AMSAT-UK

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AMSAT Phase 4B Ground Engineering Report

Posted: 14 Feb 2016 11:46 AM PST
http://amsat-uk.org/2016/02/14/phase...eering-report/

Michelle Thompson W5NYV

On February 13, Michelle Thompson W5NYV released her latest AMSAT Phase 4B
Ground Engineering Report.

Michelle has nine years experience in embedded hardware and software design
and is managing the digital ground station program in support of a digital
payload for an AMSAT geosynchronous satellite opportunity called Phase 4.
Watch Phase 4B Weekly Report February 13, 2016



So what happened when I finally got to the lab? Well, we able to obtain an
example flow graph, with some controversy between installations, for DVB.
Here is a DVB S2 transmitter in GNUradio. After some troubleshooting to get
it to work with the X310, we saw an output waveform using the built-in
instruments in GNUradio. Heres the list of blocks availabe in mainstream
GNUradio for DVB. Isnt this great? Note that there is already DVB-S2X,
although it has not been completely tested due to the lack of receivers.
Wouldnt it be great if we could help out here?

Next, we transmitted a test signal. It looked a bit puny at first, but we
found the settings for gain and improved performance a bit. In other
advancements, the HackRF team submitted their first pull request in their
documentation. Heres an FM receiver implementation based on Michael
Ossmanns wonderful tutorials about using HackRF and GNUradio at
https://greatscottgadgets.com/sdr/

We tried to receive with DVB-T RTL-SDR dongles, but havent quite gotten
this to work yet!

If you are anywhere in the ballpark about being interested in SDRs, then
watch these videos. If it seems remotely interesting, then consider joining
up our team and participating. Its a lot of fun and we need you.

Heres the instrumentation of the FM broadcast band experiment. The
waterfall shows the stations clearly.

Next up is something I wanted to point out to those of you interested in
microwave experimentation. Heres the band plan for 10GHz. Note that our
downlink is in the Space, Earth, and Telecommand sub band. Note that right
next door is an analog and digital band, where bandwidths greater than 1Mhz
are welcome. That would be us, wearing our terrestrial hats.

Were looking at making the radio autonomously determine what its listening
to, and act accordingly. This is a band plan that works to our advantage
since we believe we can use the same IF of 700MHz for both modes.

We use Github for all our documentation and software. If you need to learn
about github, there are many tutorials at github. You can get off the
ground and to the point where you are forking and pulling like a pro. Check
it out.

Next up, something totally different. We want the user interface for Phase
4 Ground to be really good. We are visual creatures. One of the projects
for visualization of contact history is DynamicQSL. This project is focused
on exploring, researching, developing, and publishing an open source
application that takes your log of QSOs and produces a beautiful
representation of your activity with other stations.

If you have only contacted a station once, then the resulting QSL card for
you and them is simple. If you have had a lot of contacts, then its complex
and rich. The inputs to the DynamicQSL are whatever youve chosen for your
QSL card image, or perhaps your avatar on Phase 4 Ground. So far, its clear
that automatically generating fractal images is not going to easily work.
Choosing a good fractal image requires a human curator to make good art.
Using tree diagrams means the card is predictable and boring. However,
theres another way. Theres a wonderful book about algorithmically produced
art called Creating Symmetry: The Artful Mathematics of Wallpaper Patterns
by Frank A. Farris. This seems to be a winner.

Heres something I made in a few lines of code using SageMath online. Try
out this open source alternative to MATLAB at http://www.sagemath.org. All
the code for the DynamicQSL experiments is in the visualizations directory
of the documents repository at Phase 4 Grounds github site.

Im hoping to work with Zach LeffkeÂ*KJ4QLP at Virgina Tech to find students
with an artistic and programming background to join this project and create
a wonderful aspect to our user interface on Phase 4. There is nothing
stopping this from being an entirely standalone project that anyone with a
QSO log can use. The goal is to feed in a log and have beautiful dynamic
cards, possibly animated to show contacts over time, produced so that the
operator can display or send them. So Zach, if youre listening, I will be
writing you as soon as I can with a lot more details.

None of this is possible without your support. Please join ARRL and AMSAT
if you are not a member already. They make this project possible. If you
want to help the project, then join at http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=1096
or contact me directly. You dont have to be an expert, you just have to
want to become one. I will meet you wherever you are, and help you out as
best I can. Until next week!

Previous reports can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/user/abraxas3d

Geosynchronous Ham Radio Project Video

http://amsat-uk.org/2015/11/08/geosy...project-video/

Michelle Thompson W5NYV https://twitter.com/abraxas3d

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ARISS contact planned for Oasis Academy Brightstowe

Posted: 14 Feb 2016 08:37 AM PST
http://amsat-uk.org/2016/02/14/tim-p...y-brightstowe/

In 2014 the UK PM spoke to Oasis Academy Brightstowe students Image Credit
Oasis Academy

Friday, February 19, 2016, at approximately 14:23 UT, an ARISS contact is
planned for Oasis Academy Brightstowe, Bristol. The UK astronaut Tim Peake
will be using the call sign GB1SSÂ* while the Academy will use GB1OAB.

The ISS signal will be audible over the British Isles and Western Europe on
145.800 MHz FM. The contact will be webcast on the ARISS Principia website
UK astronaut Tim Peake KG5BVI / GB1SS

School presentation:

Oasis Academy Brightstowe is an independent Academy for 11 16 year olds,
located in Shirehampton, North Bristol. We opened in September 2008 in the
state-of-the-art buildings of the former Portway School. Our facilities
here are second to none, with an on-site restaurant, great sports
facilities and a well-stocked Library.

Oasis Academy Brightstowe was given £1.8million to develop a 21st century
ICT capability, so students here have access to the very latest technology;
including a fully equipped Library, access to Wi-Fi throughout the school,
and a Virtual Learning Environment, designed to give students access to
online learning provision.

The Academy has one of the highest computer-per-student ratios of any
school in the area (better than one between two students) and we encourage
students to be competent with the use of computers and the internet in
their lessons.

The new technology is embraced by both staff and students and forms a key
part of lesson planning and delivery. Interactive whiteboards are a feature
of every classroom and teachers can instantly turn any workspace into an
ICT suite using one of our eight portable laptop trolleys.
Principia Mission Patch

Students will ask as many of the following questions as time allows.

1. Emily (12): From my research, I have found out that you are taking part
in 265 experiments. Which one is the most important for us here on Earth?

2. Luke (15): In your opinion, will unmanned missions ever be equal to
manned ones?

3. Francesca (16): In a microgravity environment, can dust, debris and
liquids cause a danger, and if so how do you deal with it?

4. Seema (15): My aim is to be the first female Afghan astronaut. What
would be the one most important piece of advice that you have for me?

5. Jack (11): Were you told what experiments you had to do, or did you get
to choose?

6. Ashleigh (16): How many days supplies do you have on board should a
resupply mission not would you potentially be able to live for, and how
would you survive the longest?

7. Lewis (16): How did you build the confidence to go into space?

8. Natalie (16): Why should we continue to fund expensive space missions
when we have more pressing problems on Earth?

9. Nazain (18): If the worlds leaders could see the earth from your current
perspective, do you think there would be a better consensus to sort out the
problems of the world?

10. Kerys (10): Did anything in your previous career or experiences,
prepare you for space?

11. Jacob (9): Why did you want to become an astronaut?

12. Emily (12): When you push on the wall of the space station behind you
to move forward, does the space station move backwards due to the principle
of conservation of momentum?

13. Luke (15): What do you think of NASAs planned one way Mars mission, and
would you go if given the opportunity?

14. Francesca (16): Can you feel the ISS shake or wobble?

15. Seema (15): Being in a microgravity environment causes a decrease in
muscle mass and bone density. Other than exercise, what measures are you
taking to protect your health?

16. Jack (11): Considering that in space you are weightless and time has a
different value, do you age at a different rate?

17. Kerys (10): Astronauts go through such lengthy and intensive training
for their journeys. Was there anything that you were not prepared for?

18. Jacob (9): How are your experiments helping to save our Earth?

19. Natalie (16): What do you miss about being on earth?

20. Nazain (18): Other than the earth, can you tweet a picture of your
favourite sight in space?

ARISS offers an opportunity for students to experience the excitement of
Amateur Radio by talking directly with crewmembers onboard the
International Space Station. Teachers, parents and communities see, first
hand, how Amateur Radio and crewmembers on ISS can energize youngsters
interest in science, technology and learning.

73, Gaston Bertels, ON4WF

ARISS mentor

ARISS Principia site https://principia.ariss.org/

What is Amateur Radio? http://www.essexham.co.uk/what-is-amateur-radio

Find an amateur radio training course near you
https://thersgb.org/services/coursefinder/

A free booklet is available aimed at introducing newcomers to the hobby
that can also be used as a handy reference while getting started, see

http://rsgb.org/main/get-started-in-...ateur-radio-2/