AMSAT-UK

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ESA Announces Winning Radio Amateurs

Posted: 27 May 2016 09:01 AM PDT
https://amsat-uk.org/2016/05/27/esa-radio-ham-winners/

12-year-old Matteo Micheletti from Belgium received a special mention from
ESA for receiving the OUFTI-1 CubeSat

On April 21, 2016, ESAs Education Office set a challenge for the worldwide
radio amateur community to start listening out for three new orbiting
CubeSats. The results have now been released.

ESA’s Education Office published the transmission frequencies of the
student-built satellites that were about to be launched as part of the Fly
Your Satellite! Programme, and invited the radio amateur community to
listen out for them.

The first three radio amateurs to send a recorded signal from AAUSAT4,
e-st@r-II or OUFTI-1 would receive a prize from ESAs Education Office.
Hundreds of radio amateurs from around the world joined in the friendly
competition.

The CubeSats started sending signals after their release from the Soyuz
VS-14 rocket and the triggering of their automatic activation sequence.
Participants from Russia, USA, Poland, France, Belgium, Netherlands,
Brazil, Italy, Denmark, and more tuned their receivers and listened.

Thanks to skill and patience on the ground, the winners come from Russia,
the United States of America, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Contact with the first CubeSat came at 00:53:51 UT on April 26, 2016,
within an hour of its separation from the launcher. Dmitri Paschkow R4UAB,
Russia, heard the signal from OUFTI-1 using two receiving stations, in
Kemerovo and Ruzaevka. Upon hearing OUFTI-1, he communicated the news
immediately. “I understand that the students are worried [to hear from
their satellite] and decided to please them!� says Paschkow.

Just over an hour after the first signal from OUFTI-1 was recorded, the
next CubeSat checked in.

AAUSAT-4 was heard over California, US, by Justin Foley KI6EPH of
California Polytechnic State University. He had a personal interest in the
mission because some of his colleagues had developed the P-POD deployer
that was used to eject the CubeSats into orbit.

He was ready at the receiver from the moment of deployment but heard
nothing on that first pass, probably because the activation sequence had
not yet completed. The signal came through on the second pass, arriving at
02:02 UT.

“It was extremely exciting to see signals from the newly launched
satellite, and witness the beginning of a space mission�, says Foley.

Then the wait began for e-st@r-II. At 05:40:58 UT, something dimly lit the
screen of Mike Rupprecht DK3WN in Germany.Â* But something was not quite
right. It certainly looked like a signal from the last remaining CubeSat,
but why was the message so faint?Â* It galvanized the amateur radio
community to look harder.

Jan van Gils PE0SAT had to wait until May 2 at 16:38:05 UT to receive a
signal from e-st@r-IIÂ* that was strong enough to be decoded. Why e-st@r-II
was only transmitting weak signals is under investigation, but the most
important news is that all three CubeSats are functioning and transmitting,
and their signals can be decoded.

A special mention goes to a young radio amateur who scored a personal best.
Twelve year-old space enthusiast Matteo Micheletti from Belgium caught the
OUFTI-1 signal with a portable log periodic antenna and a portable
receiver. His triumph occurred on May 1, 2016 between 17:34 and 17:39 UT.

To mark their success, the radio amateur winners will each receive a Fly
Your Satellite! Poster, a goodie bag and a scale 1:1 3D printed model of a
CubeSat from ESA’s Education Office.

Read the full ESA story at
http://www.esa.int/Education/CubeSat...tition_winners

Three new CubeSats now in orbit
https://amsat-uk.org/2016/04/26/thre...-now-in-orbit/

D-STAR satellite to launch from Kourou
https://amsat-uk.org/2016/04/05/d-st...h-from-kourou/

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VHF Handbook Available for Download

Posted: 27 May 2016 07:29 AM PDT
https://amsat-uk.org/2016/05/27/vhf-handbook/


The new version of the IARU Region 1 VHF Handbook 7.50 covering VHF, UHF
and Microwaves is now available for download.

The handbook has chapters on Band Planning, Contests, Propagation Research,
Operating Procedures and the key Amateur Satellite section on pages
123-131. Page 116 specifies a standard for the use of circular polarization
defining which way helical beam antennas should be threaded.

Recommendations proposed in the Vienna meeting 2016 and approved by the
Executive Committee meeting in Brussels as well as all relevant decisions
of the IARU R1 Conference 2014 in Varna Bulgaria are included in this
version.

The handbook is available at

http://www.iaru-r1.org/index.php/doc...book-7.50.pdf/