Session Presented by In association with Carlos Eavis, G0AKI RSGB

Amateur Satellite Beginners Dave Johnson, G4DPZ AMSAT-UK / AMSAT-NA Welcome OSCAR? History A bit of orbit theory Satellite operation Satellite modes Ground station equipment What's up! We are going to cover: z z z z z z z arrying arrying C atellite

Oscar... S rbiting O adio R mateur An OSCAR is an A Built for non-commercial purposes Project OSCAR members built by Originally in garages Silicon Valley members of funded by and/or Now built by AMSAT and affiliates a “bleep sat”Originally but now carry sophisticated repeaters or transponders sensors and other Are encouraged to carry scientific experiments z z z z z z A bit of History OSCAR-I , which had a battery powered 140mw transmitter operating in the 2 meter band. Transmit it’s message of “HI” for three weeks and re- entered the atmosphere on January 31, 1962 after making 312 orbits. The greeting “HI” is used in almost all beacons, including AO-40’s telemetry beacon, built and launched by the Amateur Satellite service. z z z A bit of History Sputnik 1 was the world's first Earth- orbiting artificial satellite. Launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957. z How is a Satellite Designed FM v Linear Transponder Some important terms Threats to Satellites Orbital Comparison Satellite Orbit Tracks Inclined Orbit Molnya Satellite Coverage ‏

High Earth Orbit (HEO) ‏

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) CubeSats Based on a 10cm cube but some can be a bit bigger Operate in Amateur Satellite allocation AX-25 protocol & others z z z Student Satellites PCSAT 1 US Naval Academy Aerospace student project APRS protocol note the antennas! z z z z Operation a Satellite ‏

Ground Station Equipment Antennas (rotators) Preamps Radios Peripherals Tracking Software / Computers z z z z z Delfi-C3 transponder enabled ‏

Antennas Handheld antennas: Good for portable ops (and SOTA) Commercial Arrow Antennas z z z Antennas Handheld antennas: DIY out available materials You will need a Mux z z z Antennas Extreme portable!: Howard Long, G6LVB Used on AO-40 very successfully z z z Antennas Wimo X antenas Yaesu G5500 rotator Homebrew dish with modified LNB Fixed Station: z z z Antennas Cubesat C&C: M2 antenas M2 Rotator Part of the GENSO network Fixed Station for z z z Handheld Transceiver The minimum you need The minimum you need to operate. TH-D7e Dual Band Duplex APRS CTCSS z z z z z z Base Station FT-847 Excellent sat capabilities but no longer in production z z Base Station TS-2000 Really good all round radio with satellite facilities Does have a birdie on SO-50 downlink! z z z Base Station IC-910 VHF/UHF/L-Band Designed for Satellite op's Old ones were deaf Mine's fine! z z z z z Ideal Groundstation for LEO What's Up! ‏ We have three types of satellite: Operational Semi-Operational Deceased R.I.P. (not rust in piece, space) z z z z ‏ ‏ z CW (10dB below transponder PEP) 145.880 - 145.920 MHz (inverting) MHz 1200 Baud BPSK AX.25 400mW MHz 1200 Baud BPSK AX.25 400mW uplink: 435.570 - 435.530 MHz

Operational Satellites DO-64 Delfi-C3 Launch Date: April 28, 2008 Primary telemetry downlink: 145.870 Backup telemetry downlink: 145.930 Linear transponder passband downlink: 400mW Linear transponder passband Transponder mode beacon: 145.870 MH Delfi-C3 web page: http://www.delfic3.nl/ z z z z z z z z VO-52 HAMSAT Launch Date: May 05,2005 Frequencies:Indian Transponder: Uplink: 435.220 to 435.280 MHz LSB/CW Downlink: 145.930 to 145.870 MHz USB/CW Dutch Transponder: Uplink: 435.225 to 435.275 MHz LSB/CW Downlink: 145.925 to 145.875 MHz USB/CW Polarization: Mode and Antenna V: LHCP U: RHCP z z z z z z z z z

Operational Satellites MHz FM 145.920 MHz FM / 435.150 MHz FM / 2401.200 Mhz MHz FM / 435.150 435.300 1268.700 MHz FM 67Hz PL tone 145.880 MHZ FM / 145.880 MHz USB / 145.880 MHZ FM / MHz 435.150 MHz FM 9k6 Pacsat Broadcast Protocol 435.150 MHz FM 9k6 Pacsat Broadcast 2401.200 MHz FM 38k4 bps, AX.25 1268.700 mhz FM 9k6 PBP Digital

Operational Satellites AO-51 ECHO Launch date: June 29, 2004 June date: AO-51 ECHO Launch Analog voice downlink: voice uplink: Analog 435.150 MHz FM 38k4 PBP, 1 watt output Digital Downlinks: Protocol Digital Uplink: 145.860 MHz FM 9k6 Pacsat Broadcast 435.150 MHz Beacon: z z z z z z z z z z to send a CTCSS tone of 74.4 Hz. in the 10 minute window will reset in the 10 minute in the 10 Minute window. Launch date: December 20, 2002 Launch MHz MHz FM - 67.0 Hz PL tone 436.795 Operational Satellites 145.850 on board the spacecraft. SO-50 SAUDISAT-1C Uplink: Downlink: To switch the transmitter on, you need The order of operation is thus: (allow for Doppler as necessary): a tone of 74.4 Hz to arm the 10 minute timer on 145.850 MHz with 1) Transmit 67.0 Hz to PT the (FM Voice) using 2) Now transmit on 145.850 MHz repeater on and off with 3) Sending the 74.4 tone again with the 10 minute timer. z z z z z z z z z z z site. www.amsat.org

Operational Satellites In addition, we have several satellites that schedules under which they are operational due to current solar illumination conditions: FO-29 JAS-2 AO-27 AMRAD AO-16 PACSAT AO-7 AMSAT OSCAR 7 Details can be found on the z z z z z KO-25 KITSAT KO-23 KITSAT UO-22 UOSAT AO-21 AMSAT-OSCAR 21 FO-20 JAS-1b LIBERTAD-1 LO-19 LUSAT WO-18 WEBERSAT DO-17 Dove UO-14 UoSAT-3 FO-12 Fuji-OSCAR 12 AO-10 OSCAR 10 AO-8 AMSAT-OSCAR 8 AO-6 AMSAT-OSCAR 6 AO-5 Australis-OSCAR 5 III OSCAR RS-15 RADIO SPORT RS-13 RADIO SPORT RS-12 RADIO SPORT ‏

R.I.P. CP4 HO-59 HITSat NCUBE-2 XO-53 SSETI UWE-1 (SAFIR-M) AO-49 AATiS OSCAR-49 MO-46 TIUNGSAT-1 NO-45 SAPPHIRE SO-42 SAUDISAT-1B SO-41 SAUDISAT-1A AO-40 AMSAT OSCAR 40 OO-38 OPAL UO-36 UoSAT-12 SO-35 SUNSAT PO-34 PANSAT SO-33 SEDSAT-1 TO-31 TMSAT-1 PO-28 POSAT-1 IO-26 ITAMSAT Other Resources You can find more details about Amateur Satellite Operations on the www here: www.amsat.org www.amsat.de www.amsat-dl.org z z z z Not so subtle Advert Membership of AMSAT-UK costs £15/year ALL money goes to funding Satellite related projects, fund now stands at £73K plus a £40K legacy All committee give their time for free Many current projects!!!! z z z z Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio History A bit of orbit theory Satellite operation Satellite modes Ground station equipment What's up! z z z z z z z

What we covered, phew! --...... -- Thank You waving antennas at satellites! answer any more questions. Or outside We'll be in GB4FUN for the next few hours to