BIRDS-2 CubeSats to deploy from ISS August 10

BIRDS-2 CubeSats to deploy from ISS August 10

BIRDS CubeSat Project LogoMasa JN1GKZ reports JAXA has announced three BIRDS-2 CubeSats with APRS digipeaters will deploy from the International Space Station on August 10, 2018.

BHUTAN-1, MAYA-1 and UiTMSat-1 will transmit 30 minutes after deployment. Initial mode looks CW on 70cm.

They use same frequency 437.375 MHz and transmit in the order of BHUTAN-1, MAYA-1 and UiTMSat-1. Each CubeSat also has an APRS digipeater on 145.825 MHz.

Satellite      Country      ID             Call Sign
BHUTAN-1  Bhutan       BIRD-BT   JG6YKL
MAYA-1      Philippines  BIRD-PH  JG6YKM
UiTMSat-1  Malaysia     BIRD-MY  JG6YKN

BIRDS Project http://birds2.birds-project.com/operation/

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m5aka

AMSAT-UK

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Students learn about Amateur Satellites at College Workshops

Students learn about Amateur Satellites at College Workshops

To popularise Ham Radio in western India two events were conducted back to back recently by Rajesh Vagadia VU2EXP Regional Coordinator AMSAT-INDIA.

LDRP College Gandhinagar - VU2EXP 2018-07-12

LDRP College Gandhinagar

LDRP College Gandhinagar

‘Ham Radio for GenX’ – Full day workshop with demo was conducted at LDRP College Gandhinagar (Gujarat – India) on 12th July 2018. More than 70 EC students + faculties participated in this awareness event.

Program was inaugurated with kind presence of dignitaries from
GIAR, LDRP, IEEE, ISRO & AMSAT-INDIA.

From GIAR, OM Pravinbhai Valera VU2CPV (Joint Secretary) & OM Jagdishbhai Pandya VU2JGI (General Secretary) blessed us with their kind presence.

Presentation on ‘Antennas for Space Application’ was conducted by Dr. Ramesh Kumar Gupta (SAC-ISRO).

Ham Radio history & Introductory session was nicely conducted by Jagdishbhai Pandya VU2JGI with several interesting examples.

Thereafter Rajesh Vagadia VU2EXP gave good overview on Satellite Communication, Digital Communication, APRS, RDF, IOTA, SSTV & RTL-SDR etc. technology.

Live demo of SSTV was conducted which was very much enjoyed by the students & faculties. VHF demo with mock drill was simulated by VU2EXP Rajesh, VU2JGI Jagdishbhai, VU3IKI Ke Ke, VU3EXP Sakshi & team.

Ham Radio stuff were exhibited incl. VHF/UHF Rigs, PSU, Antennas, Digital Interfaces, Cables, SWR Meter, attenuator, FUNcube satellite model,
QSL Cards, Awards, etc stuff was displayed for the knowledge of the students.

We also got nice support from other fellow hams incl. VU3DVA Deepakbhai, VU3GLY Priyesh, VU3DSJ Dipakbhai, SWL Abhigna etc team.

We had guest presence of Dr Narendra Chauhan Sir (IPR) & Prof. N. N. Jani Sir in the event.

I am thankful to Prof. Dave Sir (HOD – EC), Prof. Mendhe Sir (EC), Mr. Nilesh Makwana (IEEE) to nicely coordinate & support the event.

Program concluded in hope to have good number of future hams from the Institute.

LD College Ahmedabad - VU2EXP 2018-07-13

LD College Ahmedabad

LD College Ahmedabad

‘Ham Radio Practical Insight’ titled workshop was conducted at LD College Ahmedabad (Gujarat – India) on 13th July 2018 in afternoon session. More than 65 EC students + faculties participated.

Dignitaries from IEEE, ISRO, LD & AMSAT-INDIA inaugurated the workshop. It was our great pleasure to have chief guest presence of Shri Rajeev Jyoti Sir (Dy. Director SAC – ISRO) & Chair (IEEE) Gujarat chapter in this Ham Radio Workshop.

Rajesh Vagadia VU2EXP explained the latest technology/modes ham world uses & gave quick practical Demos for chief guest. Demo includes CW, Text, Image & Voice transmission/reception with simple VHF Radio sets. The simple experiment techniques used were described. Students were surprised to learn the potential of Amateur Radio & experts appreciate such public demos.

We got nice support from team members VU3EXP Sakshi, VU2UTZ Dinyarji, VU3PMT Mahendrabhai, VU3GLY Priyesh, SWL Ketanbhai during demo & whole event.

Thereafter detailed presentation was given on interesting ham events, digital communication, Satellite Communication, ARISS program, ASOC licencing procedure, APRS, SSTV witth RTL-SSDR etc.

Session remain very interactive with lots of queries which were answered very well by VU2EXP. Also mini Ham Radio exhibition was keenly enjoyed by the audience.

I am thankful to Prof. Usha Madam (HOD – EC), Prof. Arun Sir (EC), Mr. Nilesh Makwana (IEEE) to nicely coordinate & support the event.

Small spark of Ham Radio was ignited, hope we get good number of Hams from the participants, in the future.

Thanks & 73’s

VU2EXP
Rajesh P. Vagadia – Rajkot
Regional Coordinator
West India Zone
AMSAT-INDIA

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m5aka

AMSAT-UK

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ISS SSTV activation July 30-31

ISS SSTV activation July 30-31

ISS SSTV MAI-75 image 9/12 received by Chertsey Radio Club on Baofeng handheld

ISS SSTV MAI-75 image 9/12 received by Chertsey Radio Club on Baofeng handheld

The Russian cosmonauts on the International Space Station are expected to activate amateur radio Slow Scan Television (SSTV) transmissions on 145.800 MHz FM during Monday and Tuesday, July 30-31.

The Inter-MAI-75 SSTV experiment should be active on:
• Monday, July 30 from 16:00-19:30 UT
• Tuesday, July 31 from 13:25-19:15 UT

The SSTV images will be transmitted on 145.800 MHz FM using the Kenwood TM-D710 transceiver located in the Russian ISS Service module. It is expected they will use the PD-120 SSTV format.

Note the ISS transmissions use the 5 kHz deviation FM standard rather than the narrow 2.5 kHz used in Europe. If your transceiver has selectable FM filters try using the wider filter. Handheld transceivers generally have a single wide filter fitted as standard and you should get good results outdoors using just a 1/4 wave whip antenna.

ISS SSTV links for tracking and decoding software
https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/iss-sstv/

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m5aka

AMSAT-UK

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Android Satellite Tracking Applications

Android Satellite Tracking Applications

AmsatDroidFree ScreenshotIn his blog Peter Goodhall 2M0SQL looks at satellite tracking Apps for Android devices

He says “Satellite tracking applications play an important part in using the transponders available to radio amateurs, of course, experiences of them all vary and are very subjective however we are going to explore what is available on the Android platform.”

Read his blog post at
https://www.2m0sql.com/2018/07/23/android-satellite-tracking-applications/

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m5aka

AMSAT-UK

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434 MHz balloon launch from Goonhilly

434 MHz balloon launch from Goonhilly

 

Goonhilly GHY-1 “Arthur”

Phil M0DNY is planning to launch a high altitude balloon or two on Tuesday, July 10 from the Goonhilly Earth Station on the Lizard in Cornwall, nearby to the Marconi Wireless Testing Station.

Any help with tracking would be greatly appreciated!

We’re currently undecided between morning or late-afternoon. If we go for morning then we may also launch a second later near-identical balloon later in the day. 5m/s ascent, ~35km burst.

Two Trackers:

• Callsign: 1900 (year of construction of the Marconi Wireless Station)
– Calling Beacon: 433.650MHz.100 LoRa Mode 5
– Telemetry: 434.300 MHz LoRa 20.8K SF10 4/5 Explicit

• Callsign: 1901 (year of first over-the-horizon transmission received at the Wireless Station, from the Isle of Wight)
– 434.100 MHz USB RTTY 50bd 7n2 480Hz

I’ll post updates in #highaltitude on the day when I can.

For tuning in on the pi-in-the-sky LoRa gateway, the config you need is:

CallingTimeout=60
frequency_=433.650
mode_=5
AFC_=y

Thanks, Phil M0DNY

The 434.100 MHz FSK RTTY balloon signal should be receivable across most of the British Isles using a radio capable of SSB reception in 434 MHz. Online tracking at https://tracker.habhub.org/

No radio? Use the SUWS online radio to receive signals from 434 MHz High Altitude Balloons when they are range of London (select USB mode) http://farnham-sdr.com/

Links to #highaltitude IRC chat, UKHAS mailing list, Online Radio and Tracking information at
https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/balloons/

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m5aka

AMSAT-UK

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