ARISS is planning a Slow Scan Television (SSTV) experiment from the International Space Station, scheduled to start on Tuesday, October 8, at 16:00 GMT and running until Monday, October 14, at 14:10 GMT.
There will be an interruption on Friday, October 11, for planned school contacts over Europe.
The SSTV transmissions will be made using the amateur radio station in the ISS Service Module. The transmission frequency will be 145.800 MHz FM, using SSTV mode PD120.
At 11:29 GMT on Saturday October 5, 2024, an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) radio contact between astronaut Sunita Williams KD2PLB aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and members of Girlguiding Surrey West County, took place at the Brooklands Museum and Brookland Innovation Academy, located in Weybridge, UK.
ARISS conducts 60-100 of these special Amateur Radio contacts each year between students around the globe and crew members with ham radio licenses aboard the ISS.
Girlguiding Surrey West is a charity organization for girls and young women. Girlguiding wants to inspire their members to learn skills in science, technology, engineering and math with fun guiding activities and science-based activities. The Brooklands Innovation Academy, established in 2022, creates inspirational STEM experiences for young people. The age range of the participants for this ARISS contact are 5 to 19 years old. By hosting this ARISS contact they are also demonstrating real-world application of STEM concepts (an important principle at Brooklands Museum) to space missions and are encouraging the girls to complete their space interest badge. The group is being supported by the Radio Society of Great Britain and the ARISS UK Team to establish the radio link.
Girlguiding patron, Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Edinburgh will attend and take part in the ARISS contact to help in promoting the engagement and involvement of girls and young women in STEM.
This will be a direct contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask their questions of astronaut Sunita Williams, amateur radio call sign KD5PLB. The downlink frequency for this contact is 145.800 MHz and may be heard by listeners that are within the ISS-footprint that also encompasses the relay ground station.
The amateur radio ground station for this contact is in Weybridge, UK. Amateur radio operators using call sign GB4GGB, will operate the ground station to establish and maintain the ISS connection.
The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for October 5, 2024 at 2:05:37 pm BST (Weybridge, UK) (13:05:22 UTC, 9:05 am EDT, 8:05 am CDT, 7:05 am MDT, 6:05 am PDT).
As time allows, students will ask these questions:
1. Who or what inspired you to become an astronaut and what advice would you have for any of these girls here today who might want to become an astronaut?
2. Do you have any free time and if so what do you spend your time doing?
3. There are many international time zones so how does time work on the ISS?
4. If you were not an astronaut, what job would you like to have instead?
5. What things do you like to take with you to remind you of home?
6. What is the hardest part of your job?
7. How does the food and drinks do you have in space compare to foods on earth?
8. What do you miss about Earth?
9. How long have you been on the international space station?
10. What was your reaction when you found out you had been selected to fly to the ISS?
11. What stars or other things have you seen in space?
12. Is space hot or cold?
13. Does space smell of anything?
14. How do you sleep in space?
15. What is your favorite planet and why?
16. Have you done a spacewalk? If so, what was it like?
17. The spacesuits look very heavy, are they uncomfortable to wear?
18. What is it like floating in space? Have you ever lost anything from it floating away?
19. What things do you like to take with you to remind you of home?
About ARISS:
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the ISS. In the United States, sponsors are the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC), Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation program (SCaN) and the ISS National Lab—Space Station Explorers. The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics topics. ARISS does this by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities take part in hands-on learning activities tied to space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see http://www.ariss.org/
Those satellite enthusiasts thinking of getting their UK Amateur Radio licence may like to know a Free online training courses are available at http://hamtrain.co.uk
AMSAT-UK is delighted to have been able to accept an opportunity to provide a FUNcube Lite payload, with a mode U/V FM transponder, for the exciting Jovian-1 satellite.
This 6U CubeSat is being designed and built by Space South Central which is the largest regional space cluster in the UK.
This is a partnership between industry and academia, designed to accelerate space business growth, grow the reputation
of the south central region of the UK and foster an environment of innovation.
A collaboration between the universities of Surrey, Portsmouth and Southampton, JUPITER – the Joint Universities Programme for In-Orbit Training, Education and Research – will equip participants with invaluable hands-on space industry experience and training for their future careers.
The FUNcube Lite payload from AMSAT-UK will collect and send telemetry from Jovian-1 sub-systems for educational outreach to schools and colleges, using the tried and tested FUNcube data format.
Telemetry will include data from the payload’s own radiation sensor, along with GPS information gathered from the satellite’s CAN bus.
These data can be used to map radiation throughout the orbit, identifying planetary radiation ‘hotspots’ such as the polar regions and the South Atlantic Anomaly. It will also give an accurate measure of how much radiation reaches the sensitive electronics within the satellite.
While Jovian-1 and its ground station at Surrey University will use commercial S and X band for primary communication,
FUNcube Lite will use frequencies in the amateur UHF and VHF spectrum.
When not sending telemetry, the payload can be configured as a mode U/V FM voice transponder for amateurs to use for international communications.
More information will be provided during the AMSAT-UK Colloquium taking place during the weekend October 12/13th https://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/
AMSAT-UK is delighted to have been able to accept an opportunity to provide a FUNcube Lite payload, with a mode U/V FM transponder, for the exciting Jovian-1 satellite.
This 6U CubeSat is being designed and built by Space South Central which is the largest regional space cluster in the UK. This is a partnership between industry and academia, designed to accelerate space business growth, grow the reputation of the south central region of the UK and foster an environment of innovation.
A collaboration between the universities of Surrey, Portsmouth and Southampton, JUPITER – the Joint Universities Programme for In-Orbit Training, Education and Research – will equip participants with invaluable hands-on space industry experience and training for their future careers.
The FUNcube Lite payload from AMSAT-UK will collect and send telemetry from Jovian-1 sub-systems for educational outreach to schools and colleges, using the tried and tested FUNcube data format.
Telemetry will include data from the payload’s own radiation sensor, along with GPS information gathered from the satellite’s CAN bus.
These data can be used to map radiation throughout the orbit, identifying planetary radiation ‘hotspots’ such as the polar regions and the
South Atlantic Anomaly. It will also give an accurate measure of how much radiation reaches the sensitive electronics within the satellite.
While Jovian-1 and its ground station at Surrey University will use commercial S and X band for primary communication,
FUNcube Lite will use frequencies in the amateur UHF and VHF spectrum.
When not sending telemetry, the payload can be configured as a mode U/V FM voice transponder for amateurs to use for international communications.
More information will be provided during the AMSAT-UK Colloquium taking place during the weekend October 12/13thhttps://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/
The GreenCube satellite, developed by S5LAB, has likely ceased functioning due to radiation damage. After a successful mission that exceeded expectations, the satellite is no longer responding to commands, and its onboard radio is believed to have been compromised by the harsh radiation environment in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO).
Approximately ten days ago, GreenCube experienced a reboot, and telemetry data from the event did not indicate any anomalies. However, the S5LAB team now suspects that the satellite’s radio was damaged, leading to the current communication blackout. MEO is notoriously challenging for satellites due to its high radiation levels, and GreenCube was not the only satellite affected. Several other CubeSats launched alongside it only lasted a few days, making GreenCube’s extended mission duration a remarkable achievement.
Despite ongoing efforts to send commands and reactivate the satellite, the team remains pessimistic about restoring GreenCube’s functionality. The satellite’s survival in the hostile MEO environment is seen as a testament to its robust design, but the likelihood of recovery is slim.
At this time, no successor to GreenCube is planned, primarily due to the infrequency of launch opportunities to MEO. Launches to this orbit are rare, which complicates the prospect of future missions.
In response to the satellite’s success and the interest it generated among radio amateurs, S5LAB has promised to host a webinar in collaboration with AMSAT Italia. The event will provide insights into the GreenCube mission, sharing the challenges and triumphs of the satellite’s journey. This is an opportunity for the amateur radio community to learn more about the satellite’s impact and the technical details behind its impressive mission.
While GreenCube’s operational life may have ended, its contributions to satellite technology and amateur radio will be remembered as a significant milestone.
[Information from Piero I0KPT via Facebooks Greencube Group]
The SatNOGS Network has achieved an incredible new Milestone! It has reached its ten millionth observation, and we are wholeheartedly grateful to the entire Community for this achievement!
As SatNOGS is about to celebrate its tenth anniversary of operation, it has reached another significant Milestone.
SONATE-2 is a 6U CubeSat developed by the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, Germany. Its mission is the
development and operation of a technology testing satellite for highly autonomous payloads and artificial intelligence.
Sonate-2 aims to test miniaturised AI hardware and software in space, enabling autonomous environmental analysis using deep learning for image processing. This will allow the classification of known targets and the detection of anomalies through onboard training. You can find out more about SONATE-2 here.
SatNOGS achieved another milestone!
Every SatNOGS achievement results from collaborative work and continuous efforts by hundreds of ground station owners around the globe. They have made this milestone (and everything related to SatNOGS) possible by scheduling observations, tracking satellites, and, in general, dedicating time and effort to the success of the SatNOGS project.
Everything accomplished so far is thanks to you all!
SatNOGS in Numbers
Outer Space Open For All (The Libre Space Manifesto)
The Libre Space Foundation’s projects are built to enhance scientific research and knowledge about Space. To make space available to humanity while supporting space exploration for peaceful purposes. These values are found at the core of the Libre Space Manifesto to which all the LSF projects abide.
Outer Space Open For All (the SatNOGS way)
SatNOGS is a project that is not only built and developed in a modular, open-source way but also distributes the data collected openly. The SatNOGS community offers support and guidance in onboarding new members and even helps satellite teams with their missions. Throughout all its years of operation, SatNOGS has helped hundreds of satellite teams worldwide identify and track their satellite successfully. The SatNOGS Community also assists missions from around the world in running their experiments and tests and completing their missions. The community can help a satellite team communicate with its satellite(s) as it schedules around 10,000 daily observations and guides the teams throughout the onboarding process, even helping with the dashboard of a mission. All you need to do is contact the SatNOGS team early on and provide the necessary details and information about your mission.
Want to join the SatNOGS community and be part of the next Milestone?
The SatNOGS community is open and inclusive, welcoming everyone who wishes to contribute their time, knowledge and expertise to the project. If SatNOGS has sparked your interest, and you want to learn more, check out the SatNOGS wiki knowledge base. Drop us a line on the community forums and the dedicated SatNOGS chat. We would love to hear from you and have you join the SatNOGS network and community and be part of the next million observations.
Join SatNOGS now and help make Outer Space Open for All!
Today was our full final day, which we spent exploring Prague. Big thanks go to Klára, our excellent tour guide for the day. We went to see the castle, walked across Charles Bridge, and explored the old town. It was a lovely way to finish such an intense week. Finally, in the evening, we had […]
Today, we had a full day of lectures and workshops. Last night I stayed up until about 4am working the Americas, so hauling myself out of bed was a bit of a challenge. One thing I’m starting to realise about these camps is the physical endurance required! The first lecture was about emergency communications in […]
Dobrý den! (I’m trying to pick up some Czech whilst I’m here!) Today was all about kit building, which is one of my favourite aspects of amateur radio. I love to just put in my headphones and solder away! Today we made an end-fed, multi band antenna and a QRP FM receiver. Most of my […]
Today we went into central Prague to visit the national museum (Czechia’s National History Museum). This was a really great way to see the city for the first time and to get to know my fellow amateurs here! The recent history exhibit on 20th century Czechoslovakia was really interesting. They had an exhibit showing how […]
Another busy day at the YOTA summer camp in Prague! Today started with a lecture on SDR, with an emphasis on the evolution of radio hardware and implementation of software. After this we were told about the polar expedition of the airship Italia, which crashed on the jagged icecaps of the Arctic Ocean in 1928. […]
Hello from sunny Prague! This is the first of my daily blogs during the YOTA 2024 Summer Camp. Today, we had a really busy first day, so let’s get straight into it. We started off with a quick icebreaker to introduce everyone’s teams, before heading to the morning session of presentations. The first was all […]
At the halfway point of 2024, we had issued 19 awards this year, slightly less than usual 11 of the 19 awards issued have gone to non-UK amateurs, a higher percentage than usual although this evens out to between 25% and 33% by end of year usually IARU Region 1 awards are most popular, followed […]
AMSAT-UK is pleased to announce that the 2024 Colloquium will take place alongside the RSGB Convention at Kents Hill Park Conference Centre, Milton Keynes, MK7 6BZ on the weekend of 12/13th October 2024.
As in previous years, the AMSAT-UK Colloquium will run as a separate stream within the RSGB Convention and will include presentations on a variety of satellite and space related topics.
The Annual General Meeting of AMSAT-UK will take place during the colloquium.
An AMSAT Gala Dinner will be held on the evening of Saturday 12th October at the Marriott Delta Hotel on Trimbold Drive, Kents Hill, Milton Keynes MK7 6HL. Attendance is restricted this year at the hotel and a limited number of tickets are on sale via the AMSAT-UK Online Shop https://shop.amsat-uk.org/
The cost of the Gala Dinner is £39 per person and includes a three course meal with tea / coffee at its conclusion.
Alongside the Gala Dinner, AMSAT-UK has negotiated a deal at the Marriott Delta for the evening of Saturday 12th October 2024. These rooms include breakfast on Sunday 13th and are priced at £89 per room for single occupancy. Tickets for the Gala Dinner can be purchased on the AMSAT-UK Online Shop.
Bookings for the Gala Dinner are now available on the AMSAT-UK Shop, but must close on 1st October 2024 unless sold out sooner, so please book early to avoid disappointment.
Entrance to the RSGB Convention is managed by the RSGB and you will be required to purchase Day Tickets for the Saturday and/or Sunday to attend the AMSAT-UK Colloquium.
E-members of AMSAT-UK can now download the July 2024 edition of OSCAR News, issue 244, here.
The paper edition edition will be sent to postal members and should arrive in the next 2-3 weeks.
In this issue:
• From the Secretary’s Keyboard
• Satellite News
• ARISS International Face to Face Meeting 2024 and 40th Celebration of Amateur Radio on Human Spaceflight by Ciaran Morgan, M0XTD
• QO-100 School contacts by John M5JFS
• FUNcube+ AMSAT-UK’s Next Mission by David Bowman, G0MRF
• Assessing Path Loss Due to Weather in Newfoundland by David Bowman, G0MRF
• VO1/M0XUU Operation from Newfoundland by R. Gopan M0XUU
• The QO-100 Challenge from VO1 by Graham, G3VZV
• VO1NAR Beacon by Graham Dillabough, VO1DZ
In ON245 we will continue with articles on the QO-100 Challenge from the VO100QO
AMSAT-UK FUNcube Mission Patch
Membership of AMSAT-UK is open to anyone who has an interest in amateur radio satellites or space activities, including the International Space Station (ISS).
E-members of AMSAT-UK are able to download the quarterly publication OSCAR News as a convenient PDF that can be read on laptops, tablets or smartphones anytime, anyplace, anywhere. Join as an E-member at Electronic (PDF) E-membership
Every few years the myth that Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was radio amateur UA1LO crops up again. This myth started in the early 1980’s and has been debunked numerous times since but it still appears on websites listing “Famous Hams”.
This note is in response to several related comments that appeared on the AMSAT-BB last week. Since not everyone reading this BB was radio active back in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s I’ve included some background information.
The earliest known statement suggesting that Yuri Gagarin was a Radio Amateur appeared in the March/April 1981 issue of Orbit magazine, the primary publication of AMSAT-NA at the time. It was in an article by Joe Kasser, G3ZCZ, [the editor of Orbit] titled “A History of Radio Amateurs in Space — Part 2”. The article stated that Yuri Gagarin, the first person to fly in space, was UA1LO.
1962 UA1LO QSL card published in Orbit magazine issue 6
The evidence provided for this assertion was a QSL card from UA1LO to W8DX confirming a QSO on May 19, 1962 signed “Yuri”. Figures in the Orbit article showed several Russian stamps, and a photo, all featuring Gagarin. Joe never stated that the stamps or the photo were from the back of the QSL card but the reader could easily make that assumption. Joe later reported that the stamps were from his collection. I believe that the photo was on the flip side of the QSL and that the card was probably via the famous Box 88, Moscow.
Needless to say, the article caught my attention. However, after reading it carefully I concluded that this was just a typical UA QSL from the early 60’s. I felt that the fact that the operator happened to be named “Yuri”, a relatively common name, and that the Gagarin photo appeared on the back of the card didn’t justify the conclusion that UA1LO was Gagarin. I have to admit that it occurred to me that, in the QST tradition, the article was an “April Fool Feature” (check the publishing date).
UA1LO was Yuri Babkov from St. Petersburg formerly called Lenningrad
Several months after the Orbit article appeared I ran into Joe at an AMSAT Meeting in the MD/DC area and asked him if the article was true. Since this is more than 20 years ago and I have trouble recalling what happened last week I don’t fully trust my memory as to his response but I do remember concluding that the UA1LO – Gagarin connection was probably not valid. Joe states that based on the information he had available at the time he believed the statement to be true — the article was NOT an April Fool Feature.
Shortly after his famous flight into space (April 12, 1961) Yuri Gagarin was declared a “Hero of the Soviet Union” by the government. This is an honor of the highest order awarded to citizens making outstanding contributions to Soviet culture and life. Perhaps more important, Gagarin was truly regarded as a hero by the general population. Shortly after his flight photos of Gagarin were widely distributed all over the Soviet Union, especially to youth groups and in schools. It’s very likely that picture postcards with the famous photo were widely circulated.
At the time it was common practice for individual Soviet hams (those with their own stations) to produce QSL cards using linoleum block printing over, or on the flip side of, photo’s of famous people, places or works of art. [At the time most UA activity was from club stations].
Last week I read with great interest the AMSAT-BB note from Frank Cahoy, K0BLT, concerning his 1961 QSL from UA1LO (dated August 18, 1961) with the photo of Gagarin on the back. Frank sent me a scanned copy of the QSL and a translation (thanks to K5OE) of the text printed on the card. The card itself was somewhat different from the one W8DX received but it tends to support the contention that the cards sent to W8DX and K0BLT are generic QSL’s featuring a photo of a very popular Soviet hero from an operator who happened to be named “Yuri”.
The scan of K0BLT’s QSL appears to be a stock postcard featuring a photo of Gagarin with “UA1LO Leningrad” added using Linoleum block (or similar) printing techniques. The Cyrillic text, lower right on the address side, is characteristic of standard postcard printing.
I’d like to clearly state that there is absolutely NO reason to suspect that UA1LO had any intention of misleading anyone as to his identity. He was simply following common everyday procedures and it probably never occurred to him that his card might cause confusion.
I understand that shortly after Joe’s 1981 article appeared there was an article or editorial by Wayne Green, W2NSD, which also mentioned the “fact” that UA1LO was Yuri Gagarin. I have not seen this article so I don’t know if it contains any additional facts. I assume that it is based entirely on Joe’s comments. If anyone has information to the contrary please make it public.
For those of you not familiar with Wayne let me say that over a period of several decades he was a very well known and influential commentator on Amateur Radio. His articles, editorials and speeches were often informative and provocative; they were always interesting. However, as a journalist, Wayne made it clear that he considered fact checking a waste of time and he never let facts ruin a good story. I’m sure that he’d have a good laugh if he knew he was being quoted as an authority on a question concerning historical accuracy.
Leo Labutin, UA3CR, was a key figure in the group of Soviet Radio Amateurs that built and arranged for the launch of the early RS satellites. In about 1989 he made his first trip to the U.S. and I had the opportunityof meeting his Aeroflot flight and acting as his host for a few days before we flew to Atlanta for the AMSAT convention. During the visit I asked him if he knew whether Gagarin was a Radio Amateur — specifically if he were UA1LO. Leo replied that he knew of NO evidence that Gagarin was a Radio Amateur. [His wording was a little more colorful]. I did NOT ask Leo if he knew Gagarin or UA1LO personally so you can choose to consider his comments to be hearsay evidence.
During the mid 1970’s and early 1980’s I had the opportunity to see numerous copies of RADIO, the primary hobby magazine covering electronics and Amateur Radio in the Soviet Union. One of the goals of the magazine was to encourage young people to develop an interest in technical areas by presenting interesting projects and by describing achievements of prominent Russians involved in exciting technical programs. I believe that if Gagarin was UA1LO the fact would have been mentioned often in RADIO. I NEVER saw any mention of Yuri Gagarin being a Radio Amateur in the magazine. Since the sample of issues I saw was limited you are free to conclude that the information in this paragraph is irrelevant.
Over the years the statement that Gagarin was UA1LO continues to resurface. To the best of my knowledge no significant new evidence has appeared during this time.
So — Was Gagarin UA1LO?
My opinion (and it is only my opinion) is that based on the available evidence it’s extremely unlikely that Gagarin was UA1LO. But I am not 100% certain and I am always looking for new “facts”.
In the 22 years since that was posted no-one has been able to provide any solid evidence that Yuri Gagarin was a radio amateur.
1963 UA1LO QSL Card from Yuri Babkov
2009 UA1LO QSL Card from Yuri Babkov
The evidence seems conclusive that UA1LO was an amateur radio operator called Yuri Babkov, first licenced with the callsign UA1LO sometime before 1961 and still licenced in 2009, Gagarin died 1968.
There is, however, one aspect that is intriging, it concerns the 73 magazine article mentioned by Martin Davidoff. It appeared in the October 1980 issue of 73, a special space and satellite issue, published several months before the mistaken article in Orbit magazine.
It was written by a Werner “Mac” Maurer W1QMS and tells about his trip to Greece on February 12, 1962, to try to sell X-band radars to the police. He describes how he had a brief encounter with Yuri Gagarin on February 13 at the Parthenon. W1QMS claims Yuri told him he held the callsign UA1LO and was a CW operator.
This appears to directly contradict the solid QSL card evidence that UA1LO was held by Yuri Babkob, so why did W1QMS write it? It is not implausable he had heard about the QSL cards W8DX and others received and this in turn caused him to completely misremember a conversation with Gagarin when he was writing a story for Wayne Green W2NSD’s special space issue of 73 magazine. It will certainly have helped his article get published.
There is one tiny link between amateur radio and cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. shortly after his mission he, along with cosmonaut Titov, visited the Soviet Young Pioneer Camp ARTEK located at Gurzuf, Crimea, Ukraine SSR and his image was used on the QSL card of the camp’s amateur radio station’s, callsign UB5ARTEK, later changed to U5ARTEK. He visited again on August 20, 1966, and was shown the club station. He was allowed to use the microphone and gave the callsign as U5ARTEK/KEDR (KEDR had been his callsign during his space mission). Source UT7UT http://ut7ut.com/index.php/u5artek/
1966 Yuri Gagarin being shown the amateur station at ARTEK
On May 26, at 1300 GMT AMSAT-LU plans (weather permitting) to launch a balloon carrying a linear multimode transponder V➤U, CW, SSB, FM, APRS LU7AA-11 and VIDEO.
It could last 9 hours if it reaches 82,000 feet height landing in Uruguay, or 6 hours landing at Gualeguaychú. The flight has been approved by ANAC/EANA.
An attempt will also be made to launch LU8YY PicoBalloon emitting WSPR at 20m, if the winds help it could go around the world.
In Merlo, from May 24 to 26, presentations will be made to schools and universities. Depending on the weather it could be launched on May 25.
This experience will provide 4 FM channels + 3 CW + 3 SSB + 1 digital channel and 1 SSTV, all simultaneous. It will allow field testing on a balloon the future satellite platforms planned by AMSAT Argentina.
First Newfoundland contact via QO-100 between VO1/M0XUU and G0MRF
On Saturday, May 11, 2024, Gopan VO1/M0XUU (VU3HPF) succeeded in making the first contact from North America through the amateur radio QO-100 geostationary satellite transponder located at 26° East.
Gopan’s screenshot of first Newfoundland QO-100 contact
Gopan was in Newfoundland which is just outside the coverage area of QO-100, the elevation at Signal Hill at St. Johns is below the horizon at -0.9°.
He used FT-8 to have a trans-atlantic contact with David G0MRF in south-west London. David reported it was tough going with a lot of QSB.
Gopan will be in Newfoundland until May 15.
In a post on X Gopan reported his signal into QO-100 was not strong enough to permit SSB operation.
Dish used by VO1/M0XUU in Newfoundland
The transmit equipment Gopan used comprised, ICOM IC-705 with 2.4 GHz Up-converter from DX Patrol, feeding a homemade 2.4 GHz amplifier delivering 10 watts output to a Helix 2.5 turn YATT design.
The receive side comprised a homemade 10 GHz Down-converter was based on a design by David G0MRF, a modified LNB all controlled by a Leo Bodnar M0XER GPSDO.
The dish was an 80 cm offset.
The software used was SDR Console and Airspy for setting up the station and MSHV in standard mode for FT8/FT4.
After his initial contact with David G0MRF, Gopan went on the work several other stations including Sadan TA4SO in Turkey.
David G0MRF will be joining Graham G3VZV on a QO-100 Dxpedition to Newfoundland from May 15-19.
They are taking enough equipment to enable transmissions on QO-100 using SSB / CW / FT8 / FT4 / Digital Amateur Television (DATV).
Graham G3VZW testing QO-100 equipment before Newfoundland Dxpedition with David G0MRF
Stefan VE4SW reports he will be traveling to Newfoundland and will be using the callsign VO100QO on QO-100 from May 13-17, he writes:
“VO100QO a special callsign for the activation of QO-100 from St John’s in Newfoundland will be used by the “Amateur Radio Satellites and Systems – Canada” Association starting Monday, May 13, at Signal Hill or another suitable location (weather permitting). Canadian amateur radio operators Stefan Wagener VE4SW and John Langille VE1CWJ will use a 1.8m dish and up to 100W on SSB to reach QO-100 at -1 degree elevation.
We invite all stations and operators in or near St John’s to join us in person and be part of the story. We will operate from Monday, May 13th to Friday, May 17th (weather permitting). Contact VE4SW (email on my QRZ page) for local information and timing.
The “Amateur Radio Satellites and Systems—Canada” Association will issue special certificates for successful contacts, and all QSOs will be logged into LoTW. Please see our “VO100QO” QRZ page for updates starting Sunday, May 12.
We would very much like to acknowledge the support of “DX Patrol” in Portugal (https://dxpatrol.pt) and António Matias for his support. We will use the DX Patrol QO-100 Groundstation V2 and other equipment for our attempt!”
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ARISS is planning a Slow Scan Television (SSTV) experiment from the International Space Station, scheduled to start on Tuesday, October 8, at 16:00 GMT and running until Monday, October 14, at 14:10 GMT.
