[amsat-bb] change being in save mode.

[Tanan Rangseeprom]

Hello  All AMSAT members in worldwide,

Before the New Year  2019 I 'm  Tanan, HS1JAN and Khun Chawalit, E20KEW
along with Khun Krisada, E21EJC visited Prof Dr. Suwat, the Knacksat
Project Leader, and Dr. Pongsathorn, the Knacksat Project Team Manager at
the King Mongkut Institute of Technology North Bangkok (KMUT-NB) to enquire
about the status of the Knacksat satellite following its SSO-A launch by a
Space X rocket on December 3, 2018.

Due to problems with the Space X rocket, the launch had been postponed
several times with the Knacksat satellite being kept on hold and the
satellite's batteries may have become depleted by the time the satellite
was finally launched by SSO-A. When the deploy switch has been working for
about 30 minutes the VHF/UHF antennas are deployed with heat from the
nichrome wire. https://www.facebook.com/knacksat/videos/818456401588168/

This creates a need for high-voltage electricity which may be the reason
that Knacksat satellite batteries had lower power than normal. If this were
the case Knacksat satellites would then enter "Save Mode", or a sleep
state, in order to charge the battery and to await orders from the  HS0AK
Ground Station.

We are confident that the Knacksat satellite is still in a state of sleep.
The Knacksat team expects that it may take up to many months to charge the
battery to get to the original energy level. Hence, I would like to ask
amateur radio operators in the AMSAT group to help the Knacksat team as
well.

The Knacksat team needs urgent help in receiving reports of the CW beacon
signal on the frequency of 435.635 MHz because the Knacksat satellite will
send the CW Beacon signal when the solar cell panel receives enough
sunlight to charge the battery. Hence, there may be a signal from the CW
beacon with the power of just 10 - 100 mW from the Knacksat satellite at
any time.

The Knacksat team has prepared rewards for anyone who sends them details
with a signal report received from the Knacksat satellite including QSL
cards, and Knacksat shirts, etc. Anyone who copies the satellite should
please send an email to knacksat at gmail.com or enter a report at this
website: https://knacksat-26d23.firebaseapp.com. Details can be found at
http://www.knacksat.space/

Since the satellite was launched about one month ago only two persons have
received signals of the CW beacon and the signal has been very weak such
that the CW could not be fully copied while the telemetry could not be
fully decoded. Therefore, we would like to make an urgent request for
amateur radio operators to study the information below and to please get in
touch by email with knacksat at gmail.com to help the Knacksat team.

1. The need is for an amateur radio station with an antenna with the EME
level of gain to help. The UHF frequency at 435.635 MHz requires an antenna
with a very high gain to receive the very weak CW beacon signal.

2. The need is also for an amateur radio station equipped at the EME level
with a high-gain VHF antenna to try to send the sound (MP3) for command
change mode uplink VHF frequency.  that will wake up the Knacksat satellite
from being in Save mode.

Therefore, if any AMSAT member knows of anyone or can help or who can
co-ordinate efforts to contact or is capable of receiving signals from the
Knacksat satellite, could they please get in contact with the Knacksat team
as quickly as possible.

Thank you in advance for helping the satellites of Thailand. In the near
future and not later than the second quarter of 2019 (Q2)  the JAISAT-1
(“Joint Academy for Intelligent Satellites for Amateur Radio of Thailand.”)
satellite will be launched into space and we will keep you informed of
progress with further news.

With respect

Tanan Rungseeprom, HS1JAN
 JAISAT 1 Satellite Project Manager