SB SPACE @ ARL $ARLS004
ARLS004 SaudiSat 1-A (SO-41) now available for amateur use

ZCZC AS04  
QST de W1AW  
Space Bulletin 004  ARLS004
From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington, CT  April 9, 2002
To all radio amateurs

SB SPACE ARL ARLS004
ARLS004 SaudiSat 1-A (SO-41) now available for amateur use

SaudiSat 1-A (SO-41) now is reported open for Amateur Radio
communication. According to information received by AMSAT-NA
President Robin Haighton, VE3FRH, SO-41 has been configured for FM
voice repeater operation.

Turki Al Saud, director of the Space Research Institute in Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia--the satellite's sponsoring agency--told AMSAT-NA that
SO-41 will automatically enable its UHF transmitter over Saudi
Arabia and the US for approximately 20 minutes each pass. The
spacecraft reportedly is configured for Mode J, with a VHF uplink of
145.850 MHz and a UHF downlink of 436.775 MHz. The spacecraft will
operate in this mode intermittently, as power and spacecraft
experiments permit, the announcement said.

SO-41's downlink RF power is 1 W with left-hand circular
polarization. The uplink antenna--located atop the spacecraft--is
linear in polarization. Experiments and software development
continue with SaudiSat 1-B (SO-42), and that satellite is not yet
available to amateurs.

SaudiSat 1A and 1B were launched along with TIUNGSAT-1 on September
26, 2000, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, aboard a converted Soviet
ballistic missile. Both satellites have been in various stages of
commissioning since then.
NNNN
/EX