Raspberry Pi FUNcube Satellite Telemetry Decoder Now Available

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Raspberry Pi FUNcube Satellite Telemetry Decoder Now Available

The FUNcube Team has announced the availability of FUNcube CubeSat satellite telemetry decoder software for the popular Raspberry Pi computer board.

The original FUNcube telemetry decoder and Dashboard was designed to run on Windows devices and the FUNcube team did publish the telemetry format in accordance with the Amateur Satellite Service traditions and requirements. The Team had planned to opensource the Telemetry Decoder and provide an implementation on Linux, but several new missions after the original FUNcube-1 delayed their plans somewhat.

Late 2019, the Team had the opportunity to develop a low power/low impact ground station, based on Docker containers, for use at the Neumayer III Antarctic base at DP0GVN. This led us to evolve the code such that it would run on a Raspberry Pi. Duncan, 2E0GTV, has been able to produce this variant of the code and allow us to fully realize our Open Source commitment to the FUNcube project.

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New 2 Metre Filter Stops Interference

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Many handie-talky radios suffer from severe interference from nearby transmitters, particularly on hilltop sites. Blocking is a reduction in sensitivity that can be hard to detect. When a radio is being blocked all callers (even strong ones) can appear weak or may even be undetectable.

The SOTABEAMS bandpass filter is a small, rugged and lightweight filter that eliminates virtually all interference problems. The filter is a helical design that is made especially for SOTABEAMS. It is simply attached between the radio and antenna.

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Saltwater and Plastic Antenna

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Saltwater and Plastic Antenna

A new antenna that uses saltwater and plastic has been developed by Lei Xing and her colleagues at the College of Electronic and Information Engineering at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in China

IEEE Spectrum reports researchers have developed an advanced liquid-based antenna system that relies on a readily available ingredient: saltwater.

The saltwater-based antenna that achieves 12 directional beam-steering states and one omnidirectional state. Its circular configuration allows for complete 360-degree beam-steering and works for frequencies between 334 to 488 MHz

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