Spaceflight’s SSO-A…An Amateur Radio Satellite Bonanza

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SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Air Force Base has no fewer than seventeen Amateur Radio satellite payloads.  A list of the known Amateur Radio missions, websites and their downlink frequencies is as  follows. Which is currently scheduled for Dec 2, 2018.

From the SSO-A Website

We’re launching our first fully dedicated rideshare mission, dubbed SSO-A SmallSat Express, later this year aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 out of Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Not only does it represent the company’s first purchase of an entire Falcon 9 to accommodate the growing number of customers seeking affordable rideshare options to launch their spacecraft into orbit, it’s also an historic launch:

It’s the largest single rideshare mission from a US-based launch vehicle to date.

Spaceflight has contracted with 64 spacecraft from 34 different organizations for the mission to a Sun-Synchronous Low Earth Orbit. It includes 15 microsats and 49 cubesats from both commercial and government entities, of which more than 25 are from international organizations from 17 countries, including United States, Australia, Italy, Netherlands, Finland, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, UK, Germany, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Poland, Canada, Brazil, and India.

CSIM
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=585A
Downlink 437.250 MHz

ESEO
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=82

Downlink on 437.00MHz and a transponder Uplink on 1263.500MHz
have been coordinated. A revised downlink frequency of 145.895 MHz has been coordinated for FM voice and 1k2/4k8 BPSK telemetry. The ESA has released a video of the satellite’s development:
https://tinyurl.com/ESA-Student-Orbiter

Exseed
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=636

Downlink 145.900 MHz for FM repeater 67 Hz and digipeater downlink and for telemetry and 435.340 MHz for repeater and digipeater uplink

Fox 1C (Fox 1Cliff)
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=455

Downlink 145.920 MHz for FM voice and  DUV data and Uplinks on 435.300 and 1267.300 MHz

JY1-Sat
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=554

Downlink 145.840 MHz and transponder downlink passband on 145.855-145.875 MHz with an inverting uplink on 435.100 – 435.120 MHz

K2SAT
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/admin/update.php?serial=552

Downlink TLM beacon 435.835 MHz, FM Repeater 436.225 MHz Data 2404.000 MHz. FM Repeater Uplink 145.980 MHz

KNACKSAT
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=520

Downlink 435.635 MHz

IRVINE02
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=557

Downlink 437.450 MHz

ITASAT
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=435

Downlink 145.860 MHz and 2400.150 MHz

MinXSS-2
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=477

Downlink 437.250 MHz

MOVE-2
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=487

To avoid a frequency clash with another mission, a revised downlink
frequency of 145.950 MHz has been coordinated for 9k6 BPSK

PW-Sat-2
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=545

Downlink 435.275 MHz

RANGE A & B
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/admin/update.php?serial=497

Downlink 437.150 MHz (A) and 437.475 MHz (B)

SNUGLITE
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/admin/update.php?serial=529

Downlink 437.275 MHz has been coordinated

SNUSAT-2
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/admin/update.php?serial=509

Downlink 437.625 MHz and 2402 MHz

SUOMI-100
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/admin/update.php?serial=507

Downlink 437.775 MHz and 2410 MHz

Visioncube
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=607

Downlink 437.425 MHz

[ANS thanks AMSAT-UK for the above information.]

ATV – Fast-Scan Amateur Television

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ATV base station block diagram

From the ARRL website….

Introduction

Amateur Television is a great way to combine ham radio with other hobbies, such as RC model airplanes and model rocketry.  Amateur Radio can be used to send video from a remote camera back to the operator over long distances, provided the path is line of sight. For information on other ways to work with images over radio, check the Image Modes page.

Articles

 Amateur Television from Model Planes and Rockets 
Joe Bottiglieri, AA1GW, QST Sept. 2000, pp. 41-44

 An Introduction to Amateur Television – Part 1
QST April 1993, pp. 19-23

 An Introduction to Amateur Television – Part 2 
QST May 1993, pp. 43-47
The basic ATV Station

An Introduction to Amateur Television – Part 3
QST June 1993, pp. 35-41

DVB-T A Solution for ARES Television Operations
QST June 2015 pp. 42-44

Web Links

Tour of the USS Requin Submarine – NY3EC

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Today I got a person tour of the USS Requin Submarine which one of our members Art, WA3BKD volunteers his time twice a week.  As Art likes to say the USS Requin is the best damm submarine in Pittsburgh.  If you going down to the Carnegie Science Center of the north shore I would recommend that you check to see if Art working that day since he can give you a personal tour of the sub.  He is highly knowledgeable about the sub you can point to anything and he will be able to tell you what it is for and how it worked.  Check out the sub history at the Science Center website:

http://www.carnegiesciencecenter.org/exhibits/requin-submarine-history/

 

60 METER TESTS

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Every Saturday morning, following the 9:00 WPA ARES Voice Net on 3.983 MHz, we have been meeting on the 60 meter band to make signal strength comparisons across our WPA Section, and to try different antenna configurations to determine what works best to cover or 25,000 square-mile Section.

 

We meet on 60 meters on 5403.5 kHz upper sideband immediately after the 80 meter net. If that channel is in use, we will use 5371.5 USB. Even if your equipment cannot transmit on the 60 meter band, please tune in and listen, then send me a report of the stations you heard, and your signal report for each. This information is very useful, and the more reports we get the more meaningful the information becomes.

CHAPTER 6 QCWA MEETING

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The next meeting of the QCWA Chapter 6 will be held on Saturday, December 8.  This is the second Saturday in December in order to avoid a scheduling conflict with the Pittsburgh Antique Radio Society.  The doors open at Noon and we start shortly thereafter. We will be returning to our previous venue of:

Rocky’s Bar and Grill                   Directions: https://goo.gl/maps/Pmgof9sV9X42
1562 Island Ave.
McKees Rocks, PA

As usual, solicitations are made for presentations with a bribe of a free lunch. Volunteers please contact President Jack Buzon, KA3HPM, ahead of time for agenda sequencing.  So far, our meeting agenda will include the election of nominated officers for 2019, breaking bread, and swapping stories.  Our outrageous five dollar annual dues are due by cash, check, or negotiable securities. Please note the Fleming Park Bridge is out and access to Rocky’s can be had via Route 51 out of Coraopolis or Island Avenue out of McKees Rocks. 

Nate Firestone W3SVJ
Chapter Secretary

Hamshack Hotline

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HAMSHACK HOTLINE       https://hamshackhotline.com                                                   This would be a nice addition to our E-Comm station and get other clubs in the area to get involved to have a back up system if the radio system is busy. Faxing and video can be used over the IP phone also.
Karl, WA3VXJ

About Hamshack Hotline

Hamshack Hotline (HH) is a FREE dedicated voip telecom service for the Ham R to radio community. Typically, phones are established in hamshacks, EOCs, Clubs & club members, ARES, and other Ham related areas and functions. It is not the intention of HH to replace traffic carried over radio in an emergency or other tactical operation, but rather to augment it, by offloading managerial tactical operations and providing a full duplex path for such communications when spectrum is occupied, conditions diminished, or otherwise unavailable. HH also supports FAXing of information (with appropriate equipment) which allows tactical offices to share documents & data between tactical locations. In a non-tactical use, HH is an effective resource for off-air troubleshooting when you need to coordinate a troubleshoot of a radio circuit off-air and between multiple SMEs. In addition to all this, conference bridges on the HH network allow large groups of Hams to coordinate & meet in real time anywhere in the world.
Getting on board HH is easy! Just acquire a supported SIP capable phone (our network prefers to register hardware phones first), and open a ticket once you have your phone. If you have one of the phones on our supported hardware list, then also include a picture of the Phone’s MAC address for super easy provisioning.

Steel City Involvement:

Beside members getting a handset Steel City could purchase extra handset for the Allegheny EOC, Salvation Army, American Red Cross, the National Weather Service and we can make them available to local clubs also.   If you look at the map below you can see the country is pretty well covered already except for the Western PA area.   Steel City can lead the way with this build out.  For example last SETI drill Skyview 5 Mhz set up failed and Steel City had to take over net control.  With Hamshack Hotline we could continue having a speakerphone connection with Skyviewv clubhouse  and the person in charge of the drill.  This system would work over an digital mesh network that has been brought up several times. There even examples of being able to tie the phone connection to a club repeater network.
Christine, N3LRG

For more information: https://hamshackhotline.com/