The $50sat team is celebrating 90 days in orbit by proposing a technical
challenge to all interested amateurs. $50sat is capable of responding to uplink
command packets:
There are 3 open packets: Test packet - $50SAT responds by sending the RSSI of
the received packet in slow FM Morse. Request data packet - the normal data
packet is sent. Request RTTY - The RTTY is sent. In addition all received
packets result in two copies of the ack packet being sent, that contains the
RSSI of the received packet.
All the required information to accomplish this is available on the drop box
location available through the $50sat web page at www.50dollarsat.info .
Anyone that can demonstrate a successful command uplink by submitting a
recording of the response packet along with the date, time and location of of
the contact will receive aCertificate of Technical Accomplishment signed by all
three builders of $50sat. Submissions can be madeto the $50sat email address;
50dollarsat at yahoo.com. This is a significant challenge because there is no
magic black box that you can buy to do this.
After 90 days of operation, the Kodak KLIC-7002 camera battery that powers the
satellite has fallen off about 100mV, but operations still seem normal.
We have also programmed a special 5th morse beacon to thank our launch sponsor
and mentor prof. Bob Twiggs. Please give a listen for the message TNX KE6QMD
on the FM Morse beacon.
QSL cards are still available to anyone that posts telemetry, either hand
copied CW or RTTY captures, to the 50dollarsat yahoo group.
73 and good luck to all from the $50sat team
_______________________________________________
Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
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