Amateur Radio Satellite Information

Last Updated: October 30, 1999

Crewed Space Vessels

SHUTTLE

The last planned Shuttle Amateur Radio flight was completed in August, 1999.  Due to construction of the International Space Station, there are at present no Shuttle flights with the SAREX package scheduled.  All future operation is planned to take place from the ISS.

MIR

The last crew left MIR August, 1999.  The station is scheduled to be deorbited during 2000.  No more amateur radio activity is planned from MIR.  Future amateur radio activity is planned to take place from the ISS.

Watch this space for news about amateur radio activity from the International Space Station!

Unmanned Satellites

Notes

RS12/13 - RS-12/RS-13 heard in modes K, T, KT, and simueltaneous RS-13 operations.

RS-15 - Semi-Operational under Mode A (2M up/10M down).  "Quick and Dirty" operating instructions for RS-15 available at: http://users.aol.com/dguimont

RS16 - the Zeya spacecraft (aka RS-16) decayed from orbit and re-entered the earth atmosphere October 25, 1999

KO-23 - KITSAT-OSCAR-23's Tx-0 transmitter was shut down on 22-Oct-99. Due to temperature increases resulting from a decrease in eclipse periods, the satellite's second downlink transmitter (Tx-1) has been temporarily activated.   The temperature increase has resulted in degradation of Tx-0's downlink performance.  Controllers expect to switch Tx-0 back on around 12-Nov-99. Some downlink frequency drift can be expected.

AO-10:  Functioning well, except for periodic deep QSB.  Switch antenna polarization to partially eliminate.  AO-10 Apogee approaching northern-most point. More information at http://www.cstone.net/~w4sm/AO-10.html

AO-27: Operational Mode-J.   Good reports from active users.  TEPR Settings reset for Northern Fall/Winter season.  Should provide more satellite on-time during each pass.

FO-29 -  Due to memory error, FO-29 is presently operating in mode JA until the onboard hardware can be reset and the software reloaded.  The memory failure occured October 8, 1999.

UO-22: More information at: http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/EE/CSER/UOSAT

OSCAR-11:  Mode S beacon on.   transmitting unmodulated carrier. Telemetry indicates partial failure - delivering half-power.  Useful test source for P3D mode-S converters.  435.025 MHz beacon normally off.  New WOD software recently uploaded to OSCAR 11 Website: solar eclipse status and magnetic field comparison.

More information: http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/clivew/   Send Beacon reports to: g3cwv@amsat.org

AO-16:  Command team has authorized an APRS experiment to explore use of PACSAT for APRS position/status reporting. Test periods  run each Tuesday from 0000 to 2359 UTC. General information and telemetry WOD files can be found at: http://www.ctv.es/USERS/ea1bcu   Graphic summary of October WOD survey at: http://www.ctv.es/USERS/ea1bcu/w0d1998.zip

LO-19: No BBS Service.  On Board Computer reload in progress.  Digipeater Active. (source: LO-19 ASCII transmission).

IO-26: Telemetry reported downloaded on 435.822 MHz at 1200 baud PSK. No additional information is available at this time

TMSAT-1:  Launched from Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome, July 10, 1998. Now available for general amateur use.  Brief overview of the TMSAT available at http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/EE/CSER/UOSAT/amateur/tmsat/tmsat_commissioni ng_plan.html

TechSat-1B:  Successfully launched from Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome, July 10, 1998. Undergoing initial loading of flight software and availabliy for general amateur use expected soon. HDLC telemetry framed so TNC in KISS mode will decode it.  Satellite does not have a continuous beacon, but   transmits a 9600-baud burst every 30 seconds (for about 3 seconds in length), currently on 435.225 MHz.  More information at:  http://techsat.internet-zahav.net/

Accesses since August 8, 1998

Source: ANS 333 Bulletin, November 29, 1998, via the ans mailing list at AMSAT.ORG courtesy of AMSAT-NA.