Two New Chinese Ham Satellites Expected to Launch in September

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Two New Chinese Ham Satellites Expected to Launch in September

Two new Chinese amateur radio satellites are expected to launch on September 15. CAS-7A and CAS-7C follow in the wake of numerous amateur radio satellites put into space by CAMSAT. CAS-7A, a 27-kilogram microsat, will carry several transponders, including a 15-meter-to-10-meter (H/t) linear transponder, and a 2-metre-to-70-centimetre (H/u) linear transponder. CAS-7A also will include a V/u (2 meters to 70 centimetres) FM voice transponder. According to the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) satellite coordination site, CAS-7A is planned to have CW beacons on both 10 meters and 70 centimetres, 4.8k or 9.6k GMSK telemetry on 70 centimetres, and a 1 Mbps GMSK image data downlink on 3 centimetres for an onboard camera.

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Long-Lost U.S. Military Satellite found by Amateur Radio Operator

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National Public Radio (NPR) reports radio amateur Scott Tilley VE7TIL / VA7LF has received a signal from a geostationary military satellite that was launched in 1967

Recently, Tilley got interested in a communications satellite he thought might still be alive — or at least among the living dead. LES-5, built by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory, was launched in 1967.

Tilley was inspired by another amateur who in 2016 had found LES-1, an earlier satellite built by the same lab. What was intriguing to him about LES-5 was that if it was still working, it might be the oldest functioning satellite still in geostationary orbit.

By scouring the Internet, he found a paper describing the radio frequency that LES-5, an experimental military UHF communications satellite, should be operating on — if it was still alive. So he decided to have a look.

Media Story - https://www.npr.org/2020/04/24/843493304/long-lost-u-s-military-satellite-found-by-amateur-radio-operator


Russian DOSAAF-85 (RS-44) Amateur Radio Satellite Transponder Now Active

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The amateur radio linear transponder (SSB/CW) on the Russian DOSAAF-85 (RS-44) has been activated. Dmitry Pashkov, R4UAB, explains that RS-85 is a small scientific satellite built by specialists at Information Satellite Systems and students at Siberian State Aerospace University (SibSAU).

The satellite’s name commemorates the 85th anniversary of the Voluntary Society for the Assistance to the Army, Aviation, and Navy (DOSAAF), the organization responsible for the military training of Soviet youth.

This is the third satellite created by the specialists of ISS-Reshetnev and is based on the Yubileyniy platform, which features a hexagonal prism structure with body-mounted solar cells. It was launched into orbit last December 26 from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome and is in an elliptical orbit with a perigee of 1,175 kilometres (729 miles), an apogee of 1,511 kilometres (937 miles), and an inclination of 82.5°.

Transmitter power is 5 W, and the beacon is on 435.605 MHz (identifying as RS44). The transponder is inverting, with uplink centred at 145.965 MHz ±30 kHz, and downlink centred at 435.640 MHz ±30 kHz.

LoTW accepts contacts via DOSAAF-85 as "RS44."