[SJRA-Members] New HF satellite coming soon!

[Holden]

Very interesting! Thanks for the news!

Holden Correia-Fisher
KD2JPV

> On Jan 26, 2017, at 10:07 PM, Richard Lawn <rjlawn at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 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
> -- 
> Sent from Gmail Mobile
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