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| China's Taurus-1 amateur satellite, shown here with a solar sail, features an analog FM to digital voice trans- ponder. (Photo via AMSAT-UK) |
Taurus-1, a
Chinese satellite built by the Aerospace System Engineering Research Institute
of Shanghai, was launched in mid-September. According to AMSAT-UK, it carries a
unique FM voice to digital voice (Codec2) transponder. Hams may transmit FM
voice up to the satellite on 145.820 MHz. The digital voice downlink is on
436.760 MHz, with telemetry on 435.8387 MHz,
Japan's FO-29 satellite,
in orbit since 1996, has returned to the air after being silent since this past
July, according to the ARRL Letter. The satellite has a lower sideband
and CW uplink on 2 meters, with an inverting upper sideband and CW downlink on
70 centimeters.
AMSAT-OSCAR-7,
the longest-functioning amateur radio satellite (launched in 1974), is in full illumination
until about December 2, according to the AMSAT News Service. Its batteries are
long dead but the satellite's solar panels still power its transponder when in
full sunlight. AO-7 has SSB and CW uplinks on 2 meters and 70 centimeters, and
SSB/CW downlinks on 10 and 2 meters, as well as beacons on all three bands. See
<https://tinyurl.com/y3yur5vx>
for more details.
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| Slow-scan TV image of Earth and space from Navy-OSCAR 104. (Photo via Ales Povolac) |
On the topic of
HF satellite frequencies, the AMSAT News Service reports that Region 3 of the
International Amateur Radio Union, representing Asia and the Pacific, has added
an amateur satellite segment to its 15-meter bandplan. More information is
available at <https://tinyurl.com/y637aw47>.
Finally, the U.S.
Naval Academy's NO-104, or PSAT-2, satellite, was placed in photo mode for a
week in September. It was to take a slow-scan TV photo every 10 minutes, store
it in memory, and then transmit it back to Earth. Each photo was downloaded
only once, but many have been collected online at <http://www.urel.feec.vutbr.cz/esl/psat2/sstv/>.
The most recent ones come up first.
