Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Smartphone-Sat- STRAND-1

STRAND-1 AMATEUR RADIO SMARTPHONE CUBESAT TO LAUNCH FEBRUARY 25

The BBC says that the world’s first 'smartphone-sat' project called STRAND-1 will be ready to launch at the end of February. The STRAND-1 CubeSat will carry a Google Nexus One Android smartphone into space to demonstrate the feasibility of using cheap smartphone’s electronics to control a spacecraft.

Also included will be a software-based speech synthesizer to commemorate the U-O-SAT family of amateur radio satellites that were launched in the 1980′s. There will also be an amateur radio AX.25 packet radio downlink on 437.575 MHz.

The STRAND-1 satellite was built in Guildford in the United Kingdom by volunteers from the Surrey Space Centre and Surrey Satellite Technology Limited in their spare time. It is planned to be launched on February 25th into a 785 km orbit by the Indian Space Research Organization rocket. More is on-line at www.amsat-uk.org and we will have more ham radio space related news later on in this weeks Amateur Radio Newsline report. (AMSAT-UK)
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My Stamp Collecting Blog

My Stamp Collecting Blog

Counter Added January 1, 2011

free counters

HOW TO READ PROPAGATION NUMBERS

The A index [ LOW is GOOD ]

  • 1 to 6 is BEST
  • 7 to 9 is OK
  • 11 or more is BAD

Represents the overall geomagnetic condition of the ionosphere ("Ap" if averaged from the Kp-Index) (an average of the eight 3-hour K-Indices) ('A' referring to amplitude) over a given 24 hour period, ranging (linearly) typically from 1-100 but theoretically up to 400.

A lower A-Index generally suggests better propagation on the 10, 12, 15, 17, & 20 Meter Bands; a low & steady Ap-Index generally suggest good propagation on the 30, 40, 60, 80, & 160 Meter Bands.

SFI index [ HIGH is GOOD ]

  • 70 NOT GOOD
  • 80 GOOD
  • 90 BETTER
  • 100+ BEST

The measure of total radio emissions from the sun at 10.7cm (2800 MHz), on a scale of 60 (no sunspots) to 300, generally corresponding to the sunspot level, but being too low in energy to cause ionization, not related to the ionization level of the Ionosphere.

Higher Solar Flux generally suggests better propagation on the 10, 12, 15, 17, & 20 Meter Bands; Solar Flux rarely affects the 30, 40, 60, 80, & 160 Meter Bands.

K index [ LOW is GOOD ]

  • 0 or 1 is BEST
  • 2 is OK
  • 3 or more is BAD
  • 5 is VERY VERY BAD

The overall geomagnetic condition of the ionosphere ("Kp" if averaged over the planet) over the past 3 hours, measured by 13 magnetometers between 46 & 63 degrees of latitude, and ranging quasi-logarithmically from 0-9. Designed to detect solar particle radiation by its magnetic effect. A higher K-index generally means worse HF conditions.

A lower K-Index generally suggests better propagation on the 10, 12, 15, 17, & 20 Meter Bands; a low & steady Kp-Index generally suggest good propagation on the 30, 40, 60, 80, & 160 Meter Bands.

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