Amateur Satelllite Beginners

Amateur Satellite Beginners Session
Presented by
Dave Johnson, G4DPZ AMSAT-UK / AMSAT-NA
In association with
Carlos Eavis, G0AKI RSGB

Welcome
We are going to cover:
OSCAR?
History
A bit of orbit theory
Satellite operation
Satellite modes
Ground station equipment
What's up!

Oscar...
An OSCAR is an O rbiting S atellite C arrying A mateur R adio
Built for non-commercial purposes
Originally built by Project OSCAR members in garages in Silicon Valley
Now built by and/or funded by members of AMSAT and AMSAT affiliates
Originally a “bleep sat” but now carry sophisticated repeaters or transponders
Are encouraged to carry sensors and other scientific experiments

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.

A bit of History
Sputnik 1 was the world's first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite. Launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957.

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

Student Satellites
PCSAT 1
US Naval Academy Aerospace student project
APRS protocol
note the antennas!

Operation a Satellite

Ground Station Equipment
Antennas (rotators)‏
Preamps
Radios
Peripherals
Tracking Software / Computers

Antennas
Handheld antennas:
Good for portable ops (and SOTA)‏
Commercial Arrow Antennas
Delfi-C3 transponder enabled

Antennas
Handheld antennas:
DIY out available materials
You will need a Mux

Antennas
Extreme portable!:
Howard Long, G6LVB
Used on AO-40 very successfully

Antennas
Fixed Station:
Wimo X antenas
Yaesu G5500 rotator
Homebrew dish with modified LNB

Antennas
Fixed Station for Cubesat C&C:
M2 antenas
M2 Rotator
Part of the GENSO network

Handheld Transceiver
The minimum you need to operate.
TH-D7e
Dual Band
Duplex
APRS
CTCSS

Base Station
FT-847
Excellent sat capabilities but no longer in production

Base Station
TS-2000
Really good all round radio with satellite facilities
Does have a birdie on SO-50 downlink!

Base Station
IC-910
VHF/UHF/L-Band
Designed for Satellite op's
Old ones were deaf
Mine's fine!

Ideal Groundstation for LEO

What's Up!
We have three types of satellite:
Operational
Semi-Operational
Deceased R.I.P. (not rust in piece, in space)‏

Operational Satellites
DO-64 Delfi-C3 Launch Date: April 28, 2008
Primary telemetry downlink: 145.870 MHz 1200 Baud BPSK AX.25 400mW
Backup telemetry downlink: 145.930 MHz 1200 Baud BPSK AX.25 400mW
Linear transponder passband downlink: 145.880 - 145.920 MHz (inverting)‏
400mW
Linear transponder passband uplink: 435.570 - 435.530 MHz
Transponder mode beacon: 145.870 MHz CW (10dB below transponder PEP)‏
Delfi-C3 web page: http://www.delfic3.nl/

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
Mode and Antenna Polarization:
V: LHCP U: RHCP

AO-51 ECHO Launch date: June 29, 2004
Analog voice downlink: 435.300 MHz FM / 435.150 MHz FM / 2401.200 Mhz FM
Analog voice uplink: 145.880 MHZ FM / 145.880 MHz USB / 145.920 MHz FM
1268.700 MHz FM 67Hz PL tone
Digital Downlinks: 435.150 MHz FM 38k4 PBP, 1 watt output
435.150 MHz FM 9k6 Pacsat Broadcast Protocol
2401.200 MHz FM 38k4 bps, AX.25
Digital Uplink: 145.860 MHz FM 9k6 Pacsat Broadcast Protocol
1268.700 mhz FM 9k6 PBP Digital
Beacon: 435.150 MHz

SO-50 SAUDISAT-1C Launch date: December 20, 2002
Uplink: 145.850 MHz FM - 67.0 Hz PL tone
Downlink: 436.795 MHz
To switch the transmitter on, you need to send a CTCSS tone of 74.4 Hz.
The order of operation is thus: (allow for Doppler as necessary):
1) Transmit on 145.850 MHz with a tone of 74.4 Hz to arm the 10 minute timer
on board the spacecraft.
2) Now transmit on 145.850 MHz (FM Voice) using 67.0 Hz to PT the
repeater on and off within the 10 Minute window.
3) Sending the 74.4 tone again within the 10 minute window will reset
the 10 minute timer.

In addition, we have several satellites that have 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 www.amsat.org site.

R.I.P. CP4 HO-59 HITSat NCUBE-2 XO-53 SSETI UWE-1 AO-49 AATiS OSCAR-49 (SAFIR-M)‏ 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 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 OSCAR III RS-15 RADIO SPORT RS-15 RS-13 RADIO SPORT RS-13 RS-12 RADIO SPORT RS-12

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

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!!!!

What we covered, phew!
Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio
History
A bit of orbit theory
Satellite operation
Satellite modes
Ground station equipment
What's up!

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

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Amateur Satelllite Beginners

by g4dpz on Nov 26, 2008

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Amateur Satelllite Beginners — Presentation Transcript