[RVRC] African Satelite/fm repeater

[Marvin Bronstein]

* South African Amateur Radio Payload Reaches Orbit: After several
delays, South Africa's SumbandilaSat satellite
<http://www.amsatsa.org.za/SZASAT.htm> finally blasted to orbit aboard a
Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on September 16
<http://www.russianspaceweb.com/baikonur.html>. The main payload is a
multi-spectral imager, but the satellite also carries an Amateur Radio
component consisting of a 2 meter/70 cm FM repeater. After SumbandilaSat
is fully commissioned, the repeater will be activated with an uplink at
145.880 MHz and a downlink at 435.350 MHz; there will also be a voice
beacon at 435.300 MHz. The transponder mode will be controlled by a
CTCSS tone on the uplink frequency. The CTCSS tone frequencies have yet
to be announced. SumbandilaSat was sponsored by the Department of
Science and Technology and was built at SunSpace
<http://www.sunspace.co.za/> in cooperation with the Stellenbosch
University <http://www.sun.ac.za/>. In addition to the SA-AMSAT amateur
module, the satellite carries Stellenbosch University's radiation
experiment and software defined radio (SDR) project, an experiment from
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and a VLF radio module from the
University of KwaZulu-Natal.

=========================================================== 
The ARRL Letter is published Fridays, 50 times each year, by the
American Radio Relay League: ARRL--the national association for Amateur
Radio, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111; tel 860-594-0200; fax
860-594-0259; <http://www.arrl.org>. Joel Harrison, W5ZN, President.

The ARRL Letter offers a weekly e-mail digest of essential and general
news of interest to active radio amateurs. Visit the ARRL Web site
<http://www.arrl.org> for the latest Amateur Radio news and news
updates. The ARRL Web site <http://www.arrl.org/> also offers
informative features and columns. ARRL Audio News
<http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/> is a weekly "ham radio newscast"
compiled and edited from The ARRL Letter. It's also available as a
podcast from our Web site.

Material from The ARRL Letter may be republished or reproduced in whole
or in part in any form without additional permission. Credit must be
given to The ARRL Letter/American Radio Relay League.