[amsat-bb] New sats on the horizon?

[Daniel "Nick" Kucij]

Been getting antsy about satellites with amateur radio capability that  
we can look forward to in the near future? Me too. So I looked around  
the web to glean some tidbits about what might be on our horizons in  
the near future if all goes well.

Here are the ham sats projected for 2013 that I’m aware of:

Turksat-3U,  the Turkish 3U Cubesat with a planned launch from a site  
in China, in MAY 2013,  with a projected 680KM orbit . The sat has a V/ 
U linear transponder: input of 145.940-145.990 and an output of  
435.200-435.250 MHz.  There will be a CW beacon on 437.225 MHz  and a  
camera on board.

KiwiSAT, is fight ready. AMSAT-ZL is hoping for a DNEPR launch in  
mid-2013

* KiwiSAT carries a 435 or 1268 MHz to 145 MHz linear transponder for  
SSSB/CW operation.

* Transmit Power: 2 Watts PEP.

* Beacon frequency: 145.885 MHz

* Uplink: (U-Band) 435.265 to 435.235 MHZ LSB or

* Uplink: (L-Band) 1268.880 to 1268.850 MHz LSB

* Down link: 145.850 to 145.880 MHz USB

The target will be to achieve a launch into a sun-synchronous orbit at  
an altitude of approximately 800km with a period of about 100 minutes.

UKube-1, the UK Space Agency's sat has a planned launch from Baikonor  
in JUNE, 2013 on a Soyuz. UKube-1 will carry a set of AMSAT-UK FUNcube  
boards to provide an amateur radio 435/145 MHz linear transponder and  
a 1200 bps BPSK beacon for educational outreach.

FunCube-1, AMSAT-UK’s sat planned launch in 2013 in an 600-700km orbit  
and will provide an amateur radio 435/145 MHz linear transponder that  
will have approx 500mW PEP output  for SSB/CW communications and a  
1200 bps BPSK beacon for educational outreach.

Fox-1,  a 1U AMSAT-USA Cubesat carrying an educational science  
experiment from Penn State University and an FM transponder with  
telemetry mode. Anticipated launch in 4Q, 2013 to a 650km orbit.  Work  
on the proto-type is on-going. There is a currently a $25,000 matching  
challenge grant for funding donations in effect.

Welcome to anyone with more current or accurate info. Please fill us in.

73, Nick, KB1RVT