Students FM transponder Satellite Launched

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CAS-2T a technical verification satellite for CAMSAT CAS-2 series amateur radio satellite launched at 23:42 UT 9 November 2016 on a CZ-11 rocket

The 2U CubeSat, developed by students from Fengtai District, Xicheng and Haidian District secondary schools, carries a ham radio 145/435 MHz FM transponder. CAS-2T will not be separated from the final stage of rocket, so the orbital life may be 10 to 30 days before the final stage of the rocket re-enters the atmosphere.

Amateur radio payloads:

CW Telemetry Beacon ： 435.710 MHz
FM Transponder Uplink ： 145.925 MHz
FM Transponder Downlink ： 435.615 MHz

Launch vehicle: CZ-11(Y2) solid rocket
Launch time: 23:42, 9-Nov-2016
Epoch time: +620.615 seconds
Inclination degree: 97.400985 degrees
RA of node degree:
Eccentricity: 1.77E-4
Perigee degree: 328.206969 degrees
Mean anomaly degree: 198.226766 degrees
Period: 5685.564 seconds
Speed: 7607.496391 m/s
Longitude: 93.693693E
Latitude: 13.531945N

News report (in Chinese) - https://www.chinaspaceflight.com/satellite/fengtai-shaonian-01.html

Mike Rupprecht DK3WN – CAS-2T seems to be Object 2016-66E - http://www.dk3wn.info/p/?p=75971

‘Keps’ for new satellites launched in past 30 days - http://celestrak.com/NORAD/elements/tle-new.txt

SO-50 Suffers 2m Interference

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Amateur Radio satellite, SO-50, operating over North America, has suffered communication issues due to a terrestrial station operating on 145.850 Mhz, the same as the uplink frequency for SO-50.

The interfering station appears to be located in South-Eastern United States

As per US Band Plan, the segment between 145.800 - 146.00 MHZ is allocated for amateur satellite communication.

Interference to satellites can be caused by simplex communications, repeater links, or Echolink/IRLP nodes

White House Pushes for more Tiny Satellites

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NASA and other agencies are giving microsatellites the resources they need to thrive.

Being less expensive and easier to deploy than the giant satellites of old, and housing advantaged technology to increase coverage, government agencies, led by NASA have launched an initiative to provide more resources to increase the number of launches.

NASA providing up to $30 million toward purchasing data collected by satellite groups, along with creating a Small Spacecraft Virtual Institute that will offer know-how to organizations.

Other projects see the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency awarding Planet a $20 million contract for a fleet of small satellites that can capture images of "at least" 85 percent of the planet every 15 days.

More inforamtion - https://www.engadget.com/2016/10/22/white-house-small-satellite-initiative/