for launch. ARISS is working towards launch ready status by the end of the year.

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m5aka

AMSAT-UK

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Two ISS SSTV events during July 29 – August 4

Two ISS SSTV events during July 29 – August 4

ISS SSTV image 5 received by Dave Boult G7HCE in Exeter on April 14, 2019ISS SSTV image received by Dave Boult G7HCE in Exeter on April 14, 2019

ARISS Russia is planning Slow Scan Television (SSTV) image transmissions on 145.800 MHz FM from the International Space Station.

Below is the scheduled for the planned activation of SSTV from the ISS. The first session is the routine MAI-75 activity that is only active for a few orbits. It appears that the most of the world (except N. America) will get a shot during the two day run. Some lucky operators along the east coast of North America should get a pass on July 29.

Inter-MAI-75 activity
(July 29) GMT 210/13:15 – SSTV activate
(July 29) GMT 210/21:25 – SSTV power down

(July 30) GMT 211/13:50 – SSTV power up
(July 30) GMT 211/19:30 – SSTV shutdown

The second event will be a world wide event running from August 1 through August 4 and the schedule is:

ARISS SSTV activity
(Aug 01) GMT 213/09:40 – SSTV activate
(Aug 02) GMT 214/14:00 – SSTV check
(Aug 04) GMT 216/18:15 – SSTV shutdown

This event uses a computer in the ISS Russian Segment, which stores images that are then transmitted to Earth using the ARISS amateur radio station located in the Service Module which employs the Kenwood TM D710E transceiver.

It is anticipated that the SSTV mode used will be PD-120.

Please note that SSTV events are dependent on other activities, schedules and crew responsibilities on the ISS and subject to change at any time. You can check for updates regarding planned operation at:
ISS Ham https://twitter.com/RF2Space
ARISS Status https://twitter.com/ARISS_status
ARISS SSTV Blog https://ariss-sstv.blogspot.com/
AMSAT Bulletin Board http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb

Read the MagPi article Pictures from space via ham radio
https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/pictures-from-space-via-ham-radio/

ISS SSTV info and links https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/iss-sstv/

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m5aka

AMSAT-UK

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AMSAT-CE working on CESAR-1 FM transponder satellite

AMSAT-CE working on CESAR-1 FM transponder satellite

AMSAT-CE Logo

The Radio Club de Chile has announced the reactivation of the AMSAT-CE Foundation.

The Government of Chile has announced a plan to renew the Chilean Air Force Fasat Charlie satellite, along with promoting the construction of several micro and nano satellites.

This motivated the AMSAT-CE Foundation to propose that the CESAR-1 project of Chilean radio amateurs can be reactivated, modernized and completed, as part of the government plan.

Radio Club de Chile has supported AMSAT-CE since its begining and the Vice-President of Radio Club of Chile, José Tijoux CE3BCO, has just joined the Board of Directors of AMSAT-CE continuing and strengthening the space activity of Chilean radio amateurs .

The AMSAT-CE Foundation was created in 1993 and its first project is CESAR-1 which stands for CE (Chile) Satellite of Radiocommunication.

AMSAT-CE is designing and building five satellites, to be used by radio amateurs around the world, which will allow a series of scientific experiments in the field of digital communications, as well as gravimetric and orbitgraphic studies.

Of these five satellites, one will be the engineering prototype, three will be flight units, and the remaining one will be used to check or replicate on the ground the operation of the units that are in space.

The CESAR-1 satellite will be a  23 cm cube with a mass of about 12 kg and is planned to have five main experiments:

• A real-time digital transponder (Digipeater) using AX.25 at 9,600 kbps

• An electronic message box (Store and Forward) using AX.25 at 9.6 kbps)

• A 145 MHZ to 436 MHz band FM transponder

• A link to two terrestrial repeaters that will enable low power stations operating on 147 MHz FM to access the satellite

• An on-board GPS receiver, which will collect information for gravimetric and orbitgraphic research.

The orbit of CESAR-1 will be low, polar and heliosynchronous (about 800 km high).

AMSAT-CE
https://www.amsat-ce.org/
https://twitter.com/AmsatChile

Radio Club de Chile
http://www.ce3aa.cl/amsat-ce/
https://twitter.com/RCDECHILE

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m5aka

AMSAT-UK

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High school students in Brazil building QO-100 ground station

High school students in Brazil building QO-100 ground station

Students at Colégio Embraer Casimiro Montenegro FilhoStudents at Colégio Embraer Casimiro Montenegro Filho

High school students in Brazil are building a ground station for the amateur radio transponder on the QO-100 geostationary satellite as part of a STEM education project.

A group of eight students, from Colégio Embraer Casimiro Montenegro Filho in Botucatu state of São Paulo, are participating in all steps of the project with the help of teachers and amateur radio volunteers from LABRE/AMSAT-BR (Edson PY2SDR, Demilson PY2UEP, José PU2MJR).

The station consists of a 1.2m offset dish antenna, an Amiko L-104 LNBF, a home-made bias-t, a RTL-SDR receiver and SDRsharp software running on a dedicated computer. During the project students were exposed to several STEM topics related to radio communications, antennas, software defined radios, geostationary orbits as well as hand-on activities during the station assembly and configuration.

The students were able to successfully receive test transmissions in morse code kindly made by Roland PY4ZBZ and Fábio PY4AJ. The next step of the project is to introduce digital communication concepts, decode the BPSK engineering beacon and finally to add transmission capability to the station. In the near future, besides making contacts with other stations on QO-100, the students would also very much like to contact other schools and students in the QO-100 footprint.

Watch Report on the students QO-100 project
(you can enable YouTube Subtitles and then enable Auto-Translate)

QO-100 (Es’hail-2) information https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/geo/eshail-2/

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m5aka

AMSAT-UK

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Iceland’s IRA buys Qatar Oscar 100 and APRS equipment

Iceland’s IRA buys Qatar Oscar 100 and APRS equipment

Es'hail-2 Qatar-OSCAR-100The Board of Directors of Iceland’s nation amateur radio society, the IRA, has authorized the purchase of equipment to operate via the amateur radio transponder on the QO-100 (Es’hail 2) geostationary satellite.

A translation of the IRA post reads:

The Board of Directors of ÍRA recently agreed to authorize the Fund to purchase the following equipment from Microsat in Poland:

• Microsat WX3in1 Mini APRS Advanced Digipeater / I-gate (2 pcs.)
• PLXDigi – APRS Digipeater (2 pcs.)

Guðmundur Sigurðsson, TF3GS, submitted a request to the company on the APRS group. He says the equipment will seal the system and increase the quality and usability of the system, including utilizing the Motorola GM-300 terminal, which recently received eight such stations. The installation includes, among other things, installation of I-gate in Akureyri and Digipeater on Þorbjörn near Grindavík.

At the same meeting, the acquisition of QO-100 transverter from PE1CMO in the Netherlands was further authorized; “A complete transverter with a 25 MHz reference oscillator for the LNB, a downlink converter from 739 to 432 MHz and an upconverter from 432 to 2400 MHz, double filtered and a 20 Watt amplifier.” Ari Þórólfur Jóhannesson, TF1A, VHF manager of the company, negotiated a discount price for the company at Ham Radio show 2019 in Friedrichshafen.

The APRS equipment costs about 45 thous. krónur and the Oscar-100 equipment by 118 thous. krónur (with accessories and connectors). The stated price includes transportation and charges in Iceland.

Source IRA https://tinyurl.com/IcelandIRA

PE1CMO amateur radio products
http://hfprints.com/pe1cmo/rc_images/pe1cmo_products.pdf
https://twitter.com/Pe1Cmo

QO-100 (Es’hail-2) information https://amsat-uk.org/satellites/geo/eshail-2/

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m5aka

AMSAT-UK

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