Matthew Dominick KC0TOR An ARISS contact is scheduled with students at Mrs Ethelston’s CE Primary Academy at Axminster Community Academy Trust, Lyme Regis, U.K. at 11:44 BST (10:44 GMT) on Wednesday April 17 on 145.800 MHz FM. Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has received schedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact between an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and students at the Mrs. Ethelston’s CE Primary Academy located in Lyme Regis, UK. ARISS conducts 60-100 of these special amateur radio contacts each year between students around the glo ..read more

2024-03-27 Belgium 1240-1300 MHz proposed restrictions On March 27, 2024, Belgium’s regulator the BIPT published draft restrictions on amateur radio operation  in the 23cm (1240-1300 MHz) band. The new restrictions include: Class A (equiv UK Full, USA Extra) – size of band reduced from 60 MHz to 8.24 MHz. The satellite allocation is reduced to 1260-1262 MHz and the antenna elevation must always be more than 15° above the horizon and the transmission power is limited to 50 W EIRP. If the elevation is above 55° above the horizon, the power is increased to 500 watts EIRP Class B (equiv UK ..read more

Series 15 episode 4 of Michael Portillo’s TV show Great British Railway Journeys: Havant to Guildford, features Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd and Professor Sir Martin Sweeting G3YJO. To see the segment fast-forward 20 mins 30 secs into the show. Watch in the UK on BBC iPlayer at https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001xj3j/great-british-railway-journeys-series-15-4-havant-to-guildford Over the years Michael has met several radio amateurs while making his show. In 2013 he was shown how to send Morse code by Peter Watkins M0BHY https://web.archive.org/web/20180107172841/http://www.southgatea ..read more

Customers for Inaugral SaxaVord Spaceport Launch Two more amateur radio satellites, MARIA-G (HADES-F) and UNNE-1 (HADES-E), are planned to launch from the UK’s SaxaVord Spaceport later in 2024. Previously announced amateur radio payloads on the launch are: ERMINAZ-1U and -1V from AMSAT-DL GENESIS-MA and -ME from AMSAT-EA QUBIK 5, SIDLOC-PQ-1 and -PQ-2 from Libre Space Foundation MARIA-G SaxaVord UK Spaceport under construction A 1.5u Pocketqube. MARIA-G will offer radio amateurs around the world the opportunity to relay FM voice and AX.25 / APRS 300 / 1200 bps communications. The satellite ..read more

S5Lab announcement on X that GreenCube is to cease operation At 1622 GMT on Thursday, January 25, 2024 @S5Lab posted on X that the GreenCube IO-117 Digipeater would be permanently deactivated on February 5. Designed and developed by students of Sapienza University of Rome, GreenCube IO-117 was the first satellite to carry an amateur radio payload into Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) – 6,000 km. IARU satellite frequency coordination information https://iaru.amsat-uk.org/finished_detail.php?serialnum=784 AMSAT Responds to Planned Decommissioning of IO-117 (GreenCube) https://www.amsat.org/amsat-respo ..read more

E-members of AMSAT-UK can now download the December 2023 edition of OSCAR News, issue 243, 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 • Letters to the Editor • Satellite News • Beyond the Bent Pipe by Martin Ling M0LNG • St Peter-in-Thanet Junior School ARISS Contact by John Hislop, G7OHO • Greencube Antennas by Dave Fisher KG0D • Packet Decode Analysis from GreenCube Terminal’s debug.log by Justin Sours, N9ZTS AMSAT-UK FUNcube Mission Patch Membership of AMSAT-UK is open to anyone who ..read more

An ARISS Slow Scan TV (SSTV) event is scheduled from the International Space Station (ISS) December 16-19, 2023, on 145.800 MHz FM to celebrate the 40th anniversary of amateur radio in human spaceflight. The event is slated to begin on Saturday, December 16, at 10:15 GMT for setup and operation and continue until Tuesday, December 19, ending at 18:00 GMT. These times are tentative and are subject to change due to crew availability. Images will be downlinked at 145.800 MHz +/- 3 kHz for Doppler shift and the expected SSTV mode of operation is PD-120. Radio enthusiasts participating in the event ..read more

AO-73 (FUNcube-1) – Image credit Wouter Weggelaar PA3WEG After a year long period of ‘battery management’, AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NL have restarted the transponder on AO-73. After 10 years in orbit, the battery on the satellite has reduced capacity and until recently, has been unable to charge to the nominal 8.3V. Following some careful battery management, where the transmitter was off during eclipse, the battery status has improved and the transponder has been reactivated. Although the battery voltage is varying between 8.13 in sunlight and 7.8V at the end of eclipse, this is much improved on t ..read more

IARU have provided an update on the outcome of ITU WRC-23 Agenda Item 9.1B concerning the Amateur and Amateur Satellite Service allocations in 1240-1300 MHz: “During the WRC-23 deliberations, strong positions were expressed by all the parties involved. The result is a well-supported compromise for a footnote in the Radio Regulations regarding amateur and amateur satellite service operation in the 1240–1300 MHz range. The footnote reminds administrations and amateurs of the need to protect the primary RNSS from interference and provides guidance to administrations to allow both services to cont ..read more

Signal received from FUNcube-1 at National Radio Centre Bletchley Park, Nov 21, 2013 November 21, 2023, marks the tenth birthday of our very first CubeSat mission, FUNcube-1 (AO-73). A very short time after the launch from Yasny in Russia and within a few minutes from deployment, the very first frame of data from the low power transmitter on board, was detected and decoded by ZS1LS in South Africa. He was able to relay the data over the internet from his Dashboard to the Data Warehouse and the numbers, appeared, as if by magic, at the launch party being held at the RSGB National Radio Centre ..read more