[amsat-bb] OSCAR-11 Report
OSCAR-11 30th BIRTHDAY REPORT OSCAR-11 (AKA UoSAT-2 and UO-11) celebrated it's 30th birthday in space on 01 March! It was designed, built and launched within a period of six months, using commercially available 'off the shelf' components (COTS). Once again, congratulations to Professor Sir Martin Sweeting G3YJO, his team at the University of Surrey and the groups of radio amateurs who also contributed to the project. This report covers the period from 01 January 2013 to 05 March 2014. During this time there have been no significant changes apart from the gradual drift of the on-board clock. There was also an advance of one day in the displayed date. This was caused by a known leap year problem in the date chip, which has always existed since launch. Owing to the large accumulated time/date error 29 February 2012 on the satellite occurred in January 2013 on earth! The satellite has been transmitting on a regular cycle of 10.35 days on followed by 10.35 days off. Good copy has been obtained obtained from decoded telemetry frames and many reports have been posted on the DCARR general satellite status website, The satellite continues to be subjected to eclipses during each orbit, resulting in weaker signals at those times. During the winter in the UK the evening passes were in the earth's shadow, and very weak signals have been received, which could not be demodulated and could be only detected with the receiver in CW mode . As the longer daylight hours of summer approach, the evening passes in the UK should gradually become clear of eclipses, resulting in stronger signals. Eclipses are expected to continue until 2019. The on-board clock gained 98 seconds during the 14 month reporting period, which is comparable with the 60 seconds gain per year when the satellite was launched. There is however a large accumulated error of 307.54090 days slow. This was caused mainly by the clock stopping during eclipses, when there was also an unknown drain on the power supply. The units of the least significant digit correspond approximately to seconds (0.86 seconds actually). At the present time, while OSCAR-11 is operating in a predictable way, please DO NOT send reports or files by e-mail. However, could all listeners continue to enter their reports on the general satellite status website. This is a very convenient and easy to use facility, which shows the current status of all the amateur satellites, and is of use to everyone. Reports around the expected times of switch-on and switch-off are of special interest, especially for times 13:00 to 18:00 and 22:00 to 08:00 UTC, to when the satellite is out-of-range in the UK . The URL is http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php The VHF beacon frequency is 145.826 MHz. AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry. The satellite is operating in the default mode, controlled by the watchdog timer, with a cycle time of 20.7 days. 10.35 days on followed by 10.35 days off. An extended version of this report is available on my website, and new listeners to OSCAR-11 should read this for further information. The URL is www.g3cwv.co.uk/oscar11.htm . This page contains links to the report, a short audio clip to help you identify the satellite and a file of recent telemetry received. The website also contains an archive of news telemetry data which is updated from time to time, and details about using a soundcard or hardware demodulators for data capture. There is also software for capturing data, and decoding ASCII telemetry. The easiest way to check whether OSCAR-11 is operational is to look at the General Satellite Status website http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php . If you place this bulletin on a terrestrial packet network, please use the bulletin identifier $BID:U2RPT159.CWV, to prevent duplication. 73 Clive G3CWV xx...@amsat.org (please replace the x's by g3cwv) ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re John Heath G7HIA, SK
I was very saddened to learn of John's passing. We had exchanged many e-mails during the last few years. I didn't know John very well, although we had met at the ASAT-UK Colloquium on several occasions. Topics we discussed by e-mail included processing Delphi 3C telemetry, OSCAR-11 spin rate, automatic Doppler tracking and ARISSat-1 decay. John was very active in using our satellites and promoting their use to others. For several years he was net controller of the Midlands two metre AMSAT net. He also wrote the Space column for RSGB's RadCom magazine for a number of years. He contributed many articles to OSCAR News, recently in the September 2012 issue about ARISSat-1 orbital decay. His last contribution to OSCAR News was a short item in the December issue, congratulating AMSAT-UK on their 200th issue of the magazine. He included a photograph of himself, Astronaut Ron Parise WA4SIR and Geoff Perry, founder of the Kettering Group of satellite observers. It was taken at the 1998 Colloquium. During the course of our discussions John mentioned that he was having some unpleasant hospital treatment. He also told me about his working career, which I thought may be of interest. As a teenager he was interested in organic chemistry and went to work in industry, eventually in the RD department at Bakelite in Tyseley, Birmingham. In the 1960's/70's he worked on the phenolic resins used to make copper clad PCB material, and did the first industrial synthesis on nonyl phenol by ion exchange. There were massive world stocks of Nonene at knock down prices so they were looking for a way to use it to make phenol/formaldehyde resins used in PCB manufacture. His YL Pam at that time worked in a small hairdressing supplies business and he sometimes worked with her when they needed extra staff to cover late night opening. After his marriage to Pam, her firm decided to open a branch in Leicester and they were offered the opportunity to re-locate and run the new operation. Together they built up the business, diversifying into related activities with a skin care manufacturing company (where his science background was invaluable), a beauty products wholesale business and a mail order operation. The business expanded from 6 people to a staff of nearly 200 on four sites. John said that Amateur radio helped to keep him sane by giving him a totally different set of things to think about and emptied his head of business concerns for a few hours each week! A few years ago Pam was diagnosed with a serious illness and confined to a wheel chair. This caused them to bring forward their retirement plans and they moved to Devon. My condolences to Pam, family friends. RIP John, we will miss you. Clive Wallis G3CWV ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] OSCAR-11 Annual Report 2012
OSCAR-11 ANNUAL REPORT 2012 This report covers the period from 01 January 2012 to 01 January 2013. During this time there have been no� significant changes apart from the gradual drift of the� on-board clock. The satellite has been transmitting on a� regular cycle of 10.35 days on followed by 10.35 days off. OSCAR-11 (AKA UoSAT-2 and UO-11) celebrated it's� 28th birthday in space on 01 March! It was designed, built� and launched within a period of six months, using� commercially available 'off the shelf' components (COTS).� Once again, congratulations to Professor Sir Martin Sweeting� G3YJO, his team at the University of Surrey and the groups� of radio amateurs who also contributed to the project.� Good copy has been obtained obtained from decoded telemetry� frames and many reports have been posted on the DCARR� general satellite status website, The satellite continues to be subjected to eclipses during� each orbit, resulting in weaker signals at those times.� During the summer in the UK all passes were in sunlight,� however the eclipses gradually returned during the autumn� and now all evening passes are eclipsed and signals are� significantly weaker than in the morning passes. The on-board clock gained 85 seconds during the year, which� is comparable with the 60 seconds gain per year when the� satellite was launched. There is however a large accumulated� error of 308.54204 days slow. This was caused mainly by the� clock stopping during eclipses, when there was also an� unknown drain on the power supply. The units of the least� significant digit correspond approximately to seconds (0.86� seconds actually). At the present time, while OSCAR-11 is operating in a� predictable way, please DO NOT send reports or files by� e-mail. However, could all listeners continue to enter their� reports on the general satellite status website. This is a� very convenient and easy to use facility, which shows the� current status of all the amateur satellites, and is of use� to everyone. Reports around the expected times of switch-on� and switch-off are of special interest, especially for times� 13:00 to 18:00 and 22:00 to 08:00 UTC, to when the satellite� is out-of-range in the UK . The URL is� http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php The VHF beacon frequency is 145.826 MHz. AFSK FM ASCII� Telemetry. The satellite is operating in the default mode,� controlled by the watchdog timer, with a cycle time of 20.7� days. 10.35 days on followed by 10.35 days off. An extended version of this report is available on my website, and new listeners to OSCAR-11 should read this for� further information. The URL is www.g3cwv.co.uk/oscar11.htm� . This page contains links to the report, a short audio clip� to help you identify the satellite and a file of recent� telemetry received. The website also contains an archive of� news telemetry data which is updated from time to time,� and details about using a soundcard or hardware demodulators� for data capture. There is also software for capturing data,� and decoding ASCII telemetry. The easiest way to check whether OSCAR-11 is operational is� to look at the General Satellite Status website� http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php . If you place this bulletin on a terrestrial packet network, please use the bulletin identifier $BID:U2RPT158.CWV, to prevent duplication. 73 Clive G3CWV xx...@amsat.org (please replace the x's by g3cwv) ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Motor for Yaesu G5500 Azimuth Rotator?
Hi Dave, Many thanks for your reply to my questions about motor problems. Sorry for the long delay in getting back to you. Some time ago, most of the problems we got with the elevation rotators were due to water getting into the unit, due to the lack of proper seals. We don't seem to hear much about this recently. Has the sealing been improved? I'm hoping to replace my G5500 later in the year, when the weather is a bit warmer :) 73 Clive G3CWV Hitchin, North Hertfordshire, UK On 26/02/2012 17:16, David Palmer KB5WIA wrote: Hi Clive, I haven't heard of failures of the controller or software directly, but this could happen. A more common problem might be mis-calibration, in that if your elevation rotor reads only 175 degrees and your software and controller is trying to send it to 180 degrees, the thing will keep going until it shuts off at the limit switches in the rotor itself (G5500). I've seen this before, no problem since the limit switches are fairly robust, but something to keep an eye on. I plan to use the thermal cut-outs for the extra protection as soon as I get a repaired / replacement motor to work with. Yesterday I built a jig for bench testing the rotor. Cables and connectors are still on the mast, so I needed a way to connect the 7-pin connector to the controller manually, also to a scope to verify alignment of the 500-ohm pot sensor. Made jig from 6 individual connectors through clear plexiglass, broken out to six terminals on side. That will help with alignment during reassembly. Also spent some time figuring out how the brake goes together - seems I didn't manage to get photos of it as I took it off of the motor before shipping it out, and just yesterday noticed the spring in there and puzzled over how the heck it works. Think I have it figured out, though. Dave KB5WIA On Feb 26, 2012 4:24 AM, Clive Wallis li...@g3cwv.co.uk mailto:li...@g3cwv.co.uk wrote: ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Motor for Yaesu G5500 Azimuth Rotator?
Hi, I've been interested in this thread as I have a shorted G5500 elevation motor. I reported this several months ago, and found that it was a fairly common problem. I'm waiting for warmer WX when I plan to replace it. I'm wondering whether there have been any reports of the over heating being caused by failure of the yahoo control unit or tracker interface. Perhaps sticking relays or electronics. I'm using the LVB tracker. I can see some situations where the micro-switches inside the rotator could fail to prevent damage. The thermal cut-outs suggested earlier in this thread looks attractive. I was also thinking about a PIC solution. As these rotators are now very expensive, and it's a major task for me to install the replacement, I don't want to risk another burned out motor. Any thoughts? 73 Clive G3CWV Hitchin, North Hertfordshire, UK ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] OSCAR-11 Report
OSCAR-11 REPORT 29 December 2011 This report covers the period from 01 September to 28 December 2011. The satellite has continued to operate in a very predictable way since the last report, and no changes have been observed. During this time the satellite has been heard reliably during its ten-day transmission periods. Excellent signals have been reported from stations located around the world, and good copy obtained from decoded telemetry frames. The easiest way to check whether OSCAR-11 is operational is to look at the General Satellite Status website http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php . You can also calculate the operating schedule from the last switch-off time, which was 28 December 2011 at 15:00 UTC (approx), using 10.35 days off followed by 10.35 days on. Reception reports have been received from Gustavo LW2DTZ, Bob KI0G, Rolf HB9TSO and Francesco IT9JRU. Many thanks to all and those who posted to the status website. The satellite is currently in eclipse during all evening passes over the UK, resulting in lower signal strengths at these times. Owing to the gradual precession of the orbit, the season for eclipses of the evening passes is longer this year compared with the winter last year. The on-board clock continues to gain, 28 seconds during the current reporting period, and 112 seconds since regular transmissions were resumed at the end of August 2010. There is however a large accumulated error of 308.54303 days slow. This was caused mainly by the clock stopping during eclipses, when there was also an unknown drain on the power supply. The units of the least significant digit correspond approximately to seconds (0.86 seconds actually). The VHF beacon frequency is 145.826 MHz. AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry. The satellite is operating in the default mode, with a cycle time of 20.7 days. 10.35 days on followed by 10.35 days off. At the present time, while OSCAR-11 is operating in a predictable way, I no longer need direct reports or files by e-mail. However, could all listeners continue to enter their reports on the general satellite status website. This is a very convenient and easy to use facility, which shows the current status of all the amateur satellites, and is of use to everyone. Reports around the expected times of switch-on and switch-off are of special interest, especially for times 12:00 - 18:00 and 22:00 - 07:00 UTC, when the satellite is out-of-range in the UK . The URL is http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php A longer version of this report report is available on my website, and new listeners to OSCAR-11 should read this for further information. The URL is www.g3cwv.co.uk/oscar11.htm . This page contains a links to the longer report, a short audio clip to help you identify the satellite and a file of the last telemetry received. The website also contains an archive of news telemetry data which is updated from time to time, and details about using a soundcard or hardware demodulators for data capture. There is also software for capturing data, and decoding ASCII telemetry. If you place this bulletin on a terrestrial packet network, please use the bulletin identifier $BID:U2RPT157.CWV, to prevent duplication. 73 Clive G3CWV xx...@amsat.org (please replace the x's by g3cwv) ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: G5500 Elevation Rotator Short Circuit?
Hi Lynn, Many thanks for your comments. Good point, although the contacts are normally closed, and open when the motor over-runs. So the usual problem of poor contact wouldn't apply. However, it's possible that the contacts may have welded together. I think that to fully protect the motor it needs a controller to limit the time that current is supplied to the motor, to a safe value. A nice little PIC project! BTW I've recently had a problem with my central heating where a micro switch stuck in the ON position, leaving the boiler firing, when it should have been off. However, this was a normally open contact. 73Clive G3CWV Hitchin, North Hertfordshire, UK On 16/10/2011 13:16, Lynn W. Deffenbaugh (Mr) wrote: I'm not familiar with rotors, actually, but micro switches that aren't switched often (like only when you run the rotor to the stop, which I'm assuming most people try to avoid) kind of limit the effectiveness of self-wiping or self-cleaning contacts. I'm just comparing it mentally with my doorbell button that needs a bunch of vigorous activations (aka pounding on it) periodically to keep function on a push once, ring basis. So, unless you make a habit of running the rotor to the stops, the switches may not function when/if they ARE needed. Lynn (D) - KJ4ERJ - Author of APRSISCE for Windows Mobile and Win32 ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: G5500 Elevation Rotator Short Circuit?
Thanks Tim. I'm not aware of any problems with my controller or computer. I notice that there are micro switches to protect against over-run, and wonder why these didn't protect the motor, if one of the circuits had stuck on. BTW have there been any improvements with the sealing against rain water on this model? It seems better than the previous model, in this respect. 73CliveG3CWV On 13/10/2011 21:46, Tim Cunningham wrote: All of the failures were specifically attributed to either a stuck relay in the control box, a manual switch sticking (not releasing) on the front rotor control panel, and a software or computer crash that continued to drive one of the up, down, left, or right control lines. 73, Tim - N8DEU - Original Message - From: Clive Wallis To: amsat amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Sunday, October 09, 2011 11:50 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: G5500 Elevation Rotator Short Circuit? Many thanks Tim for your comments. From what you've said it sounds like a faulty motor. In the ones you've repaired have you been able to determine the cause of motor over heating? The problems I've had in the past have always been due to water getting into the units. 73 Clive G3CWV Hitchin, North Hertfordshire, UK ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] G5500 Elevation Rotator Short Circuit?
I wonder if this is a known fault. Recently the fuse on my G5500 blew. The problem seems to be a short on one of the motor circuits. Checking the DC resistance at the control end, the resistance of one winding is 1.2 ohms, whereas all the other windings are 4.6 ohms. I could understand a motor burning out and going open circuit, but a short circuit seems less likely. I'm wondering if it could be a short on the cable at the rotator end, where it is subject to much bending. There's about 15 metres of cable. Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Unfortunately, at the present time I'm not able to inspect the rotator. It's stuck in the horizontal position, so I will still be able to use the antenna for low elevation passes. 73 Clive G3CWV Hitchin, North Hertfordshire, UK ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: calculation of eclipse
Hi Norm, I did this many years ago for OSCAR-11, and published an outline of the procedure in OSCAR News. The calculations were based on procedures written by James Miller G3RUH. There is a package of files which includes the software, documentation and original G3RUH articles. It's a long time ago since I did this, but IIRC there is a spread sheet graph which compares the eclipse prediction with the solar array currents. HTH 73CliveG3CWV Hitchin, North hertfordshire, UK On 30/09/2011 00:33, normn3...@stny.rr.com wrote: Hi all!! How does one calculate the period and time of entry and exit of eclipse? I'm going to be helping a friend do an Arissat presentation for her class. Due to the fact of the battery failing, this gives a 15 minute hold before the power management allows transmission. So, for any chance of receiving the bird, it has to be in sunlight for 15 minutes (or so). I'd prefer a mathematical formula. Echo goes through some of the same trials. Thanks, Norm BTW: I am an engineering student, just throw the math my way. ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: calculation of eclipse
Ooops! I forgot to say that the file is satill.zip on my website www.g3vwv.co.uk It's on the OSCAR-11 page and the general satellite page. 73Clive G3CWV On 30/09/2011 08:51, Clive Wallis wrote: Hi Norm, I did this many years ago for OSCAR-11, and published an outline of the procedure in OSCAR News. The calculations were based on procedures written by James Miller G3RUH. There is a package of files which includes the software, documentation and original G3RUH articles. It's a long time ago since I did this, but IIRC there is a spread sheet graph which compares the eclipse prediction with the solar array currents. HTH 73 Clive G3CWV Hitchin, North hertfordshire, UK On 30/09/2011 00:33, normn3...@stny.rr.com wrote: Hi all!! How does one calculate the period and time of entry and exit of eclipse? I'm going to be helping a friend do an Arissat presentation for her class. Due to the fact of the battery failing, this gives a 15 minute hold before the power management allows transmission. So, for any chance of receiving the bird, it has to be in sunlight for 15 minutes (or so). I'd prefer a mathematical formula. Echo goes through some of the same trials. Thanks, Norm BTW: I am an engineering student, just throw the math my way. ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] OSCAR-11 Report
OSCAR-11 REPORT 01 September 2011 This report covers the period from 27 April to 01 September 2011. The satellite has continued to operate in a very predictable way since the last report, and no changes have been observed. During this time the satellite has been heard reliably during its ten-day transmission periods. Excellent signals have been reported from stations located around the world, and good copy obtained from decoded telemetry frames. The easiest way to check whether OSCAR-11 is operational is to look at the General Satellite Status website http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php . You can also calculate the operating schedule from the last switch-off time, which was 26 August 2011 at 08:00 UTC (approx), using 10.35 days off followed by 10.35 days on. Reception reports have been received from David VE3SB, Jerry WB5LHD, Toby MM0TOB, Colin VK5HI and Lee M0HOK. Many thanks to all and those who posted to the status website. Although eclipses occur during every orbit, the evening passes over the UK were mostly clear of eclipses, owing to the longer hours of daylight during the Summer months. This resulted in stronger signals during the evening passes. However, as winter approaches eclipses will now start to affect the evening passes. The on-board clock continues to gain, 26 seconds during the current reporting period, and 83 seconds since regular transmissions started at the end of August 2010. There is however a large accumulated error of 308.54339 days slow. This was caused mainly by the clock stopping during eclipses, when there was also an unknown drain on the power supply. The units of the least significant digit correspond approximately to seconds (0.86 seconds actually). The VHF beacon frequency is 145.826 MHz. AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry. The satellite is operating in the default mode, with a cycle time of 20.7 days. 10.35 days on followed by 10.35 days off. At the present time, while OSCAR-11 is operating in a predictable way, I no longer need direct reports or files by e-mail. However, could all listeners continue to enter their reports on the general satellite status website. This is a very convenient and easy to use facility, which shows the current status of all the amateur satellites, and is of use to everyone. Reports around the expected times of switch-on and switch-off are of special interest, especially for times 12:00 - 17:00 and 22:00 - 07:00 UTC, when the satellite is out-of-range in the UK . The URL is http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php A longer version of this report report is available on my website, and new listeners to OSCAR-11 should read this for further information. The URL is www.g3cwv.co.uk/oscar11.htm . This page contains a links to the longer report, a short audio clip to help you identify the satellite and a file of the last telemetry received. The website also contains an archive of news telemetry data which is updated from time to time, and details about using a soundcard or hardware demodulators for data capture. There is also software for capturing data, and decoding ASCII telemetry. If you place this bulletin on a terrestrial packet network, please use the bulletin identifier $BID:U2RPT156.CWV, to prevent duplication. 73 Clive G3CWV xx...@amsat.org (please replace the x's by g3cwv) ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Cubesat NANOSATC-BR
Hi Piraja, I'm most interested in this project, as I collected a lot of magnetometer data from OSCAR-11 when it was fully operational. Will you be transmitting WOD data, and publish full details of the format and decoding equations, so that we can all analyse it. 73 Clive G3CWV Hitchin, North Hertfordshire, UK On 23/07/2011 14:53, ps8rf Piraja wrote: Brazil is preparing to launch the NANOSATC-BR. The design of the BR-NANOSATC is being developed by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and students of Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM) of state Rio Grande do Sul here in Brazil. The BR-NANOSATC will have two scientific instruments, a magnetometer and also a particle detector of precipitation for monitoring real-time geospatial, and the precipitation of particles in the magnetosphere disturbances on the Brazilian territory to determine its effects on regions such as the South Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly (SAMA, the English acronym) and the Brazilian sector of the equatorial electrojet. This anomaly [SAMA] is a failure of the Earth's magnetic field in this region, which is about Brazil, said Jose Manuel Octavio Coordinator of the National Institute for Space Research of Brazil. As a consequence of this anomaly, there is a greater risk of the presence of particles high-energy region, which can affect communications, signals from global positioning satellites (like GPS), or even cause failure of electronic equipment such as onboard computers. The INPE has been studying this anomaly for decades, including several researchers international reputation, which even took part in defining the mission and its payload. According to Otavio Durão, Technical Coordinator NanosatC-Br and INPE, the situation referred to is its launch in November 2012. The uplink frequency (UHF) and downlink (VHF) have been allocated by the IARU. The telemetry will be at 145.865 MHz 9k6 BPSK. The project is receiving support from the Amateur Radio Association Santamariense - ASRA and call sign of the control station will be PY3EB. Durão told me it will be very interesting and welcome the participation of the Amateur Radio satellite tracking. We are waiting for soon the website with all the information the CubeSat NANOSTC-BR. The project is in full swing. IARU Informations: http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=209 73' Pirajá, PS8RF ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] OSCAR-11 Reports Requested for Wednesday May 25
Hi, OSCAR-11 is off at the present time. I'm expecting it to switch on during Wednesday May 25th at about 05:17 UTC, when the satellite is out of range for UK. I would appreciate any reception reports for next Wednesday before and after that time. It is equally important whether you are reporting heard or NOT heard. When the satellite last switched off, it happened during a pass over UK, and I was able to get a precise time of switch off. Reports on Wednesday will help me improve the accuracy of future predictions. Please add your report to the satellite status web site URL http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php 73 CliveG3CWV Hitchin, North Hertfordshire, UK ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] OSCAR-11 Report
OSCAR-11 REPORT 27 April 2011 This report covers the period from 02 March to 27 April 2011 . During this time the satellite has been heard from 03 to 13 March, 24 March to 03 April, 13 April to 23 April 2011. It is expected to switch-on again 04 May until 14 May. Excellent signals have been reported from stations located around the world, and good copy obtained from decoded telemetry frames. Transmissions are controlled by the watchdog timer, which has a 20.7 day cycle time, 10.35 days on, 10,35 days off. Solar eclipses occur during every orbit, when signals are weaker. This indicates that there is still some capacity remaining in the battery. The on-board clock is now very stable. It gained 12 seconds during during the current reporting period. This is comparable with its accuracy when the satellite was fully operational, when it gained approximately one minute per year. However, there is still an accumulated loss of 309 days, which has occurred during eclipses of the last few years. The VHF beacon frequency is 145.826 MHz. AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry Reception reports have been received from Horatio CX8AF, Jerry WB5LHD and Stefano IZ1GRJ. Many thanks. At the present time, while OSCAR-11 is operating in a predictable way, I no longer need direct reports or files by e-mail. However, could all listeners continue to enter their reports on the general satellite status website http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php. This is a very convenient and easy to use facility, which shows the current status of all the amateur satellites, and is of use to everyone. Reports around the expected times of switch-on and switch-off are of special interest, especially for times 12:00 - 17:00 and 22:00 - 07:00 UTC, to when the satellite is out-of-range in the UK. A longer version of this report report is available on my website, and new listeners to OSCAR-11 should read this for further information. The URL is www.g3cwv.co.uk/oscar11.htm . This page contains a links to the longer report, a short audio clip to help you identify the satellite and a file of the last telemetry received. The website also contains an archive of news telemetry data which is updated from time to time, and details about using a soundcard or hardware demodulators for data capture. There is also software for capturing data, and decoding ASCII telemetry. If you place this bulletin on a terrestrial packet network, please use the bulletin identifier $BID:U2RPT155.CWV, to prevent duplication. 73 Clive G3CWV xx...@amsat.org (please replace the x's by g3cwv) ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Delfi-n3Xt Telemetry Equations Format
Hi,, I note that in another thread Wouter PE3WJ mentions the the next Delfi satellite n3Xt currently being constructed. Can we be assured that full details of the telemetry equations and decoding format for defli-n3Xt will be published, preferably before launch. With the considerable interest shown in the Funcube Dongle I'm sure that many satellite enthusiasts will want to write their own decoding software. In the case of delfi-C3 I received a large number of packets using my G3RUH hardware decoder, but was unable to decode them, due to not having the telemetry details. I had hoped to publish details of my experiments. After repeated requests for the information I was eventually told that it was commercially confidential and could not be published. IIRC this information has to be made available to the IARU satellite coordinator before launch, and updated when there any changes, following launch. AFAIK it is against amateur radio license regulations to transmit coded information in the amateur bands, unless the decoding information is freely available. The only exception being access codes to control the satellite, for obvious reasons. I trust that delfi-C3 won't set a precedent for future projects and this problem will not arise again. We want to encourage radio amateurs and students to experiment and avoid the 'black box' culture as much as possible. I will be interested in any comments. 73 Clive G3CWV Hitchin, North Hertfordshire, UK ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] OSCAR-11 Report
OSCAR-11 REPORT 04 March 2011 OSCAR-11 celebrated it's 27th birthday on 01 March! It was designed, built and launched within a period of six months, using commercially available 'off the shelf' components (COTS). Once again, congratulations to Professor Sir Martin Sweeting G3YJO, his team at the University of Surrey and groups of radio amateurs who also contributed to the project. Unfortunately, the satellite wasn't transmitting on its birthday, but resumed transmissions, three days later. This report covers the period from 31 January to 04 March 2011. During this time the satellite has been heard from 10 to 21 February and from 03 March 2011. It is expected to switch-off again 13 March until 23 March. Excellent signals have been reported from stations located around the world, and good copy obtained from decoded telemetry frames. The satellite is now transmitting during eclipses, although signals are weaker at those times. This indicates that there is still some capacity remaining in the battery. The on-board clock is now very stable. It gained *** seconds during the current reporting period. The VHF beacon frequency is 145.826 MHz. AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry At the present time, while OSCAR-11 is operating in a predictable way, I no longer need direct reports or files by e-mail. However, could all listeners continue to enter their reports on the general satellite status website. This is a very convenient and easy to use facility, which shows the current status of all the amateur satellites, and is of use to everyone. Reports around the expected times of switch-on and switch-off are of special interest, especially for times 12:00 - 17:00 and 22:00 - 07:00 UTC, to when the satellite is out-of-range in the UK . The URL is http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php A longer version of this report report is available on my website, and new listeners to OSCAR-11 should read this for further information. The URL is www.g3cwv.co.uk/oscar11.htm . This page contains a links to the longer report, a short audio clip to help you identify the satellite and a file of the last telemetry received. The website also contains an archive of news telemetry data which is updated from time to time, and details about using a soundcard or hardware demodulators for data capture. There is also software for capturing data, and decoding ASCII telemetry. If you place this bulletin on a terrestrial packet network, please use the bulletin identifier $BID:U2RPT154.CWV, to prevent duplication. 73 Clive G3CWV xx...@amsat.org (please replace the x's by g3cwv) ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] OSCAR-11 Report
OSCAR-11 REPORT 31 January 2011 This report covers the period from 31 December 2010 to 31 January 2011. During this time the satellite has been heard from 31 December 2010 to 10 January 2011, and from 21 January to 30 January . It is expected to switch-on again 10 February for ten days, and remain silent for the remainder of the month. Excellent signals have been reported from stations located around the world, and good copy obtained from decoded telemetry frames. The satellite is now transmitting during eclipses, although signals are weaker at those times. This indicates that there is still some capacity remaining in the battery. The on-board clock is now very stable. It gained eight seconds during January. The VHF beacon frequency is 145.826 MHz. AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry Reception reports have been received from Christian SWL-CHMY, Mike DK3WN, Campo PY5JAP, Ron WB0SOK and Horatio CX8AF. Many thanks for those and to everyone who posted reports on the satellite status website. At the present time, while OSCAR-11 is operating in a predictable way, I no longer need direct reports or files by e-mail. However, could all listeners continue to enter their reports on the general satellite status website. This is a very convenient and easy to use facility, which shows the current status of all the amateur satellites, and is of use to everyone. Reports around the expected times of switch-on and switch-off are of special interest, especially for times 12:00 - 17:00 and 22:00 - 07:00 UTC, to when the satellite is out-of-range in the UK . The URL is http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php A longer version of this report report is available on my website, and new listeners to OSCAR-11 should read this for further information. The URL is www.g3cwv.co.uk/oscar11.htm . This page contains a links to the longer report, a short audio clip to help you identify the satellite and a file of the last telemetry received. The website also contains an archive of news telemetry data which is updated from time to time, and details about using a soundcard or hardware demodulators for data capture. There is also software for capturing data, and decoding ASCII telemetry. If you place this bulletin on a terrestrial packet network, please use the bulletin identifier $BID:U2RPT153.CWV, to prevent duplication. 73 Clive G3CWV xx...@amsat.org (please replace the x's by g3cwv) ___ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] OSCAR-11 Report
OSCAR-11 REPORT 31 December 2010 At the present time OSCAR-11 (AKA UO-11 or UoSAT-2) is now in a very stable and predictable mode of operation. There are very few changes taking place at the present time, I have therefore decided to limit the size of the monthly reports to a short status report. The full monthly report will still be available on my website, and new listeners to OSCAR-11 should read this for further information. The URL is www.g3cwv.co.uk/oscar11.htm . This page contains a links to the longer report, a short audio clip to help you identify the satellite and a file of the last telemetry received. The website also contains an archive of news telemetry data which is updated from time to time, and details about using a soundcard or hardware demodulators for data capture. There is also software for capturing data, and decoding ASCII telemetry. This report covers the period from 30 November to 31 December 2010. During this time the satellite has been heard from 10 to 20 December and from 31 December. It is expected to switch-off on 10 January 2011. Excellent signals have been reported from stations located around the world, and good copy obtained from decoded telemetry frames. The satellite is now transmitting during eclipses, although signals are weaker at those times. This indicates that there is still some capacity remaining in the battery. The on-board clock is now very stable. It gained seven seconds during December. The VHF beacon frequency is 145.826 MHz. AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry Reception reports have been received from Horatio CX8AF, John KB2HSH, Francisco PY9FP and Mike DK3WN . Many thanks for those and to everyone who posted reports on the satellite status website. At the present time, while OSCAR-11 is operating in a predictable way, I no longer need direct reports or files by e-mail. However, could all listners continue to enter reports on the general satellite status website. This is a very convenient and easy to use facility, which shows the current status of all the amateur satellites, and is of use to everyone. Reports around the expected times of switch-on and switch-off are of special interest. The URL is http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php If you place this bulletin on a terrestrial packet network, please use the bulletin identifier $BID:U2RPT152 .CWV, to prevent duplication. 73 Clive G3CWV xx...@amsat.org (please replace the x's by g3cwv) ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] OSCAR-11 Report
OSCAR-11 REPORT 30 November 2010 This report covers the period from 29 October to 30 November 2010. During this time the satellite has been heard from 30 October to 09 November and 19 to 29 November . At the time of writing it is is expected to switch-on 10 December. Excellent signals have been reported from stations located around the world, and good copy obtained from decoded telemetry frames. The satellite is now transmitting during eclipses, although signals are weaker at those times. This indicates that there is still some capacity remaining in the battery. The on-board clock is now very stable. It gained eight seconds during November. This is comparable with its accuracy when the satellite was fully operational, when it gained approximately one minute per year. However, there is still an accumulated loss of 309 days, which has occurred during eclipses of the last few years. Operation during eclipses and stability of the on-board clock suggest that some part of the system may have recently failed 'open circuit' thus reducing the overall power drain of the system, and allowing more power to be available during eclipses. When analogue telemetry was last transmitted, an unexplained current drain was observed. This fault may have cleared. The Beacon frequencies are - VHF 145.826 MHz. AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry UHF 435.025 MHz. OFF S-band 2401.5 MHz. OFF Reception reports have been received from Gene WA4UKX, Horatio CX8AF, David G8OQW and Michael M0MPM/PA3BHE . Many thanks for those and to everyone who posted reports on the satellite status website. At the present time, while OSCAR-11 is operating in a predictable way, I no longer need direct reports by e-mail. However, could you continue to enter reports on the general satellite status website. This is a very convenient and easy to use facility, which shows the current status of all the amateur satellites, and is of use to everyone. Reports around the expected times of switch-on and switch-off are of special interest. The URL is http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php OSCAR-11 transmits on 145.826 MHz., set receiver to NBFM. The satellite has a characteristic sound, rather like raspy slow morse code, sending di di dah dah dah dah dah dah dah sent over a period of five seconds. If you are receiving a very weak signal, switch the receiver to CW or SSB. You should hear several sidebands around the carrier frequency and should be able to hear the characteristic 'morse code like' sound on at least one sideband. Please note that you need a clean noise-free signal to decode the signals, and your receiver must be set to NBFM mode, for a decoder to work. If you need to know what OSCAR-11 sounds like, there is an audio clip on my website www.g3cwv.co.uk/ which may be useful for identification and as a test signal for decoding. The current status of the satellite, is that all the analogue telemetry channels, 0 to 59 are zero, ie they have failed. The status channels 60 to 67 are still working. The real time clock is showing a large accumulated error, but is now incrementing accurately to within a few seconds per month. The day of the month has a bit stuck at 'one' so the day of the month may show an error of +40 days for some dates. The time display has switched into 12 hour mode. Unfortunately, there is no AM/PM indicator, since the time display format was designed for 24 hour mode. The spacecraft computer and active attitude control system have switched OFF, ie. the satellite' attitude is controlled only by the passive gravity boom gradient, and the satellite is free to spin at any speed. The watchdog timer operates on a 20 day cycle. The ON/OFF times have tended to be very consistent. The average of many observations have shown this to be 20.7 days, ie. 10.35 days ON followed by 10.35 days OFF. Listeners to OSCAR-11 may be interested in visiting my website. If you need to know what OSCAR-11 should sound like, there is a short audio clip for you to hear. The last telemetry received from the satellite is available for download. The website contains an archive of news telemetry data which is updated from time to time. It also contains details about using a soundcard or hardware demodulators for data capture. There is software for capturing data, and decoding ASCII telemetry. The URL is www.g3cwv.co.uk . If you place this bulletin on a terrestrial packet network, please use the bulletin identifier $BID:U2RPT151 .CWV, to prevent duplication. 73 Clive G3CWV xx...@amsat.org (please replace x by g3cwv) ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] OSCAR-11 Report
OSCAR-11 REPORT 31 October 2010 This report covers the period from 30 September to 31 October 2010. During this time the satellite has been heard from 09 to 19 October and from 30 October. At the time of writing it is transmitting and is expected to continue until 09 November. Excellent signals have been reported from stations located around the world, and good copy obtained from decoded telemetry frames. The satellite is now transmitting during eclipses, although signals are weaker at those times. This indicates that there is still some capacity remaining in the battery. The on-board clock is now very stable. It gained only ten seconds in 33 days. This is comparable with its accuracy when the satellite was fully operational, when it gained approximately one minute per year. However, there is still an accumulated loss of 309 days, which has occurred during eclipses of the last few years. Operation during eclipses and stability of the on-board clock suggest that some part of the system may have recently failed 'open circuit' thus reducing the overall power drain of the system, and allowing more power to be available during eclipses. There was an unexplained current drain observed when analogue telemetry was last transmitted. This fault might have cleared. The Beacon frequencies are - VHF 145.826 MHz. AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry UHF 435.025 MHz. OFF S-band 2401.5 MHz. OFF Reception reports have been received from Jeff N3QO, Rod CX2ABP and Ian KI4HLV/6Y5 (G4JMM) . Many thanks for those and to everyone who posted reports on the satellite status website. This is a very convenient and easy to use facility, which shows the current status of all the amateur satellites. Strongly recommended for future reports! Reports around the expected times of switch-on and switch-off are of special interest. The URL is http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php OSCAR-11 transmits on 145.826 MHz., set receiver to NBFM. The satellite has a characteristic sound, rather like raspy slow morse code, sending di di dah dah dah dah dah dah dah sent over a period of five seconds. If you are receiving a very weak signal, switch the receiver to CW or SSB. You should hear several sidebands around the carrier frequency and should be able to hear the characteristic 'morse code like' sound on at least one sideband. Please note that you need a clean noise-free signal to decode the signals, and your receiver must be set to NBFM mode, for a decoder to work. If you need to know what OSCAR-11 sounds like, there is an audio clip on my website www.g3cwv.co.uk/ which may be useful for identification and as a test signal for decoding. The current status of the satellite, is that all the analogue telemetry channels, 0 to 59 are zero, ie they have failed. The status channels 60 to 67 are still working. The real time clock is showing a large accumulated error, but is now incrementing accurately to within a few seconds per month. The day of the month has a bit stuck at 'one' so the day of the month may show an error of +40 days for some dates. The time display has switched into 12 hour mode. Unfortunately, there is no AM/PM indicator, since the time display format was designed for 24 hour mode. The spacecraft computer and active attitude control system have switched OFF, ie. the satellite' attitude is controlled only by the passive gravity boom gradient, and the satellite is free to spin at any speed. The watchdog timer operates on a 20 day cycle. The ON/OFF times have tended to be very consistent. The average of many observations have shown this to be 20.7 days, ie. 10.3 day s ON followed by 10.4 days OFF. Listeners to OSCAR-11 may be interested in visiting my website. If you need to know what OSCAR-11 should sound like, there is a short audio clip for you to hear. The last telemetry received from the satellite is available for download. The website contains an archive of news telemetry data which is updated from time to time. It also contains details about using a soundcard or hardware demodulators for data capture. There is software for capturing data, and decoding ASCII telemetry. The URL is www.g3cwv.co.uk . If you place this bulletin on a terrestrial packet network, please use the bulletin identifier $BID:U2RPT150.CWV, to prevent duplication. 73 Clive G3CWV xx...@amsat.org (please replace x by g3cwv) ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: FUNcube Dongle
Congratulations Howard. This is a magnificent achievement. The extension to cover the wide frequency range will be of great interest to SDR enthusiasts and the wider amateur radio community. That's an unexpected bonus. I have always regarded the development of this receiver as the most difficult part of the FunCube project, as its something new, which hasn't been done before. I shall look forward to experimenting with one. Well done! 73CliveG3CWV Hitchin, North Hertfordshire, UK ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: OSCAR-11 Report
On 02/10/2010 23:50, Zachary Beougher wrote: Clive, Thank you for sending this out - this may answer something I was wondering about a few weeks ago I was out during a morning 1300-1400z HO68 pass about 3-4 weeks ago, and as I was doing the pass, I noticed the S-meter on my TRANSMIT HT was peaking at about S7 (I was using one HT to receive the 435.675 downlink, and the other for the 145.825 uplink). I turned the volume up on the transmit HT to see what it was, and I heard the EXACT same audio that you have on your webpage of Oscar-11's telemetry beacon on 145.826 (1 kHz off of the uplink for HO68). I am assuming that what I heard on my transmit HT was probably the Oscar-11 beacon - could anyone confirm that? If it sounds like the audio on my website, it is OSCAR-11! There is no other satellite which sounds like that! As it's on the FM uplink for HO-68, we might be able to hear UO-11 being relayed by HO-68 onto 435.675 MHz. ! There's no problem decoding UO-11, details on my website www.g3cwv.co.uk 73CliveG3CWV Hitchin, North Hertfordshire, UK ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] OSCAR-11 Report
OSCAR-11 REPORT 30 September 2010 This report covers the period from 30 March to 30 September 2010. During this time the satellite was silent until it was heard by JA0CAW on 29 August. Since then, it was heard until 08 September and from 18 to 29 September. Excellent signals have been reported from stations located around the world, and good copy obtained from decoded telemetry frames. There has been a significant change since the previous period of activity which ended in March 2010. The on-board clock is now very stable. It's gained only three seconds in 30 days. This is comparable with its accuracy when the satellite was fully operational. During its first 21 years it gained approximately one minute per year. However, there is still an accumulated loss of 309 days, which has occurred during eclipses of the last few years.! The other change is that it's now transmitting during eclipses, although signals are weaker at those times. This indicates that there is still some capacity remaining in the battery. These two changes suggest that some part of the system may have recently failed 'open circuit' thus reducing the overall power drain of the system, and allowing more power to be available during eclipses. There was an unexplained current drain observed when analogue telemetry was last transmitted. This fault might have cleared. Interestingly, the status telemetry shows that the Digital Store Readout experiment has switched off, since the satellite was previously heard in February. The satellite appears to be operating for ten days on, followed by ten days off, so it should start transmitting again around 09 October. The Beacon frequencies are - VHF 145.826 MHz. AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry UHF 435.025 MHz. OFF S-band 2401.5 MHz. OFF Reception reports have been received from Bernard FY1LE, Roland DG1EBR, Mike DK3WN, Tetsu JA0CAW, Adam SQ8MFC, MM0DNX, Tony VK3KKP/G8HIM, Martin DC1MAR, John M0BIC, Etienne F1GRR and Carlos KD6GRF. Many thanks to everyone. Many reports have also been added to the live satellite status page, on the website set up by David KD5QGR and Bob WB4APR. This is a very convenient and easy to use facility, which shows the current status of all the amateur satellites. Strongly recommended for future reports! The URL is http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php For the benefit of new listeners, here is a short history of OSCAR-11. It was lauched in 1984, providing telemetry and other digital services for amateur radio and educational users. During its many years of operation it survived long periods of eclipses and continuous full sunlight. In 2002 the satellite reverted to its default mode of operation, controlled by the watchdog timer. In 2005 all the analogue telemetry channels failed. Solar eclipses also started to cause the watchdog timer cycle to reset, which switched off the satellite for approximately 15 days. In 2008 solar eclipses became a permanent feature of every orbit, causing the satellite to switch off for about 15 days, probably after only one orbit of transmission. Thus the satellite was not expected to be heard again for any continuous period until 2019, when there will be some eclipse free periods. However, the satellite started transmissions unexpectedly in November 2008. These continued until March, when it was followed by silence until until the recent period of activity. OSCAR-11 transmits on 145.826 MHz., set receiver to NBFM. The satellite has a characteristic sound, rather like raspy slow morse code, sending di di dah dah dah dah dah dah dah sent over a period of five seconds. If you are receiving a very weak signal, switch the receiver to CW or SSB. You should hear several sidebands around the carrier frequency and should be able to hear the characteristic 'morse code like' sound on at least one sideband. Please note that you need a clean noise-free signal to decode the signals, and your receiver must be set to NBFM mode, for a decoder to work. If you need to know what OSCAR-11 sounds like, there is an audio clip on my website www.g3cwv.co.uk/ which may be useful for identification and as a test signal for decoding. The current status of the satellite, is that all the analogue telemetry channels, 0 to 59 are zero, ie they have failed. The status channels 60 to 67 are still working. The real time clock is showing a large accumulated error, but is now incrementing accurately to within a few seconds per month. The day of the month has a bit stuck at 'one' so the day of the month may show an error of +40 days for some dates. The time display has switched into 12 hour mode. Unfortunately, there is no AM/PM indicator, since the time display format was designed for 24 hour mode. The spacecraft computer and active attitude control system have switched OFF, ie. the satellite' attitude is controlled only by the passive gravity boom gradient, and the satellite is free to spin at any speed. The watchdog timer now operates on a 20 day cycle. The
[amsat-bb] OSCAR-11 Report
OSCAR-11 REPORT 30 March 2010 OSCAR-11 achieved 26 years in orbit on 01 March! It was designed, built and launched within a period of six months, using commercially available 'off the shelf' components (COTS). Once again, congratulations to Professor Sir Martin Sweeting G3YJO, his team at the University of Surrey and groups of radio amateurs who also contributed to the project. Unfortunately, the satellite wasn't transmitting on its birthday, but was heard briefly, three days later. This report covers the period from 23 February to 30 March 2010. During this time the satellite was heard during three passes on 04 March. Good signals were received, and decoded. There was also an unconfirmed report that it was heard on 25 March. Due to eclipses, deterioration of the battery and other parts of the satellite, it's not possible to predict when the satellite will be heard in the coming months. It is likely that it may be heard occassionally, by stations tuning around the beacon frequency. The on-board clock was 263 days slow, when last heard on 04 March. The increasing error suggests that the clock may be stopping, when the satellite is in eclipse. Sometimes, the date counter also fails to increment. However, the retention of the date and time does suggest that a small amount of power may be still available during eclipses. The Beacon frequencies are - VHF 145.826 MHz. AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry UHF 435.025 MHz. OFF S-band 2401.5 MHz. OFF - RECEPTION REPORTS REQUESTED! Please send reception reports to xx...@amsat.org (replace x by g3cwv) or post to amsat-bb. If you have a file, please do not send it but let me know that it is available. You may also like to add your reception report to the live satellite status page, on the website set up by David KD5QGR and Bob WB4APR. The URL is http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php The satellite transmits on 145.826 MHz., set receiver to NBFM. OSCAR-11 has a characteristic sound, rather like raspy slow morse code, sending di di dah dah dah dah dah dah dah sent over a period of five seconds. If you are receiving a very weak signal, switch the receiver to CW or SSB. You should hear several sidebands around the carrier frequency and should be able to hear the characteristic 'morse code like' sound on at least one sideband. Please note that you need a clean noise-free signal to decode the signals, and your receiver must be set to NBFM mode, for a decoder to work. If you need to know what OSCAR-11 sounds like, there is an audio clip on my website www.g3cwv.co.uk/ which may be useful for identification and as a test signal for decoding. - The satellite is now subject to eclipses during every orbit. Long term predictions indicate that eclipses will occur until 2019, when there will be some eclipse free periods until 2023. However these very long term predictions should be regarded with caution, as large tracking errors can accumulate over long periods of time. When eclipses started around 2005 the watchdog timer often switched the transmitter off before the ten day on period had finished, during parts of the eclipse cycle. When eclipses became a permanent feature of all orbits, after April 2008, the transmitter switched off within a single orbit, thus the satellite was effectively non operational. The satellite unexpectedly started regular transmissions in November 2009. Although there was a small variation in the length of eclipses, this wasn't enough to explain why the satellite started regular transmissions. It is possible that a fault developed, which prevented the watchdog timer resetting when the power supply fails, and now the watchdog timer settings are no longer retained during eclipses. The transmitter switches off during eclipses, and the real time clock stops during most of the eclipse. When analogue telemetry was last received, in 2005, it showed that one of the solar arrays had failed, and there was a large unexplained current drain on the main 14 volt bus. After 26 years in orbit the battery has undergone over 100,000 partial charge/discharge cycles, and observations indicate that it cannot power the satellite during eclipses. The current status of the satellite, is that all the analogue telemetry channels, 0 to 59 are zero, ie they have failed. The status channels 60 to 67 are still working. The real time clock is showing a large accumulated error, although during ten minute passes the clock increments correctly to within one second. The day of the month has a bit stuck at 'one' so the day of the month may show an error of +40 days for some dates. The time display has switched into 12 hour mode. Unfortunately, there is no AM/PM indicator, since the time display format was designed for 24 hour mode. The spacecraft computer and active attitude control system have switched OFF, ie. the satellite' attitude is controlled only by the
[amsat-bb] Re: FT-726 automatic Doppler control?
I've done this very thing! I published details in OSCAR News 184, December 2008, page It uses a very cheap PICAXE 08M chip, which interfaces via the COM port on the main computer. The program on the PICAXE is trivial. The difficult part of the project was to interface the COM port with SatExploer tracking program. I've no idea what would be involved with other tracking programs. A temporary package containing the source codes for both parts are on my website www.g3cwv.co.uk/doppler.htm I can e-mail a copy of the original article circuits if needed. BTW I've got a related question about doppler tracking which I'll raise in a separate thread. 73 CliveG3CWV Hitchin, North Hertfordshire, UK Ryan Caron wrote: Anybody ever rig up automatic doppler tuning to a FT-726? Without a CI-V interface (or equivalent) the best idea I can think of is splicing a microcontroller in to push the up, down, and maybe the fast buttons on the microphone during a pass. Then I'd just have to dial in the initial frequency before the pass starts. 73, Ryan KB1LKI AMSAT #37207 ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Doppler Tracking ... Recent Radios
Hi, The thread about Doppler tracking with an FT-726 has reminded me of a problem I have with an FT-736. I got this radio some time after developing the interface for the 726. I've noticed that when the 736 is under CAT control, none of the manual controls work. I'm wondering whether this applies also to the FT-847 an the ICOM 910 rigs? One advantage of the method used on the FT-726 was that I could trim out any errors in Doppler correction with the manual tuning control knob. This proved very useful for BPSK telemetry. As an alternative, do any of the modern tracking programs allow easy manual correction of RX frequency during a pass? Any comments would be much appreciated. 73 Clive G3CWV Hitchin, North Hertfordshire, UK ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] OSCAR-11 Report
OSCAR-11 REPORT 24 February 2010 This report covers the period from 11 January to 23 February 2010. During this time the satellite was heard from 21 to 31 January and 11 to 24February. Good signals were received, and decoded. Signals have been very strong, although frequent changes in polarisation have been observed. The satellite has only transmitted when in sunlight. The next transmissions are expected around 04 March 2010. The on-board clock was 260 days slow, when last heard on 21 February. The increasing error suggests that the clock may be stopping, when the satellite is in eclipse. Sometimes, the date counter also fails to increment. Reception reports have been received from stations located all over the world including Peter Zl3TC, Jon 2M0IBO, Mike DK3WN, Adrian LU1CBG, Robert VE2PRS, Ken GW1FKY and Alan ZL2BX. Many thanks to everyone who sent email reports, posted to AMSAT-BB or updated the KD5QGR/WB4APR satellite status website. The Beacon frequencies are - VHF 145.826 MHz. AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry UHF 435.025 MHz. OFF S-band 2401.5 MHz. OFF - RECEPTION REPORTS REQUESTED! I am particularly interested in reports of reception during the hours 23:00 to 06:00 and 12:00 to 17:00 UTC, especially near expected switch on or off dates. Please send reception reports to xx...@amsat.org (replace x by g3cwv) or post to amsat-bb. If you have a file, please do not send it but let me know what is available. You may also like to add your reception report to the live satellite status page, on the website set up by David KD5QGR and Bob WB4APR. The URL is http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php The satellite transmits on 145.826 MHz., set receiver to NBFM. OSCAR-11 has a characteristic sound, rather like raspy slow morse code, sending di di dah dah dah dah dah dah dah sent over five seconds. If you are receiving a very weak signal, switch the receiver to CW or SSB. You should hear several sidebands around the carrier frequency, and should be able to hear the characteristic 'morse code like' sound on at least one sideband. Please note that you need a clean noise free signal to decode the signals. There is an audio clip on my website www.g3cwv.co.uk which may be useful for identification and as test signal for decoding. - The satellite is now subject to eclipses during every orbit. Long term predictions indicate that eclipses will occur until 2019, when there will be some eclipse free periods until 2023. However these very long term predictions should be regarded with caution, as large tracking errors can accumulate over long periods of time. When eclipses started around 2005 the watchdog timer often switched the transmitter off before the ten day on period had finished, during parts of the eclipse cycle. When eclipses became a permanent feature of all orbits, after April 2008, the transmitter switched off within a single orbit, thus the satellite was effectively non operational. The satellite unexpectedly started regular transmissions in November 2009. It is possible that a fault has developed, which prevents the watchdog timer resetting when the power supply fails. The transmitter switches off during eclipses, and the real time clock stops during most of the eclipse. When analogue telemetry was last received, in 2005, it showed that one of the solar arrays had failed, and there was a large unexplained current drain on the main 14 volt bus. After 25 years in orbit the battery has undergone over 100,000 partial charge/discharge cycles, and observations indicate that it cannot power the satellite during eclipses. The current status of the satellite, is that all the analogue telemetry channels, 0 to 59 are zero, ie they have failed. The status channels 60 to 67 are still working. The real time clock is showing a large accumulated error, although during ten minute passes the clock increments correctly to within one second. The day of the month has a bit stuck at 'one' so the day of the month may show an error of +40 days for some dates. The time display has switched into 12 hour mode. Unfortunately, there is no AM/PM indicator, since the time display format was designed for 24 hour mode. The spacecraft computer and active attitude control system have switched OFF, ie. the satellite' attitude is controlled only by the passive gravity boom gradient, and the satellite is free to spin at any speed. The watchdog timer now operates on a 20 day cycle. The ON/OFF times have tended to be very consistent. The average of many observations show this to be 20.7 days, ie. 10.3 day s ON followed by 10.4 days OFF. Listeners to OSCAR-11 may be interested in visiting my website. If you need to know what OSCAR-11 should sound like, there is a short audio clip for you to hear. The last telemetry received from the satellite is available for download. The website contains an archive of news
[amsat-bb] Re: Tracking - End-stop Problem
Hi, Many thanks to everyone who replied to my request for information. I thought that SatPC32 might offer a solution with the rotator set up for 450/90 operation. AFAIK my tracking program (SatExplorer) offers an option to flip the elevation, to avoid traversing round the end-stop, but I didn't really want to do that. I will contact the author of SatExplorer to see whether 90/450 operation is possible. Sorry Erich about the bounce problem, should be better now :-) 73 CliveG3CWV Hitchin, North Hertfordshire, UK ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Tracking - End-stop Problem
Hi, A problem that I've had for many years is how to track when the satellite's azimuth crosses across the rotator's end-stop, ie. when the azimuth changes from 0 to 359 degrees. My rotator turns between 0 and 450 degrees, so it should be possible to use angles between 360 and 450 to overcome a sudden transition from 0 to 360 degrees. As the pass data is available within the tracking program, it should be feasible to deal with the problem in the program. Do any tracking programs include this feature? A possible solution would be to use a small PIC between the computer and tracker, which could modify the commanded azimuth. I'm using a Yaseu 5500, LVB tracker, Sat_Explorer tracking program and WinXP. Any help, suggestions or comments would be most welcome. 73 CliveG3CWV Hitchin, North Hertfordshire, UK ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: Graph of eclipse/sunlight
Hi Andy, I've done quite a lot on eclipse study, although not quite what you are looking for. I suggest you have a look at the SATILL package on my website www.g3cwv.co.uk . It's on the general satellite and oscar-11 pages. The program uses James Miller's PLAN10/13 routines converted to QBASIC. It should be possible to modify the code for your own requirements. In the past I've produced a number of versions of the code, which have produced lists of data, which can be imported into a spreadsheet and plotted. BTW the QBASIC interpreter can be freely download from the web. I'm currently rewriting SATILL so that it runs in BBC BASIC for Windows, as this is now my preferred programming language, and allows the original PLAN10/13 routines to be run without modification. HTH 73 Clive G3CWV Hitchin, North Hertfordshire, UK andy thomas wrote: I've been looking at some cosmonauts' historic accounts of missions on the Salyut series of orbital spacecraft. Characteristically they have drawn a graph of the eclipse and sunlight times of the long duration mission. The vertical axis is time after EQX of the first orbit of the day (the entry into and departure from eclipse is marked on this axis in 5 minute intervals) and the horizontal axis is the mission day. The result is a graph in which lines extend horizontally conencting the eclipse times (both in and out), and they have characteristically filled in the darkness time with dark pen. On one print the light time has another contour with what appears to be sun angle. The graph has then been added to by showing the plan and actual activity on that mission day. I would find it interesting to compute a similar graph for a long duration mission of the ISS. But I have some difficulty. From a TLE I can do the following: *calculate first eqx in utc but can't find the time of crossing into eclipse without knowing the position of the sun and the position of the spacecraft in relation to the sun (Subsatellite point?). Does anyone have any idea about the calculation and data involved? It must have been a hand calculation carried out by cosmonauts, but once a simple program is written I could use excel to draw the graph. Maybe a standard predictor program can produce a data output that could be rewritten into excel? I'd need the eclipse times on the orbit following the first eqx of the day. I would appreciate any input, also any thoughts of why they would want to draw it (have only thought of observation and power). many thanks 73 de andy G0SFJ ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: UO-11 mode S beacon
Auke de Jong, VE6PWN wrote: Just a quick query regarding UO-11's Mode-S beacon at 2401.5. In a couple of places I have read that the Mode-S beacon is said to transmit continuously, while others list that beacon as non-operational. I have also noticed that it is listed a few times as having been heard(telemetry only) on the oscar.dcarr.org site inside their database, using Mode-S. I am wondering if it is worthwhile to listen for this beacon (using my newly installed BBQ-grid antenna), or is it definitely not making any noise? The mode-S beacon is OFF, and has not been heard for many years. The status telemetry indicates that only the VHF beacon is ON. When the mode-S beacon was active, it did transmit continuously, a steady carrier, very weak, with lots of Doppler. A trace of telemetry modulation has been detected, although this may have been due to accidental coupling within the satellite. If you look on my website, www.g3cwv.co.uk there is an audio clip of what it sounded like and a spectro-gram of the signal. The news archive gives details of when it was transmitting mode-S. HTH 73 Clive G3CWV Hitchin, North Hertfordshire, UK ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] OSCAR-11 Report
OSCAR-11 REPORT 14 January 2010 This report covers the period from 30 November 2009 to 14 January 2010. During this time the satellite was heard briefly on 10 11 December and then from 31 December until 10 January. Good signals were received, and decoded. Sometimes signals have been very strong, although frequent changes in polarisation have been observed. The satellite was not heard during solar eclipses, which now occur during the afternoon and evening passes over the UK. The last two 'off' periods have lasted 14 and 19 days respectively, suggesting that the watchdog timer has been reset. However, the last transmission period lasted for the full ten days, so it is possible that transmissions may resume after ten days of silence, ie. around 20 January. However, please note that the satellite's behaviour is now very unpredictable, and until a pattern of operation is established, it is impossible to predict what will happen next, with any certainty. The telemetry is unchanged from the 2008 downloads. The on-board clock is now 252 days slow. When last received in 2008 it was 83 days slow. The increasing error suggests that the clock may be stopping, when the satellite is in eclipse. During the last transmission period the date failed to increment on one occasion, from 29 to 30 May. - RECEPTION REPORTS REQUESTED! Please send reception reports to xx...@amsat.org (replace x by g3cwv) or post to amsat-bb. If you have a file, please discuss it with me, before sending it! You may also like to add your reception report to the live satellite status page, on the website set up by David KD5QGR and Bob WB4APR. The URL is http://oscar.dcarr.org/index.php The satellite transmits on 145.826 MHz., set receiver to NBFM. OSCAR-11 has a characteristic sound, rather like raspy slow morse code, sending di di dah dah dah dah dah dah dah sent over five seconds. If you are receiving a very weak signal, switch the receiver to CW or SSB. You should hear several sidebands around the carrier frequency, should be able to hear the characteristic 'morse code like' sound usually on at least two of the sidebands. Please note that you need a clean noise free signal to decode the signals. There is an audio clip on my website www.g3cwv.co,uk which may be useful for identification and as test signal for decoding. - Reception reports have been received from Peter ZL3TC, Mike DK3WN, Jon 2M0IBO and Detlef DJ3AK. Many thanks for those. The Beacon frequencies are - VHF 145.826 MHz. AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry UHF 435.025 MHz. OFF S-band 2401.5 MHz. OFF The satellite is now subject to eclipses during every orbit. Long term predictions indicate that eclipses will occur until 2019, when there will be some eclipse free periods until 2023. However these very long term predictions should be regarded with caution, as large tracking errors can accumulate over long periods of time. When analogue telemetry was last received in March 2005, it showed that one of the solar arrays had failed, and there was a large unexplained current drain on the main 14 volt bus. After 25 years in orbit the battery has undergone over 100,000 partial charge/discharge cycles, and observations suggest that it cannot power the satellite during eclipses lasting more than about ten minutes, or sometimes even during periods of poor solar attitude. Study of the satellite's behaviour prior to 2008 suggested that its battery would not sustain operation during solar eclipses, and the watchdog timer would switch the satellite OFF after less than an orbit. Eclipses are now occur during every orbit and will continue for many years. In practice this meant that OSCAR-11 would only be heard occasionally by stations monitoring the frequency while listening for other satellites. The satellite unexpectedly started sustained transmissions during November 2009, suggesting that there may have been a failure causing reduced drain on the power supplies or a change in the watchdog timer characteristics. The current status of the satellite, is that all the analogue telemetry channels, 0 to 59 are zero, ie they have failed. The status channels 60 to 67 are still working. The real time clock is showing a large accumulated error, although over short periods timekeeping is accurate to a few seconds per month. The day of the month has a bit stuck at 'one' so the day of the month may show an error of +40 days for some dates. The time display has switched into 12 hour mode. Unfortunately, there is no AM/PM indicator, since the time display format was designed for 24 hour mode. The spacecraft computer and active attitude control system have switched OFF, ie. the satellite' attitude is controlled only by the passive gravity boom gradient, and the satellite is free to spin at any speed. The watchdog timer now operates on a 20 day cycle. The ON/OFF times have tended to be
[amsat-bb] OSCAR-11 News
Hi, aAter about 15 days of silence, UO-11 switched on this week, on Thursday 10th December, as reported by Amando N8IJG, . Good signals received during daylight passes, on Thursday Friday. However, nothing heard today, 12 December.. I would be b very interested in knowing whether anyone heard it, or listened and did not hear it, between 11:25 UTC 11 December and 08:26 UTC 12 December. Also reports of when it's next heard, please. Based on previous observations, it's probably worth listening for it again in 10 to 20 days time, ie between 22 December and 01 January. 73 Clive G3CWV Hitchin, North Hertfordshire, UK ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] OSCAR-11 News
Hi, UO-11 switched on this week on Thursday 10th December, after about 15 days of silence. Good signals received during daylight passes, on Thursday Friday. However, nothing heard today. I would be interested in knowing whether anyone heard it, or listened and did not hear it, between 11:25 UTC 11 December and 08:26 UTC 12 December. Also reports of when it's next heard, pleaase. Based on previous observations, it's probably worth listening for it again in 10 to 20 days time, ie between 22 December and 01 January. 73 Clive G3CWV Hitchin, North Hertfordshire, UK ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] OSCAR-11 Report
OSCAR-11 REPORT 30 November 2009 This report covers the period from 21 April 2008 to 30 November 2009. The satellite unexpectedly resumed transmissions recently. It was first heard by Keith N4ZQ on 19 November 2009 and transmissions continued until it switched OFF on 27 November. It was last heard by Tetsu JA0CAW at 23:59 UTC 26 November 2009. Previously, it was last heard by Peter ZL3TC on 23 April 2008, on a single pass. Study of the satellite's behaviour had suggested that its battery would not sustain operation during solar eclipses, and the watchdog timer would switch the satellite OFF after less than an orbit. Eclipses are now occur during every orbit and will continue for many years. In practice this meant that OSCAR-11 would only be heard occasionally by stations monitoring the frequency while listening for other satellites. During this period of inactivity the satellite achieved 25 years in orbit on 01 March 2009. Congratualtions to Professor Sir Martin Sweeting, his team at the University of Surrey and participating amateur radio groups, for this fine achievment. Good signals have been received by stations located all over the world during this recent period of activity and telemetry has been decoded successfully. However, the satellite has only transmitted when in sunlight. I have been overwhelmed by the number of reports received, too many to list individually! Many thanks to everyone who sent email reports or posted to AMSAT-BB. The telemetry is unchanged from the 2008 downloads. The on-board clock is now 241 days slow. When last received in 2008 it was 83 days slow. The increasing error suggests that the clock may be stopping, when the satellite is in eclipse. The exact date when the satellite started transmitting is not known, so if the watchdog timer was reset, the next transmissions might start around 16 December, however if the timer went through its full operating cycle, transmissions could resume around 06 December. The Beacon frequencies are - VHF 145.826 MHz. AFSK FM ASCII Telemetry UHF 435.025 MHz. OFF S-band 2401.5 MHz. OFF The satellite is now subject to eclipses during every orbit. Long term predictions indicate that eclipses will occur until 2019, when there will be some eclipse free periods until 2023. However these very long term predictions should be regarded with caution, as large tracking errors can accumulate over long periods of time. When telemetry was last received it showed that one of the solar arrays had failed, and there was a large unexplained current drain on the main 14 volt bus. After 25 years in orbit the battery has undergone over 100,000 partial charge/discharge cycles, and observations suggest that it cannot power the satellite during eclipses lasting more than about ten minutes, or sometimes even during periods of poor solar attitude. - RECEPTION REPORTS REQUESTED! Please send reception reports to xx...@amsat.org (replace x by g3cwv) or post to amsat-bb. If you have a file, please let me know what you have, before sending it! The satellite transmits on 145.826 MHz., set receiver to NBFM. OSCAR-11 has a characteristic sound, rather like raspy slow morse code, sending di di dah dah dah dah dah dah dah sent over five seconds. If you are receiving a very weak signal, switch the receiver to CW or SSB. You should hear several sidebands around the carrier frequency, should be able to hear the characteristic 'morse code like' sound on at least one sideband. Please note that you need a clean noise free signal to decode the signals. There is an audio clip on my OLD website www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew/ which may be useful for identification and as test signal for decoding. - The current status of the satellite, is that all the analogue telemetry channels, 0 to 59 are zero, ie they have failed. The status channels 60 to 67 are still working. The real time clock is showing a large accumulated error, although over short periods timekeeping is accurate to a few seconds per month. When last heard the clock was 241 days slow. The day of the month has a bit stuck at 'one' so the day of the month may show an error of +40 days for some dates. The time display has switched into 12 hour mode. Unfortunately, there is no AM/PM indicator, since the time display format was designed for 24 hour mode. The spacecraft computer and active attitude control system have switched OFF, ie. the satellite' attitude is controlled only by the passive gravity boom gradient, and the satellite is free to spin at any speed. The watchdog timer now operates on a 20 day cycle. The ON/OFF times have tended to be very consistent. The average of many observations show this to be 20.7 days, ie. 10.3 days ON followed by 10.4 days OFF. However, poor solar attitude may result may result in a low 14 volt line supply, which may cause the
[amsat-bb] Re: UO-11 heard
Hi, Very many thanks to everyone who sent reception reports of this satellite or posted them to this bulletin board. I've been overwhelmed by the number received! I've replied to most, but my apologies if I've missed anyone. I've been receiving good signals from the satellite during the morning passes, when it was not in eclipse. However, today ( Nov 27) nothing heard this morning, so the watchdog timer may have caused the bird to switch off. I would be interested in any reports of reception AFTER 09:30 UTC 26 November. I'll write full report at the end of the month, after reviewing the reports, and data collected. BTW due to the failure of my former ISP, following a company take-over, I was forced to change my personnel e-mail address and website earlier this year. My sincere apologies if I haven't replied to any e-mails sent earlier this year. Please resend via the AMSAT reflector. 73 CliveG3CWV ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] OSCAR-11 Heard!
Hi, I have received two reports from Keith N4ZQ (EL88ob) that he has heard UO-11 on 19 November at 13:33 - 13:43, and on 22 November at 13:02 UTC. He has sent me a WAV file of the second pass. Unfortunately, it's a very low elevation pass, and probably will be difficult to decode, as it contains a lot of noise. However it's definitely UO-11. I'll be interested in receiving any other reports. The frequency is 145.826 MHz. Mode is FM. Further details are on my OLD website www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivewThere is an audio clip to help identify the satellite. Please e-mail me via the AMSAT reflector, or post to this bulletin board. 73 Clive G3CWV Hitchin, North Hertfordshire, UK ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
[amsat-bb] Re: DO-64 software support for PSK-1(T) hardware?
Hi, I too am very interested using a TNC dor captuting DO-64 telemetry. Earlier in the year, I had some success using my PK-88 TNC in KISS mode, with a G3RUH PSK modem. Results were better than with the soundcard software. I had hoped to develop a simple TLM decoding program, based on my OSCAR-11 software. However, at the time I was unable to obtain full details of the telemetry format and decoding equations. Can any one on this group provide this essential information? Any help would be much appreciated. Please reply ONLY to this group, as I'm currently having major problems with receiving e-mails at my usual address. 73 CliveG3CWV Hitchin, North Hertfordshire, UK. ___ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
