You might think that, but it is not so.The data packets were doubtless taken whilst the satellite was close to the nearest overhead point, at which time the transmission will appear at or about the nominal frequency, with least amount of Doppler shift. Even though at that time the Doppler will be changing at it's maximum rate during the pass.
When time allows, as you can imagine putting documents like that together can be a major effort on its own.Any chance of a pdf document for others to read about the project?, A design overview, Testing done, Things you would change - knowing what you know now.
The completed satellite cost around £125 in parts, most of that went on the solar panels, which were given to us anyway.Total cost from scratch (exc time).
Not even going to try and count the amount of time spent.Total time - including assistance from others.
Some one holding an Amateur radio license needs to be responsible for the Satellite in order to get a frequency allocated.Any radio licensing/qualifications required
Possibly.What I would like to know is whether there are any plans to offer the PICAXE based ground station as a kit?
Not really, that is stuff many Amateur radio practitioners would have anyway.Cost; well, you mention RF amplifier and yagi. Do all those bits'n'bobs get included in your costs?
It could be a show-stopper for some.
We know its getting plenty of charge, it would only have lasted a day or so without it, but we would like some reception reports from the Southern Hemisphere which will tell us how quickly the satellite is warming up, and the actual amount of charge its getting. This will all help to benchmark the performance of such small satellites.Is there a problem that may affect $50net on the long run?
No idea.No doubt this relates to my monitoring too early/late?
Its due your way at 22:37:43 UTC, range 722km."Your every wish is my command" -down under reporting in! I'm now back in high summer Wellington, but have yet to hear (in spite of assorted Yagi's & Ham UHF gear) anything of the little darling I'm afraid. No doubt this relates to my monitoring too early/late?
Stan. (ZL2APS)
Thanks for the alert- this is only a few hours away. However NZ daylight saving means that local time will actually be 11:30am. Stan (ZL2APS & "OSCAR" sat. monitor for ~30 years)22:30 UTC (10:30 AM local time)
I heard it at 2200km (but only just) with my FT60 and Arrow yagi.If you have a handheld yagi (such as an Arrow), this should allow you to hear it upto 1900 km slant range, which corresponds to an elevation of about 10 degrees or so.
This, of course, is all theory. There is a saying that goes something like: "In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is."
This is indeed a useful bit of info Michael and suggests that sitting 5kHz above the nominal 437.505MHz rather than 7kHz, 8kHz or slightly further out (to maximise signal strength at first contact rather than a slightly earlier intercept) using an SSB(USB) receiver may not be the best strategy after all? Often with these things the devil is in the detail. I had no idea that the temperature fluctuations produced that much of a difference. Having now been told, of course it really doesn't surprise me. Lack of local imagination at my QTH I guess. Too used to believing that these things are absolutes and side-tracked by too much thinking about Doppler rather than Doppler and temperature effects.Between -10 and 0 degrees C the output frequency will be high by about 7 KHz.
My FT60, FT817 and portable frequency counter are all within 200hz of each other.Stuart
Was this measured with your Funcube Dongle Pro+, or your FT-60, or both?
This posting was noted at the Yahoo Forum, & I'm interested. Hacked TV dongles of course tempt, but my experiences show they'e pretty insensitive. What sort of approaches & skinflint budget had you in mind?We are just trying to get an idea of how simple a ground station can be to uplink to $50SAT and its $5 transceiver.
Well skinflint in that a Baofeng and a yagi made out of sticks and wire is plenty for hearing the beacon. You can then get data such as battery voltage from the Morse beacon, and solar charge data from the fast Morse.This posting was noted at the Yahoo Forum, & I'm interested. Hacked TV dongles of course tempt, but my experiences show they'e pretty insensitive. What sort of approaches & skinflint budget had you in mind?