| March, 2008 |  |
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Air Force working on cheaper plug-and-play satellites
Satellites represent an extremely impressive technological achievement, serving as communications relays in orbits as high as 22,600 miles above the Earth or providing precise location information to handheld Global Positioning System receivers priced at as little as $100.
At the same time, satellite development and manufacturing seems stuck in the pre-automation age, with each bird laboriously handcrafted in a process that takes years and with costs for new Defense Department satellite systems routinely measured in the billions of dollars.
The Transformational Communications Satellite (TSAT) system for example, intended to serve as the next-generation space-based communications hub for Defense and capable of transmitting huge amounts of data in seconds rather than minutes using current systems, won’t go into service until 2016 and has a price tag of $16 billion.
Full Story: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=39089&dcn=e_gvet
Bouncing Signals off the ISS
Bernd, DF2ZC, reports that he has successfully held a CW contact on 144 MHz by bouncing his signal from the structure of the International Space Station.
According to his posting on Moon Net, his work was triggered by Peter Sundberg, SM2CEW’s attempts to complete a QSO by using the ISS as a reflector.
From Sundberg’s experience DF4ZC believed it would be a worthwhile attempt considering that the B PSK 63 mode would enable us to exchange all information within few seconds if he used only the EME report and QSO rules.
His second try on Sunday December 9th at 1626 UTC. That’s when he copied signals at elevations of greater than 20 degrees and within a minute exchanged all data. Signal reports were about S3 to S5 DF2ZC running only 300 watts out.
[RAC]
Pico-powered Parts
Advanced Linear Devices of Sunnyvale, California have released a new family
of Field Effect Transistors that require no gate bias at all!
They start conducting well below 1 mV, making amplifiers and oscillators that
operate on a massive 20 mV (yes, that is millivolts) B+ rail feasible. Who
will be the first to design us a complete rig that runs on a lemon and
two nails? (Thanks to WIA News)
[RAC]
AMSAT Maryland Lab Update
Bob, KF4KSS, AMSAT Lab Manager provided an update on the work to bring the new Pocomoke City, MD facility shared with the Hawk Institute of Space Sciences on-line.
- January will close the cleanroom construction activities.
- February will begin the tower and all the RF for the satellite control station including U, V, L, S and HF bands. Details will be published as they are completed.
- After the tower installation, we will begin work on the engineering unit of the structure for the AMSAT Eagle amateur radio satellite. We plan on having parts of it complete in time for the Dayton Hamvention in May.
- An on-line gallery of Lab pictures can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/bob2leo
Dates for ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference Announced
The Tucson Amateur Packet Radio Corporation (TAPR) has announced that the 2008 ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference will take place September 26-28 at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. The conference is an international forum for radio amateurs to meet, publish their work and present new ideas and techniques. Presenters and attendees will have the opportunity to exchange ideas and learn about recent hardware and software advances, theories, experimental results and practical applications. Forums will feature the latest developments in Amateur Radio digital communications, as well as demonstrations of emerging digital technology. More information is available on the ARRL/TAPR DCC Web site.
| March, 2008 | |
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