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Sunsat SO-35DescriptionSUNSAT is a 60kg, 45 by 45 by 62 cm micro satellite designed, built and tested by twenty-two Masters of Engineering students at the Electronic Systems Laboratory in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Stellenbosch University. Communications payloadThe communications payload provides duplicated synthesized transmitters and receivers for the 2 m and 70 cm Amateur Radio bands and nearby frequencies. A 1296 MHz receiver can operate as a fast uplink, or be coupled to the S-band downlink transmitter to provide a straight-through transponder. Amateur Radio VHF and UHF payload:The Amateur Radio payload definition was approved at the SA-AMSAT Spacecon 91 Conference. Store and forward digital packet radio will be provided, including 1200 baud AFSK for compatibility with terrestrial equipment common in SA. To provide sufficient uplink channels, one of the 2m band receivers has four IF sections displaced in 25 kHz steps, and connected to 1200 baud modems. Three 9600 baud modems compatible with the G3RUH standard are carried, and can be switched to various receivers and transmitters. Both 2 m up/down and 2 m up/70 cm down options will be included, together with full bulletin board facilities. The AMSAT Pacsat Standard Protocols can be supported. The 2 m and 70 cm downlinks can be switched to 10 Watts output, producing a 0.5 uV signal (50 Ohm) at 435 MHz and 1.5 uV signal at 145 MHz with 0dBi receive antenna at full range. This power level will be used over critical areas to provide signal to noise ratios approaching 15dB for easy reception. At other times the power will be reduced. A 2 m Parrot mode repeater is intended especially for Novice category users (under 16). Uplinked speech will be digitally stored and retransmitted on the same frequency. Novice school users will thus hear the re-transmission and know that they are getting through. The need to learn and apply operating protocols will definitely be experienced! My Success on Sunsat SO-35!The following extract was taken from the Amsat BBS and shows the beacons received
at
the station of PE5YES. This pass was on the 24th June with the satellite running a 1200
Baud up and downlink. My data was sent from a TM-D700E using software developed by G6ODT
and myself. R00:36 21:41 G6ODT/SUNSAT*>URQYWU>UI,R,F0: Sunsat Modes of OperationThe following table shows the available modes on Sunsat. Check the Sunsat
pages for details of the current mode.
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