For You CW Hams

[KC2PED]

There is a cubesat called FITSAT-1 on it's way up to ISS in the Japanese cargo carrier that launched Saturday. It is scheduled to be deployed sometime in September. Once it is operational the school that launched it will be doing some gHz radio experiments with it. But they have also covered it's Earth-facing surface with high powered LEDs and plan to use them to flash CW back to Earth. They are hoping it will be bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.
I emailed the professor to congratulate him in the launch and wish him good luck with the experiments. I also said that I had hoped to see it while stargazing in Central Park but it looked like they would only be lighting it up when it is in view of their school. This morning I received an email from him saying that they will try to find a time when they can light it up while it is in view from Central Park. I don't know how far off axis it will be visible but it might be worth watching for. He will be posting it's schedule at http://www.fit.ac.jp/~tanaka/fitsat.shtml

[Matt Joyce]

I would have thought the light pollution of nyc to be insurmountable.

On Jul 23, 2012 3:33 AM, "KC2PED" <charlie...@gmail.com> wrote:

There is a cubesat called FITSAT-1 on it's way up to ISS in  the Japanese cargo carrier that launched Saturday.  It is scheduled to be deployed sometime in September.  Once it is operational the school that launched it will be doing some gHz radio experiments with it.  But they have also covered it's Earth-facing surface with high powered LEDs and plan to use them to flash CW back to Earth.  They are hoping it will be bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.
I emailed the professor to congratulate him in the launch and wish him good luck with the experiments.  I also said that I had hoped to see it while stargazing in Central Park but it looked like they would only be lighting it up when it is in view of their school.  This morning I received an email from him saying that they will try to find a time when they can light it up while it is in view from Central Park.  I don't know how far off axis it will be visible but it might be worth watching for.  He will be posting it's schedule at http://www.fit.ac.jp/~tanaka/fitsat.shtml

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[John Lewis]

Very cool!

 

- N2LWS

On Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 6:33 AM, KC2PED <charlie...@gmail.com> wrote:

There is a cubesat called FITSAT-1 on it's way up to ISS in  the Japanese cargo carrier that launched Saturday.  It is scheduled to be deployed sometime in September.  Once it is operational the school that launched it will be doing some gHz radio experiments with it.  But they have also covered it's Earth-facing surface with high powered LEDs and plan to use them to flash CW back to Earth.  They are hoping it will be bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.
I emailed the professor to congratulate him in the launch and wish him good luck with the experiments.  I also said that I had hoped to see it while stargazing in Central Park but it looked like they would only be lighting it up when it is in view of their school.  This morning I received an email from him saying that they will try to find a time when they can light it up while it is in view from Central Park.  I don't know how far off axis it will be visible but it might be worth watching for.  He will be posting it's schedule at http://www.fit.ac.jp/~tanaka/fitsat.shtml

[KC2PED]

The latest information from Japan on FITSAT-1:
"JAXA (like NASA) announced that FITSAT-1 is deployed at 00:30 on
September 11 of Japan standard time. This time advances 9 hours from GMT.
We plan to start the experiment of flashing LED around the end of this September."
I will be advised when they will be sending Morse over NYC and post that information here.
There are about a half dozen videos that turn up on a FITSAT-1 search of YouTube, unfortunately mostly in Japanese but you can get an idea of what the cubesat looks like and how it gets deployed.
And it looks like the F1 cubesat from Viet Nam which will be deployed at the same time might be transmitting in English on the ham bands.

[James Meldrum]

Thanks for the update!

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[KC2PED]

After a delay caused by the additional spacewalk required to correct the recent ISS electrical problem JAXA now plans to deploy their cubesats on 28Sep12.
The latest information from my contact in Japan follows.  It contains information on receiving the radio beacon from the satellite.  Information on when the LEDs will beacon Morse code to NYC should follow after the deployment and confirmation of the FITSat-1 orbit.
JST is UTC +9 so 13 hours ahead of EST.

"JAXA plans to deploy five cubesats from ISS at the early
morning on 28th September. The first two satellites (RAIKO, 
WE WISH) are deployed around 00:10 - 00:20 JST by manually.
The second three satellites (FITSAT-1, NanoRacks,and TechEdSat)
are deployed around 01:30 - 01:40 JST by remote.
JST(Japan Standard Time) advances 9 hours from GMT. 
JAXA will broadcast the deployment:
http://iss.jaxa.jp/iss/jaxa_exp/hoshide/library/live/

"FITSAT starts to send the beacon signal 30 min after deployment.
Please send the signal report and your postal address to 
fit...@hotmail.co.jp and also cc to tan...@fit.ac.jp. 
You will receive the verification card shown in:
http://www.fit.ac.jp/~tanaka/fitsat.shtml 

"The orbit is almost the same as ISS. JAXA said FITSAT
delays 200m from ISS for one cycle around the world.
As it goes around 16 times a day, it delays 3.2km per day.
If 10 days passed, FITSAT passes the same point of ISS 
after 4 sec (32km/8km=4).

"The beacon frequency 437.250MHz of FITSAT-1 conflicts
with the satellite PRISM of Tokyo Univ. 
Please confirm that the CW starts "HI DE NIWAKA JAPAN ..."
The polarization is vertical, as the antenna always aligns
to the magnetic field of earth."

[KC2PED]

FITSAT-1 has, finally, just been deployed. It should begin transmitting RF CW by 1115 EST. I will post the scheduled LED pass(es) when they are announced.

[KC2PED]

The date has finally been set for the FITSAT-1 CubeSat to beam Morse code over NYC from its LEDs
The test will be on 12Dec2012 at 0614 UTC
The LEDs will flash for two minutes
you can see a picture of the satellite passing over Korea at http://www.fit.ac.jp/~tanaka/fitsat.shtml
Any sighting reports would be appreciated

[Lucien Van Elsen]

Details of the pass from heavens-above.com, NY local time:

Date	Start			Highest point			End
	Time	Alt.	Az.	Time	Alt.	Az.	Time	Alt.	Az.

12 Dec

01:12:06

10°

WNW

01:15:07

39°

SW

01:18:09

10°

SSE

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[alp tilev]

That's awesome. Thanks for sharing!

 

Alp

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Alp