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QUICKLY SPRING OUTWARD TO FORM STRAIGHT WIRE WHIPS.  WITH THE WHIPS
DEPLOYED, BOTH ANTENNAS BECOME DIPOLES.  THE 70 CENTIMETER DIPOLE IS
CREATED WITH THE SHORTER WIRE WHIP AS ONE HALF OF THE ANTENNA WHILE THE
SATELLITE BODY FORMS THE OTHER HALF.  THE 2 METER DIPOLE CONSISTS OF
ANOTHER EXTENDED WHIP ACTING AS ONE HALF OF THE ANTENNA, WITH THE OTHER
HALF BEING THE 70 CENTIMETER WHIP AND THE SATELLITE BODY.  THE POWER SYSTEM
THE SPACECRAFT IS POWERED BY SOLAR PANEL

A SATELLITE WOULD ONLY COST AROUND 65,000 TO LAUNCH.  THE TEAMS FINDINGS
WERE PRESENTED AT THE 2009 AMSAT NA BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING.  ALL AGREED
TO BUILD AND HOPEFULLY LAUNCH A NUMBER OF CUBESATS UNDER WHAT IS NOW KNOWN
AS THE FOX PROGRAM.  NOTICING THE GROWING INTEREST IN CUBESATS, AND SEEING
A CHANCE TO ENTICE COLLEGE STUDENTS TO CONSIDER SEEKING CAREERS WITH NASA,
ON FEBRUARY 23, 2010 NASA ANNOUNCED THE PROJECT ELANA CUBESAT LAUNCH
INITIATIVE.  THIS PROGRAM WOULD GIVE SCHOOLS A CHANCE AT FREE LAUNCHES FOR
THEIR CUBESATS.  BY THIS TIME, AMSAT NA WAS WELL ALONG IN THE DESIGN OF ITS
FOX 1A CUBESAT.  NOTING AMSAT NAS ABILITY TO FLY EDUCATIONAL EXPERIMENTS
ALONG WITH HAM RADIO MODULES, TONY PETITIONED NASA TO CHANGE ELANAS
QUALIFICATION RULES TO INCLUDE NON PROFIT GROUPS.  NASA READILY AGREED.
AMSAT NA THEN APPLIED FOR A FREE ELANA LAUNCH, AND IN FEBRUARY 2012 NASA
SELECTED THE FOX 1A.  AMSAT PLANS TO LAUNCH A TOTAL OF FOUR FOX CUBESATS IN
THE COMING YEARS.  ALL FOX 1 SATELLITES WILL CARRY FM VOICE/LOW SPEED
TELEMETRY TRANSPONDERS, PLUS HIGH SPEED 9600 BPS DATA TRANSPONDERS.  FOX 1A
WILL BE FIRST, WITH A LAUNCH EXPECTED LATER THIS YEAR.  ALONG WITH HAM

FOX 1 THE NEW ERA OF AMATEUR RADIO SATELLITES  IF EVERYTHING GOES AS
PLANNED, THERE WILL SOON BE A NEW SATELLITE YOU CAN WORK WITH NOTHING MORE
THAN A HANDHELD FM TRANSCEIVER AND A PORTABLE YAGI ANTENNA.  DAVID JORDAN,
AA4KN, FOR THE FOX TEAM LATELY, THE WORLD OF HAM SATELLITES HAS BEEN TURNED
ON ITS HEAD.  THE PRICE OF SATELLITE LAUNCHES HAS RISEN ASTRONOMICALLY, SO
WHEN IT COMES TO BUILDING SATELLITES ON A SHOESTRING BUDGET, BIG IS OUT AND
SMALL IS IN AND THESE DAYS, SMALL MEANS CUBESAT.  A CUBESAT LOOKS JUST LIKE
YOU WOULD IMAGINE A SMALL, CUBE SHAPED SATELLITE.  THE CUBESAT CONCEPT WAS
CO CONCEIVED SEVERAL YEARS AGO BY PROFESSOR JORDI PUIG SUARI OF CALIFORNIA
POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVERSITY ALONG WITH PROFESSOR BOB TWIGGS, KE6QMD.  SOON
UNIVERSITIES STARTED BUILDING CUBESATS AS TEACHING TOOLS, MAKING COLLEGES
THE NEW LAUNCH CUSTOMERS ON THE BLOCK.  INTRODUCING THE AMSAT NA FOX
CUBESAT PROGRAM IN 2008, THE RADIO AMATEUR SATELLITE CORPORATION OF NORTH
AMERICA, BETTER KNOWN AS AMSAT NA, WAS SEEKING A NEW DIRECTION AFTER
CANCELLING THE EAGLE SATELLITE PROJECT DUE IN PART TO THE RISING COST OF
LAUNCHES.  IN OCTOBER OF THE SAME YEAR, NEWLY APPOINTED AMSAT NA VICE
PRESIDENT OF ENGINEERING TONY MONTEIRO, AA2TX SK, ASSEMBLED A TEAM WITH THE
GOAL OF FINDING THE BEST OPTIONS FOR AMSAT NAS RETURN TO SPACE.  THEY SOON
AGREED THAT AMSAT NA COULD AND SHOULD CREATE A CUBESAT, MAINLY BECAUSE SUCH
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