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Air Force Gives 10-Year-Old Orbiting Satellite To Ham Radio Operators (arrl.org)
Longtime Slashdot reader Bruce Perens writes: The U.S. Air Force has transferred control of a 10-year-old orbiting satellite to AMSAT, a ham radio organization, which has enabled it for any licensed ham to use on the air, as the satellite's Air Force missions have ended. Falconsat 3's first mission was science: measuring gravity gradient, spectrometry of the plasmasphere, electronic noise in the plasmasphere, and testing three-axis attitude control using microthrusters. Secondarily it was used to train Air Force Institute of Technology students in space operations, with close to 700 cadets obtaining ham licenses in order to operate a number of Air Force satellites using ham frequencies.
Now in its third mission, control of the satellite has been transferred to AMSAT, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, and all government frequencies have been disabled with only ham ones remaining. The satellite will relay APRS (position and status reporting) signals, it will operate a BBS in the sky, and will broadcast telemetry.
Now in its third mission, control of the satellite has been transferred to AMSAT, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, and all government frequencies have been disabled with only ham ones remaining. The satellite will relay APRS (position and status reporting) signals, it will operate a BBS in the sky, and will broadcast telemetry.
The "FalconSAT" name certainly suggests a link to SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, but it is actually unrelated, predating SpaceX's founding. The satellite series has used a number of different lift vehicles - FalconSAT-3 used an Atlas V 401 rocket, as part of a multi-satellite launch.
The closest the two Falcons came was the launch of FalconSAT-2, which got bumped from the Space Shuttle's manifest after Columbia. It got re-used as the payload on SpaceX's first-ever launch, the first Falcon 1 flight. Which failed catastrophically a half-minute in. The satellite apparently survived with "minor" damage, falling back onto the island, but it was never re-launched to my knowledge.
The Air Force probably doesn't need FalconSAT-3 anymore because they have FalconSAT-5, which presumably can fill a similar purpose.
Falconsat 3 was built at the air force academy, not the AF institue of technology. '06 grad here. just google it -
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GGRV_enUS750US750&{google:acceptedSuggestion}oq=falconsat+3&{google:instantFieldTrialGroupParameter}sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=falconsat+3&pws=0
Neat
Can anyone explain why the uplink is in the 2m band while the downlink is in the 70 cm band? Having separate frequencies makes sense, but what purpose is there to having them this far apart?
How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
Looks like falconsat-3 is for live packet QSO's only. No voice, no store and forward.
Deep breath.. No need to make this political... yet...
I wouldn't think Orbital Control has been handed over as well.
I broke the ARRL web site :-). Try the AMSAT site instead.
- K6BP
Bruce Perens.
close to 700 cadets obtaining ham licenses in order to operate a number of Air Force satellites using ham frequencies.
That seems like a nice thing. Given how even today in large scale natural disasters ham operators provide critical communication links to the outside world, having 700 more licensed operators can only be a good thing.
Not sure whether to be more concerned at the fact that there is a 10-year-old locked in orbit around a satellite, or that control of said youngster is being transferred to a ham radio organization.
Strange...
I wonder if this was accelerated because of the need for HAM operators in Puerto Rico following Maria.
Your ad here. Ask me how!
Great, they get a beat up trainer. Seriously though, I'll bet a lot of those cadets go on to train for volunteer emergency communications later on.
hi I was thinking of getting some HAM gear, yeah been lazy.
anyway does anyone make a handheld device that does HAM, and CB?
thanks for reply in advance.
d
If you would like to be a ham, go to this page and fill out the form. The folks at ARRL will send you information on becoming a ham. Also, read this part on getting licensed.
There is a lot more to it than CB, and a lot of the stuff you hear on CB shouldn't ever be done on ham radio. And ham radio is not a gift. Expect to do some work to become a ham.
Bruce Perens.
3840 kHz will sure get him a mix of ham and CB.
Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K.
There's no such device, at least not in the US. Under FCC rules a radio for use on CB (11-meter band,) has to be type certified and channelized. Ham radios operate all across the amateur spectrum, (160-meters through 10-meters on HF, 6-meters through 2-meters on VHF, etc.) and require no type certification. Since a legal CB radio must only operate on CB channels, and a ham radio lacks type certification, the two services are mutually exclusive, as far as equipment is concerned. The one exception is that every HF ham radio I've seen can receive on the CB channels, but will in turn refuse to transmit, (so as to remain legal.)
I'd recommend getting your amateur license. The technician's, (or even general,) exam is easy, it's a lot of fun, and it gives you a chance to give back to the community in the form of supporting emergency communications, if that's of interest to you.
Is that something William Shatner is involved in?
>the two services are mutually exclusive, as far as equipment is concerned.
And usually Hams wouldn't touch a CB rig with a 1000000000000000000 foot pole.
"If you ask me that ain't no rose, roll up your windows and hold your nose." Leyton Wainwright III
New amateur receivers are type-certified for avoidance of the old 800 MHz analog cellular frequencies, as required by the Electronic Communications and Privacy Act in 1986. So, you will see a notice about radios not being offered for sale until they are type-certified.
I would like someone to help work on repealing that provision of ECPA. Obviously everyone uses encryption now.
Bruce Perens.
Which satellite are they orbiting?
You can't take the sky from me
In order to qualify as a legit BBS, it has to have TW2002...
Thanks for posting this up Bruce, it's a wonderful story.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
There is still no requirement that amateur transceivers must be type certified for use in the Amateur Service. An Amateur radio operator can build their own radio and use it all they want, provided they adhere to emissions standards. But, they do not have to obtain type certification to use their radio.
However in order to be sold in the USA, they must comply with the law that forbids reception on the old AMPS bands. Of course, this is usually just a pinkyswear on the part of the manufacturers, and can be unlocked either through accessing a calibration mode, or by snipping a diode/resistor on the main circuit board.
...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...
You can build one, but you can't sell a VHF/UHF transceiver that is not type approved, because all receivers in VHF/UHF bands are considered to be scanners, and thus must be type approved. It's not in Part 97 but elsewhere in FCC regulations.
Bruce Perens.
Yes, you absolutely can. Amateur radios with self-contained transmitters absolutely do NOT require type acceptance to be imported or sold in the United States. This is why it is legal to use any radio in the Amateur Service (including former commercial batwing stuff) - because there is no such thing as Part 97 type acceptance. All radios are acceptable for use in the Amateur Service.
What you might be referring to is an equipment authorization under Part 2, which is not a type acceptance. A lot of people with little knowledge of regulatory laws make this same mistake, so it's certainly forgivable.
The point is that you can't sell the radio without FCC approval. This concerns me because I am producing an SDR radio that is supposed to be 100% Open Source, but in order to sell it as anything but test equipment, I need to have one little non-Open-Source part that keeps the receiver from being programmed to receive AMPS cellular.
Bruce Perens.
If you are going to make a point, you should make it accurately. If you don't know what you are talking about, you should research the issue BEFORE you make foolish statements and not after.