Mission accomplished for the Naval Academy’s Small Satellite program. As part of NASA’s recent Return to Flight mission aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery(STS-114),the Academy’s second student prototype communications satellite is now in orbit on the International Space Station (ISS).

The PCSAT2 project is conducted under the Academy’s Small Satellite program with the guidance of Lieutenant Colonel Billy Smith and Senior Research Engineer Bob Bruninga.Resembling a small suitcase,PCSAT2 includes USNA’s communications package,along with MISSE 5,a Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) experiment.Soichi Noguchi, STS-114 mission specialist representing Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency,installed the suitcase on the outside of the ISS,and the satellite is now transmitting data back to Earth.

Read the full article here.

The first amateur satellite (OSCAR-1) was launched on December the 12th 1961. OSCAR while a nice name, does actually have a meaning, Orbital Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio, and there has been more than 70 to date. Next weekend (15th/16th) is JOTA weekend.

The Jamboree-On-The-Air (JOTA) is an annual event in which about 500,000 Scouts and Guides all over the world make contacts with each other by means of amateur radio. It is a real Jamboree during which Scouting experiences are exchanged and ideas are shared, thus contributing to the world brotherhood of Scouting.

Members of South Eastern Amateur Radio Group and Tipperary Amateur Radio Group will be helping out in Waterford helping scouts to get “On the Air”.

Especially for this event, AO-51 will be configured in the Dual FM repeater mode. This will provide two independent FM repeaters (separate uplink and downlink frequencies) for use over the weekend. Both repeaters will be for use by the JOTA activity. This mode will run Monday through Friday before the event to allow amateur satellite stations to familiarise and test this mode. It is planned to operate a portable satellite station on the 15th.

See you on the bird!

It has been a while since I got a chance to put something on here. Lets see, workwise I’m very busy. I managed to get in a visit to Moss (still recuperating from his very close call), while on a work trip to Spain. We enjoyed a few pints before work interfered ;), and I had to head up the road to University of Murcia for a SEINIT meeting.

Moving away from work, I ordered (and since received) a DTMF Remote Control from NHRC Repeater Controllers. I’m going to use it as a remote switch for a Valemount Networks Wireless Advanced Router (aka WARboard), that I’ve received (thanks Lonnie) and is going to be put into service in the attic. I currently have a Celeron PC serving as my Node, but its a big beast, uses a noticeable abount of juice (and can make quite a racket as well.. just ask Dee 🙁 ).

Also, I was trying to get the Yaese FT-736 in the WIT clubs radio shack up and running as a PCSAT2 groundstation, but unfortunately there is a fault in the radio, so that idea has gone onto the back-burner.

Staying with the radio theme. I’m awaiting the delivery of a PCI serial port controller card. I’m plannig to use it as a) an APRS Igate, while using the radio for the NHRC DTMF Remote, and b) to effect Doppler frequency correction on my Yaesu Ft-847 for UHF Satellite downlinks. At least that is the plan at the moment.

Lastly I’m trying to put together a portable APRS station that I can bring mobile to Australia later on this year. I’ve just got the APRS Igate in the college to send and receive email, so it might come in handy while ‘down under’.

PCSAT2 is operational. I was reading about the requirements for a groundstations here and realised that I had enough bits and pieces lying around that should, if I was lucky enough to have PCSAT transmit while it was directly overhead, allow me to receive PCSAT2 Telemetry.

The problem with receiving data at 437.975MHz is the amount of doppler shift involved. i.e. the radio needs to be tuned high as PCSAT2 is approaching and tuned low as it is moving away. However, for the center of an overhead pass, the signal has zero Doppler and the satellite is about 9 dB closer (higher signal strength) than when at the horizon. The problem with this is that PCSAT2 only provides this geometry twice a day per station and only for 2 minutes or less.

So, I got my TH-D7 and a 2m 1/4 wave antenna and set them up, not really expecting anything, and voila:
# Fri Aug 05 10:04:36 IST 2005
ISSTLM>APRS,SGATE,WIDE:{TPBS4LkOqPjmiQhb2SdF6VYNWYUK6ZP/SbLnmcHomdDrieAASfo1UEo0Eno1U1o0ZEo0lMo2dSo4pVo2Ndo3Voo4Fpo2F1nPKKnf+Im+KLnIiKmjmMmw+LlryO
… along with several more lines

I was stunned, such a simple setup and yet it worked. I’m hoping now to setup some of the equipment in WITs Radio Shack to act as a ground station for the summer (it’s not as if any students will be using the equipment), and with the addition of doppler tuning, it should be able to recieve much more data.

From the APRS Special Interest Group mailing list, in an email from Matthew C Payne.

“It took Dave Norris (KG9AE) about a day to whip this up. Its pretty darn impressive what can be accomplished with this new API”

I’ve been playing about with it and its quite good, much more accurate as you zoom in. I’m looking at my car out in the atlantic at the moment. As I zoom in, it puts it in the carpark outside. Very cool.

While I knew that Michael Griffin was nominated by George Bush and appointed to be the new NASA administrator. What i didn’t know (until I picked up a copy of CQ Amateur Radio magazine in Borders Bookshop, Charing Cross Road last week), was that Mr. Griffin is also a Radio Ham. Along with holding the callsign NR3A, he is into scuba diving and is an accomplished pilot. I hope he gets an easier ride than Mr O’Keefe had.

From legrandobserver.com

“Rule No. 1 of being a search and rescue volunteer — don’t get lost.

It sounds simple. But consider the challenges faced by the 50 or so volunteers who might respond when someone is reported missing in Union County’s backcountry.

There’s a good chance it might be late afternoon with the light fading, if it is not completely dark.

The weather is often difficult — snow, rain, slippery conditions.

The knowledge of the area on the part the person making the report has to be considered. Was the missing hunter or hiker planning to go down this ridge line, or that one?

Now, though, Union County’s search and rescue group has a new tool that it believes will make keeping track of the searchers a much safer, easier part of the process.

Called a Pocket Tracker, the new equipment is a carry-along unit consisting of a GPS and radio unit, set to a HAM radio frequency. The unit reports in every few minutes automatically….”

Its good to see this simple technology being used effectively. The PocketTrackers were supplied by Tony Barrett of byonics. The article is slightly incorrect in that they don’t come in anything like 90 pieces, more like about 50 components, and that includes short lenghts of wire to make up Coils with.