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AMSAT SA
Registered as a non-profit company
Registration 2016/111111/08
Follow AMSAT SA on FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/AmsatSA00/
AMSAT SA
P O Box 90438
Garsfontein 0042
South Africa
Tel: 012 991 4662
Email:
admin@amsatsa.org.za
Amateur Radio Today is
Sponsored by Sentech
Sundays 10:00 CAT
17 760 kHz
7 205 kHz
7 082 kHz
Mondays 18:30 CAT
3230 kHz
Podcast: www.zs6ro.co.za/podcast
Membership/Renewal application form
SA AMSAT EZINE
To request a trial copy send your email address here with trial copy in the subject line
DONORS
Deon Coetzee ZR1DE
Tobile Koni ZS6TKO
Jan van Rooyen ZR5JR
Pravin Ashok
Donald Jacobs ZS2BW
Ray Webber ZS6RSW
Tarries Brink ZS6MNO*
Kempton Park Amateur Radio Technical Society ZS6KTS
Paul Roos ZS6HQ*
Anton Janovsky ZR6AIC
Pine Pienaar ZS6OB
Gert Botha ZS6GC
David Horne
Etienne Saayman ZS5EFS
Nic van Duffelen ZR6AEZ
Andre Rox ZS6ARX
Carl Wentzel ZS6CFW
Gert Kok
Gordon Prentice ZR6RA
Rassie Erasmus ZS1YT
Guy Eales ZS6GUY
Bert van der Ploeg ZS6VDP
Wally Watson
Rickus de Lange ZS4A
Kerverne Thurling ZS1ABU
Lem Melidonis ZS1LEM
Paul Johnson ZS1S
Martinus Grobbelaar
Michael Boast ZS5BGV
Francois Basson ZS6DGN
Robe Bareham ZS1SA
Thomas Ambrose ZS1TA*
Craig Hardman ZS5CD
Ton van den Bon
Grant Dixon ZR6WTF
Rene Gouws ZR1RTG
Christo Pelser SA6BUQ
Marinus Brand ZS6MP
Hennie Rheeeder ZS6ALN
Ronald Verweerdt ZS6RVC
Neilen van Breda ZS6NG
*Denotes that the person has made several donations over time. Thank you
New Members
November 2018
Marinus Brand ZS6BM
Ronald Verweerdt ZS6RVC
ZS4A first to receive signals from
OSCAR 100
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Rickus de Lange in Bethlehem was the first station in South Africa to report having monitor QSOs on Qatar OSCAR 100. Rickus pointed his dish skywards and on the eve of the official inauguration of Is’hailsat on 14 February monitored QSOs from the geostationary satellite. Listen to Rickus’ recording here
Is’hailsat has been one of the major discussions on the agenda of the AMSAT Space Symposiums over the past two years with Hannes Coetzee ZS6BPZ providing details of how to set up an inexpensive ground station. The subject will again be on the agenda on 16 March 2019 when Hannes will show the final version of his ground station and make some QSOs during a live demonstration. For this alone do not miss the 2019 Space Symposium to be held on 16 March 2019 in Midrand.
Is’hailsat is the first geostationary satellite to cover Africa, Europe and the Middle East providing DX opportunities 24 hours per day. The transponder was build by AMSAT DL in Germany and is being managed by the Qatar Amateur Radio Society.
There are many other interesting presentations and demonstrations on the agenda. It is an event not to be missed. For details and a registration form click here
AMSAT SA is also proud to announce that AMSAT SA Space Symposium 2019 is being validated by the SAIEE, as per ECSA Policy, under validation no. SAIEE- 2479-V
AMSAT SA Dual Band Yagi now available
The antenna has a 50-ohm designed driver. The Yagi has a unique element called a ‘Open Sleeve’ which is a director very close to the driven element. The driven element is sized for 2M. When operating on 70cm the ‘Open Sleeve’ acts as part of the driven element on 70cm (Third harmonic of 2M).
The original concept was developed in 1946 by Dr J T Bolljahn of the Stanford Research institute but was not introduced into amateur radio until the 1950s. The AMSAT SA version is based on a design by DK7ZB with modifications by WB5CXC. More details and order form here.
Not available for export.
Order and pay by EFT and collect at the VHF workshop at the NARC on 9 February 2019. No cash sales are available at the NARC
JO97 Launched and operational
On December 3rd, 2018, JY1Sat was launched on a Falcon 9 vehicle from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Part of Spaceflight’s
SSO-A: Smallsat Express launch, JY1Sat is a project of the Crown Prince Foundation of Jordan. Telemetry has been received and decoded around the world since the launch.
It had been designated Jordan-OSCAR 97 (JO-97)
The telemetry downlink frequency is 145.840 MHz, this will use the usual FUNcube standard 1k2 BPSK format. The linear transponder, for Single Sideband (SSB) and CW modes, will downlink on 145.855-145.875 MHz and uplink on 435.100-435.120 MHz. The transponder is inverting so Lower Sideband (LSB) should be used on the uplink and Upper Sideband (USB) on the downlink.
Es'hail Sat launched successfully
SpaceX successfully launched the Es’hail-2 satellite on Thursday, November 15 from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff occurred at 20:46 UTC, and the satellite was deployed to a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) about 32 minutes after liftoff.
Built by Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and owned by Qatar’s national
satellite communications company Es’hailSat, Es’hail 2 will provide
television broadcasts, broadband connectivity and government services to
Qatar and neighbouring parts of the Middle East, North Africa and
Europe. Es’hail 2 also carries the first amateur radio payload to fly in
geostationary orbit. Es’hail-2 will be “parked” 35 786 km above the
equator at 25.5°East, nearly due North from Pretoria and Johannesburg
(which are at 28°E).
Es’hail-2’s footprint will cover a population of approximately 5.2
billion. This translates to more than 1.5 million Radio Amateurs in
nearly 225 countries
Es’hail-2 Linear Amateur Radio Transponder
The published uplink frequency is 2 400.050 to
2 400.300 MHz with the centre of the band being
2 400.175 MHz. Total bandwidth is thus 250 kHz and right-hand circular
polarization will be used.
The downlink frequency is 10 489.550 to 10 489.800 MHz with the centre of the band being 10 489.675 MHz. Vertical polarization will be used.
The preferred modes of operation will be SSB and CW. 5 Watt uplink power to a 60 to 75 cm offset dish should be more than sufficient for the uplink. The transponder will also be fitted with a “LEILA” (LEIstungs Limit Anzeige) input power limiter to ensure fair play and that the AGC of the transponder is not triggered (hogged) by a single, high power transmission, thus reducing the sensitivity of the satellite. In short, running higher uplink power than necessary will be counterproductive,
A detailed paper was presented by Hannes Coetzee ZS6BZP at the 2018 AMSAT SA Space Symposium. Plans are being made to have a live demonstration at the 2019 AMSAT SA Space Symposium on 16 March 2019. Down the ZS6BZP paper here.
An SDR CUBESAT ON THE CARDS
Partial populated transponder board
AMSAT SA has announced that parallel to its analogue Kletskous CubeSat, the group is working on a digital project featuring a Software defined transponder. Called AfriCUBE, the CubeSat will use the same space frame as KLETSKOUS . Anton Janovsky is current building a prototype transponder. AMSATSA is inviting persons interested in becoming part of the development team to send their details to admin@amsatsa.org.za.
Meanwhile the development and final construction of the AMSAT SA KLETSKOUS is plagued by electronic component obsolescence. This forces unwanted design changes to be made to ensure that when the time comes to construct the final launch unit, the main components are still available.
The KLETSKOUS team decided to freeze the design of KLETSKOUS and purchase a quantity of devices to proactively mitigate future obsolesce. This decision will also speed up the process of putting a final satellite on the table. “Every time we change designs to mitigate for the discontinued components, it is like starting the design a fresh, often creating new problems that have to be solved”, Hannes Coetzee, ZS6BZP said. “By freezing the design, in other words making a final decision on the main specialised devices to be used, we will be able to speed up the process of putting a flight ready unit on the table.”
KLETSKOUS is not a textbook design. Most of the sub-components that will make up KLETSKOUS are designed and being built by the volunteer team. “We do not have the finances to go out and purchase sub-units and simply wire them up.”, Coetzee said.
Book now you don't want to this this event. Full details and registration form click here
2019 AMSATSA Space Symposium 16 March 2019
Exciting new venue
Premier Hotel Midrand 187 3rd Road, Halfway Gardens, Midrand,
Tel: +27 (0)10 161 0000 GPS Coordinates:-25.984198, 28.123751
Book now for the 2019 AMSAT SA Space Symposium
The theme of the conference is “Space Science with Amateur Radio”.
BOOK NOW and Save with early bird Registration. Get registration form here
Student application form to attend click here
Interesting papers are lined up for presentation including:
· * Development of the third-generation space frame
Th * SatNOGS opensource ground station and network
Bui * An educational CubeSat that can be
used for experimentation and teaching in the classroom.
* Artificial Intelligence to identify
satellite signals
* WSPR beacon for balloon missions
*Es’hailSat, amateur radio’s first geostationary satellite how to
build a ground stations and a practical demonstration
* AfriCUBE, a digital CubeSat
AMSAT FOX1-1 Cliff Launched
On Monday, 24 September 2018 Jerry Buxton, NØJY, AMSAT Vice-President Engineering, delivered and performed the integration of AMSAT’s Fox-1Cliff CubeSat in preparation for launch.
The launch scheduled by SpaceX for 19 November 2018
Uplink:
435.300 MHz FM voice (67.0 Hz CTCSS tone)
1267.300 MHz FM voice (67.0 Hz CTCSS tone)
Downlink:
145.920 MHz FM voice;
AFSK digital data up to 9600 bps
Transmit power: 600 mW nominal
Because only one uplink frequency can be active at a time, the use of
the Mode-L uplink will be limited to experimental periods announced in
advance.
Fox-1Cliff carries the flight spare of the AO-85 Vanderbilt University Low Energy Proton (LEP) radiation experiment, and the standard Fox-1 Penn State University–Erie gyroscope experiment. Virginia Tech provided a VGA camera which is the same as AO-92 but will provide images at a higher 640 x 480 resolution. These non-SSTV images will be decoded in the FoxTelem software.
Fox-1Cliff, unlike the other three Fox-1 FM spacecraft,
does not have an active AFC on the uplinks.Fox-1Cliff’s Subaudible
Telemetry (low-speed telemetry) will be the same as for AO-85, AO-91,
and AO-92. It will be supported by the same FoxTelem software already
released. As with AO-92, a high-speed mode will be used to support the
Virginia Tech VGA camera experiment. This mode will be active for 40
minutes by ground command before reverting to standard U/v transponder
voice operation.
Fox-1Cliff is named in honour of long-time AMSAT member, contributor,
and benefactor Cliff Buttschardt, K7RR (SK), who passed away in 2016.
Cliff’s contributions to AMSAT and other amateur satellite programmes,
including serving as an adviser during the initial development of the
CubeSat specification at California Polytechnic State University, earned
him the Lifetime Achievement Award from Project OSCAR in 2006.
YOTA 2018
Software
Audio link between applications
Presentations
KLETSKOUS MAGNETIC STABISATION
More Kletskous Progress
A flight-ready solar panel for Kletskous.
The solar cells are glued to the PC board using conductive silver epoxy. This is done under vacuum to prevent bubbles being formed in the epoxy. Bubbles may burst in the vacuum of space, fracturing the paper thin glass solar cell and destroying it in the process.
Become a partner in space
Donate to the AMSAT SA Kletskous fund and become a partner in space
Please make your contribution. You may pay directly into our account electronically. Please send the payment details with your name, callsign, email and postal address to kletskous@amsatsa.org.za.
All contributions will be acknowledged on this page (Scroll down). Donations of R500 or more will be acknowledged with a certificate.
Bank Details:
AMSAT SA, ABSA Menlyn, Branch code 632 005
Account: 40 8982 6281
KLETSKOUS SPONSORS
RS, the component supplier in South Africa has become
a component sponsor for the KLETSkous project.
RS Components is the market leader in the high service level
distribution of electrical, electronic, mechanical & industrial products
as well as tools. Offering over 400 000 products across 2000 leading
brands at
www.rsonline.co.za, RS serves
every sector of industry in the procurement of their products relating
to maintenance, repair, operations, low volume production, research and
development.
TRAX SPONSOR PCBs for KLETSkous More about TRAX
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Avnet : a broad line supplier of semiconductors, passives, magnetics, enclosures, optoelectronic, GPS / GSM, interconnect, electromechanical, embedded products and components