[SJRA-Members] New HF satellite coming soon!

[Richard Lawn]

I just read the following in the weekly ARRL bulletin in case you missed
it. Looks like a return to the early days of amateur satellites is coming
where anyone with average HF equipment can access the satellite just like
the old days of the RS satellites.

The US Naval Academy has received IARU satellite frequency coordination for
HFsat <http://aprs.org/hfsat.html>, a 1.5 U CubeSat carrying a 15 to
10-meter inverting linear transponder with a 30 kHz bandwidth (uplink 21.4
MHz, downlink 29.42 MHz). The Mode K configuration is reminiscent of the
old "RS" series of Russian satellites. The CubeSat will also carry an APRS
digipeater on 145.825 MHz. The US Naval Academy's Bob Bruninga, WB4APR,
said HFsat is designed to demonstrate the viability of HF satellites as a
back-up communication system, taking advantage of HF radios found in a
typical Amateur Radio installation or frequently used to support disaster
and emergency response communication.

"HFsat will be gravity gradient-stabilized by its full-sized 10-meter
half-wave HF dipole with tip masses," Bruninga explained on the HFsat web
page. "HFsat will continue the long tradition of small amateur satellites
designed by aerospace students at the US Naval Academy."

A standardized CubeSat VHF communication card based on the popular Byonics
MTT4B all-in-one APRS Tiny-Track4 module for telemetry, command, and
control is under development at the Academy. Students are working with Bill
Ress, N6GHZ, on the HF transponder card. HFsat's control operator will be
Todd Bruner, WB1HAI.

Bruninga sees a future for Amateur Radio satellites operating on the HF
bands. "HFsat will operate under the ITU rules of the Amateur Satellite
Service since not only does that service currently have allocations for
satellite relay on HF, but it is also the only service with nearly a
century of knowledgeable operators' experience with the HF bands under all
conditions," Bruninga wrote on the HFsat web page. "Should the system prove
viable, and should other services desire to use the transponder technology,
then the lengthy process to obtain federal HF [satellite communication]
allocations could be considered."


73

Rick, W2JAZ
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