Archive for category: Amateur Satellite

WA5VJB Cheap Yagis — Wood Boom

April 14, 2010 | Amateur Radio, Amateur Satellite | By: Mark VandeWettering

A couple of weeks ago, I started working on a version of the DL6WU Yagi that I might be able to get going for this weekend’s Moonbounce activities. I cut and mounted all the elements, but frankly, the feed system is a bit more complicated than I would like so I didn’t get it finished. […]

A recording of AO-51 – KJ6AKQ

February 21, 2010 | Amateur Radio, Amateur Satellite | By: Mark VandeWettering

One of the chaps that I talk to occasionally on IRC has built an IOio satellite antenna, and was nice enough to post a recording he did with it while tracking AO-51. A nice little recording, and proof that the IOio has plenty of gain for the receive side. A recording of AO-51 – KJ6AKQ.

Building an IOio satellite antenna – KJ6AKQ

February 15, 2010 | Amateur Satellite, Amateur Science | By: Mark VandeWettering

KJ6AKQ tackles a project I’ve been thinking about for quite a while: the construction of a little handheld satellite antenna: Building an IOio satellite antenna – KJ6AKQ.

Bruce, VE9QRP on his qrpTracker

February 5, 2010 | Amateur Radio, Amateur Satellite | By: Mark VandeWettering

Bruce, VE9QRP has been experimenting with using a small Atmel controller to implement the Plan 13 algorithm that provides satellite tracking and Doppler calculations (the same algorithm that I use in my own Python code). It seems silly to drag a laptop into the field to do Doppler tuning when a couple of dollars worth […]

Upcoming Balloon Launch: Arizona Near Space Research

January 27, 2010 | Amateur Radio, Amateur Satellite | By: Mark VandeWettering

Another one of those nifty amateur balloon launches is scheduled for next Saturday, February 6: The vehicle will be a 1200g helium-filled latex balloon. The expected burst altitude will be 90,000 feet or higher. The flight is anticipated to last about 2.5 hours from launch to touchdown. Payload: In addition to ANSR flight computer/cross-band repeater […]

A pass of SO-50….

January 3, 2010 | Amateur Radio, Amateur Satellite | By: Mark VandeWettering

I hadn’t worked SAUDISAT 1C (aka Saudi Oscar 50, or SO-50) in quite some time. My recollection was that it was a trickier satellite to work than AO-51, and this pass proved that my recollections were correct. I had significant problems with deep fades. Still, I managed to exchange calls with WD9EWK, K0KU, and N7EDK. […]

DK3WN SatBlog » XW-1 SSTV

December 30, 2009 | Amateur Satellite | By: Mark VandeWettering

More fun on HO-68! During a low elevation pass, Mike DK3WN and Henk, PA3GUO made the very first SSTV contact via HO68 – linear transponder. Images were transmitted between the two radio stations in Germany and The Netherlands. Signals were transmitted to HO-68, which was 1200km above earth and about 8000km distant from the radio […]

HO-68 in SSB mode

December 30, 2009 | Amateur Satellite, Amateur Science | By: Mark VandeWettering

I don’t really have the hardware to effectively transmit to satellites in linear transponder mode. To really make it straightforward, you probably would like to have a computer to handle the Doppler tracking and antenna pointing, and a full duplex SSB transmitter (or a pair of ordinary ones). That’s more than I am willing to […]

Bounced a signal through HO-68

December 29, 2009 | Amateur Radio, Amateur Satellite | By: Mark VandeWettering

This morning I got another chance at HO-68, the newest Chinese amateur satellite that was operating in FM mode. I wasn’t sure what the problem was: I had the PL tone setup right and the signals seemed strong enough. On this pass, I fought to try to find a slot to transmit, and finally at […]

Chinese Amateur Satellite XW-1 launched, beacon has been heard…

December 15, 2009 | Amateur Satellite, General | By: Mark VandeWettering

This morning, a quick check of my email and blog roll indicated that the Chinese had launched XW-1, probably the most interesting amateur satellite to launch this year (sorry SO-67).    It carries a payload with both linear and FM transponders, and it seems to have a higher orbit than current LEO satellites.    It […]

Satpack: Arduino Satellite tracking and doppler tuning

December 1, 2009 | Amateur Radio, Amateur Satellite | By: Mark VandeWettering

Bruce, VE9QRP has a nice video demoing his qrpTracker code (open source) running on an Atmel AVR microcontroller and tracking the Doppler of a cubesat as well as AO-51. Nifty. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgNcCGXeRyw Addendum: Back in January of 2008, I acquired my (then) new FT-817, and one of the first projects I did was to use my […]

SO-67 Audio…

November 22, 2009 | Amateur Radio, Amateur Satellite | By: Mark VandeWettering

John, K8YSE recorded a North American pass of SO-67 (the new South African ham satellite) and posted the audio on his website. It appears the audio quality is actually pretty good. I’ll have to be trying it out fairly soon. SO-67_22Nov2009_141052z.mp3

How to use Python to predict satellite locations…

September 27, 2009 | Amateur Radio, Amateur Satellite | By: Mark VandeWettering

Occasionally I get to talk to hams who are just getting into using amateur satellites, and many of them ask the quite reasonable question “How do I figure out when the next pass occurs?”. For most of them, I suggest that they simply use a program like predict, which is probably what most people expect […]

Today’s weather, courtesy of NOAA 19…

September 26, 2009 | Amateur Radio, Amateur Satellite | By: Mark VandeWettering

Nothing more to say…

Recently Launched Cubesat Frequencies

September 24, 2009 | Amateur Satellite | By: Mark VandeWettering

Andrew, VK4TEC posted this list of frequencies for four recently launched cubesats. Archiving for future reference. I’ve added links to some relevent info for each. ITUpsAT1 is on 437.325 MHz CW ITUpSAT1 is a student-built Turkish satellite. UWE-2 is on 437.385 MHz, 1200 bps Ax.25 packet Universität Würzburg Experimental-Satellit2 BEESAT is on 436.000 MHz CW […]