SB SPACE @ ARL $ARLS009
ARLS009 US Naval Academy PSK31 CubeSat Transponders Active

ZCZC AS09  
QST de W1AW  
Space Bulletin 009  ARLS009
From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington, CT  May 26, 2015
To all radio amateurs

SB SPACE ARL ARLS009
ARLS009 US Naval Academy PSK31 CubeSat Transponders Active

PSK31 transponders on two US Naval Academy CubeSats are operational,
according to Bob Bruninga, WB4APR. The CubeSats launched on May 20
from Cape Canaveral on an Atlas 5 launcher. The launch included a
pair of 1.5U CubeSats - the PSAT APRS/PSK31 satellite and BRICsat, a
propulsion/PSK31 satellite - as well as a 3U CubeSat, USS Langley
(Unix Space Server Langley). The launch also included The Planetary
Society's LightSail-1.

Bruninga said PSAT is a student satellite project named in honor of
USNA alum Bradford Parkinson, of GPS fame. It contains an APRS
transponder for relaying remote telemetry, sensor, and user data
from remote users and Amateur Radio environmental experiments or
other data sources back to Amateur Radio experimenters via a global
network of Internet-linked ground stations. A Brno University
transponder on PSAT supports multi-user PSK31 text messaging (28.120
MHz uplink/435.350 MHz FM downlink). Bruninga said the PSAT
telemetry on 145.825 MHz (1200 baud AX.25) is working okay, but the
digipeater is off at present, since the PSK31 transponder is the
primary mission. The APRS downlink page at
http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/pcsat.cgi is now capturing PSAT
telemetry.

The PSK31 multi-user FDMA transponder experiment on PSAT and BRICsat
is similar to the one on RAFT and PCSAT2. It allows text messaging
among up to 30 modest ground stations simultaneously, Bruninga said.
The BRICsat and PSAT PSK31 transponders are on separate spacecraft
but on the same frequency, although one has PSK telemetry on 315 Hz,
the other on 365 Hz.

Bruninga said BRICsat's telemetry has been heard, but has been
cycling off, due to low power. He said the BRICsat PSK31 downlink
has been heard, but only barely when it's on. The USS Langley
spacecraft has not been heard yet, he said.

BRICsat transmits 9600 baud telemetry on 437.975 MHz. The USS
Langley satellite transmits 9600 baud telemetry on 437.475 MHz.

The LightSail-1 packet 9600 baud (FSK) AX.25 downlink is on 437.435
MHz. The Planetary Society's Jason Davis is asking radio amateurs to
e-mail him at jason.davis@planetary.org with any data they collect
from LightSail, including any screenshots.

Bruninga has invited APRS radio amateurs worldwide to tune into the
packet downlinks and IGate packets into the global APRS-IS system,
so they will appear on the APRS downlink page, and also to try out
the "exciting, new full-duplex PSK31 way of multi-user
communication."

PSAT is one of five APRS-networked Amateur Radio satellites that
will be in orbit during 2015, and all will appear on the live APRS
downlink page. The others include PCsat-1, in orbit since 2001,
QIKcom-1, set to launch in September, QIKcom-2, set to launch in
December, and the ARISS packet radio system on board the
International Space Station since 2007.
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