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- GOLF-TEE Flight Software and Bus Overview by Burns Fisher, WB1FJ
- Determination of Orbiting Spacecraft Space Vectors Solely from
In-flight Position Measurements by Joseph DiVerdi, KØNMR
- AMSAT Engineering Update by Jerry Buxton, NØJY
Burns Fisher, WB1FJ, presenting on GOLF-TEE’s flight software. *[Ph
oto:
AMSAT]*
In addition, the AMSAT Annual General Meeting & Awards Ceremony was held on
Saturday afternoon, and the AMSAT Banquet was to take place on Saturday
evening. A breakfast for AMSAT Ambassadors was scheduled for Sunday morning
.
Symposium Proceedings will be available for members on the AMSAT Member
Portal as soon as AMSAT volunteers can process the upload.
[ANS thanks Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, AMSAT Executive Vice President, for the
above information]
------------------------------
*GridMasterMap Satellite Top 100 Rovers November 2024 Rankings*
The November 2024 rankings for the Top 100 Rovers (Mixed LEO/MEO/GEO) in
satellite operations, as determined by @GridMasterMap
on Twitter, has been released. The ranking is
determined by the number of grids and DXCC entities activated, taking into
account only those grids where a minimum number of QSOs logged on the
gridmaster.fr website have been validated by a third party. Grid numbers do
not directly reflect the exact number of activations. Satellite operators
are encouraged to upload their LoTW satellite contacts to
https://gridmaster.fr in order to provide more accurate data.
Updated: 2024-10-25
1 ND9M 26 KX9X 51 N6DNM 76 LU4JVE
2 NJ7H 27 ON4AUC 52 JK2XXK 77 AA8CH
3 JA9KRO 28 KG5CCI 53 EB1AO 78 VE1VOX
4 UT1FG 29 N5BO 54 SM3NRY 79 FG8OJ
5 N5UC 30 K8BL 55 EA4NF 80 PT9BM
6 DL6AP 31 KE4AL 56 JL3RNZ 81 KJ7NDY
7 OE3SEU 32 KB5FHK 57 XE1ET 82 KI7UXT
8 WI7P 33 VE3HLS 58 AA5PK 83 YUØW
9 DPØPOL 34 KIØKB 59 DF2ET 84 KB2YSI
10 K5ZM 35 KI7UNJ 60 KI7QEK 85 N6UTC
11 N6UA 36 LA9XGA 61 SP5XSD 86 N4DCW
12 HA3FOK 37 PA3GAN 62 F4DXV 87 WA9JBQ
13 WY7AA 38 F4BKV 63 AD7DB 88 JM1CAX
14 N9IP 39 JO2ASQ 64 VE1CWJ 89 VE3GOP
15 W5PFG 40 BA1PK 65 KE9AJ 90 NØTEL
16 AK8CW 41 N7AGF 66 N8RO 91 KG4AKV
17 ADØDX 42 VK5DG 67 VA7LM 92 W8MTB
18 DL2GRC 43 XE3DX 68 KM4LAO 93 KØFFY
19 LU5ILA 44 VA3VGR 69 W1AW 94 CU2ZG
20 F5VMJ 45 KEØWPA 70 W8LR 95 VE7PTN
21 N4AKV 46 PR8KW 71 N4UFO 96 K6VHF
22 WD9EWK 47 K7TAB 72 DL4EA 97 AF5CC
23 NDØC 48 KEØPBR 73 HB9GWJ 98 VE6WK
24 ADØHJ 49 ACØRA 74 PT2AP 99 DK9JC
25 DJ8MS 50 W7WGC 75 M1DDD 100 BG7QIW
[ANS thanks @GridMasterMap for the above
information]
------------------------------
*Need new satellite antennas? *
*Purchase M2 LEO-Packs from the AMSAT Store. *
*When you purchase through AMSAT, a portion of the proceeds goes towards*
*Keeping Amateur Radio in Space.*
*https://amsat.org/product-category/hardware/
*
------------------------------
CatSat Commissioning is Near
CatSat, a 6U cubesat, was blasted into orbit on July 4, 2024. After some
delay, the microwave transponder should be available soon.
The concept was presented at the AMSAT annual symposium on two successive
years. The design has not changed significantly since then. See
https://catsat.arizona.edu for current info.
The project was run by the University of Arizona students with major
support by Rincon Research Corp. (onboard DSP and HF electronics) and
FreeFall Aerospace (patch, HF whip, and high-gain 10 GHz. inflatable
antenna.) The spacecraft bus was supplied by Gomspace.
Something strange happened during launch or satellite deployment, and the
satellite is believed to be damaged by an unknown mechanism. The UHF
command and control antenna appears not to have deployed and the main
spacecraft computer reboots an irregular pattern. The student team has done
an excellent job of keeping the spacecraft under control while
troubleshooting the problems, but this has slowed the commissioning process
.
CatSat with inflated spherical microwave antenna *[Artist’s renderi
ng:
University of Arizona]*
*SATELLITE MODES OF PARTICULAR INTEREST TO HAMS*
1. The HF experiment (also known as the WSPR experiment) captures the
entire HF band by sampling it with a 50 MHz analog to digital converter.
Digital processing in an FPGA creates up to four sub-bands which are sto
red
in CatSat memory. The tuned frequency and bandwidth of these four receiv
ers
will likely be changed from time to time on a schedule to be determined.
Then the captured pre-detection data will be stored in CatSat’s
AstroSDR
memory until it can be dumped to our 6.1 meter dish in Tucson. There the
sub-band data streams will be extracted and placed on the internet where
interested hams will have access. The intent is to provide an opportunit
y
for hams to experiment with ionospheric propagation as viewed by a
satellite without having to actually build a ground station. If they wor
k
HF stations using FT-8 or WSPR when the satellite is active they will be
able to use the internet to access what the satellite was hearing. They
may
even discover some novel propagation mechanism.
2. At the start of each data capture 32k samples of I-Q data will be
captured at 50 MHz sample rate. These data can be Fourier transformed to
create a spectral power plot of the entire HF band at that location.
3. The 10 GHz downlink modulation is DVB-S2. At the time of planning the
downlink, there was a lot of AMSAT interest in using DVB-S2 as a downlin
k
modulation for proposed high orbit birds. That drove our decision.
Receiving this link will be a challenge for most stations, unless the
inflatable antenna experiment is successful and we point that antenna at
your location.
4. 5.663 GHz to 10.47 GHz transponder with 200 kHz Bandwidth. During
design review of CatSat it was realized that there was space for an
additional 5 GHz patch antenna on the spacecraft. The AstroSDR could
receive 5.663 GHz and translate it to the IF input of the 10.47 GHz
transceiver. So a 200 KHz linear transponding mode was added. It is one
of
the first ham satellites to use these microwave bands.
PHOTO OF CATSAT SPECTRUM Oct 20, 2024 at Tech Park
10 GHz Patch used for transmitting generally pointed towards ground station
.
6.1 meter AzArray dish for receiving
Max elevation 29 degrees
LCP on left screen
RCP on right screen
2 MHz/div and 10 dB per division
Comment: Transmitting 2 MSymbols/per second of DVB-S2 Dummy Frames
Strong stable signal smoothly varying with time peaking about 20 dB SNR in
2 MHz band.
[ANS thanks Mike Parker, KT7D for the above information]
------------------------------
Administration Eases Restrictions On Space-Related Exports
The Biden administration on Oct. 17 eased export restrictions on U.S.
commercial space companies to ship certain satellite and spacecraft-related
items to allies and partners.
The changes are intended to make it easier for the growing U.S. commercial
space industry to expand sales while also protecting national security and
foreign policy interests.
Certain items involving remote sensing spacecraft or space-based logistics
assembly, and servicing spacecraft will no longer need licenses for
shipment to Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, the Commerce
Department said in the statement.
Some less sensitive satellite and spacecraft parts and components will no
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