Copying the 9600 baud telemetry signal from Falconsat 3 has been a objective ever since we set up the W2MMD satellite station. This satellite was built by cadets at the US Air Force Academy and was turned over for ham use after its military mission was complete last year. Its primary communication method is 9600 […]
Once again the Russian crew transmitted SSTV pictures from the International Space Station. I left the W2MMD satellite station running with the tracker software set to track the ISS, and the MMTV SSTV program running to capture the images from the SDR radio. Below are some of the better images. On a high pass two […]
Finally had some success with PSK, and am starting to understand how it works. This was on Sunday of Field Day during which other stations may be working this satellite. Previously I only heard the W3ADO beacon, which occurs only about every 5 minutes. Now there were multiple stations on the waterfall. The transmitter desenses […]
Here’s a link to the PowerPoint presentation at the GCARC Tech Saturday session in May 2018 on satellite operations. https://1drv.ms/p/s!ApbrAotXoVehn1X_NbnDl1UscOQQ
The DopplerPSK program is used to correct a PSK signal for Doppler shift. It changes the audio frequency of the transmitted signal to do this compensation. The program download site is http://www.frontiernet.net/~aflowers/dopplerpsk/dopplerpsk.html and it has been installed at C:UsersuserDownloadsDopplerPSK_0.2.zipDopplerPSK_0.2 on the W2MMD satellite computer.It uses Java, which has been installed (Version 8 Update 161 uninstalled, newer […]
The Russian crew on the International Space Station was transmitting SSTV images in mid-April 2018. Below are some of those images.
It’s pretty easy to track existing satellites using PstRotator. The program is opened when the computer starts up, although it takes a minute or so to load. There are two windows – the satellite window and the rotator window. You don’t need to do much with the rotator window other than click the “Tracking” button […]
The telemetry on CAS4A and CAS4B is easy to decode. Track the telemetry signal with PstRotator and SDR Console. Sometimes it’s easier to copy using the WFM setting and manually setting the bandwidth rather than using the NFM setting. Open the Soundmodem 16 program, which will decode the packets into KISS format, and then open the AGW-Kiss […]
NOAA satellites transmit live weather FAX pictures that can be copied with the SDR radios at the W2MMD site. They transmit in the 137 MHz range that seems to be receivable by the 2 meter beam. NOAA 15-137.6200 mhz NOAA 18-137.9125 mhz NOAA 19-137.1000 mhz They’re programmed into the PST Rotator app and use the […]
APRS operations at W2MMD use the FT-847 rig for both transmit and receive, since the uplinks and downlinks are both on 2 meters. CAT tuning will work on the 847 but the 2 meter antenna needs to be set to the 847. If the radio isn’t set by CAT to 145.825, tune it to that […]
