Category Archives: Satellite

ARISS Contact: One Step Closer

Posted on July 21, 2015 by robert

I am one member on a team of folks who have had our initial proposal for an ARISS contact sometime between Jan and June of 2016.  The initial “marketing” proposal was accepted.  The next step in the process is to … Continue reading →

Posted in ARISS, Operating, Public Service, Satellite | Leave a comment

Field Day Irony

Posted on June 29, 2015 by robert

Well Field Day 2015 has come and gone, and I was able to snag another satellite contact to help garner some bonus points for my club (Newport County Radio Club) — Thank you NX9B, I was W1LY on the other end. Despite … Continue reading →

Posted in Contests, Operating, Satellite | Leave a comment

Satellite Uplink Calibration

Posted on June 25, 2015 by robert

I finally had some time to ensure that my SatPC32 program was correctly calibrated to my Icom IC-9100 when using any of the three available linear transponder satellites.  While SatPC32 deals with doppler corrections (assuming the PC Clock is accurately set … Continue reading →

Posted in Contests, From the OM, Satellite | 2 Comments

Field Day 2015 Satellite Passes

Posted on June 24, 2015 by robert

With only a single operating FM satellite (FO-50), there is almost no chance to work it during Field Day.  The best chance is provided by one of the three operational analog satellites:  AO-7, FO-29 and AO-73.  AO-7 is an ancient … Continue reading →

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Open Source SGP4 Python Package

Posted on April 2, 2015 by robert

SGP4 is a Simplified General Perturbations mathematical model, which is used to calculate the position of satellites relative to the Earth.  The most frequently used model is SGP4, which is used with Two-Line Element (TLE) sets provided by NORAD and … Continue reading →

Posted in Raspberry Pi, Satellite, Tracker | Leave a comment

Setting the RPi System Clock via GPS

Posted on April 1, 2015 by robert

I am still learning and experimenting with the Adafruit Ultimate GPS HAT and the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B.  While I have the GPS tied into the system now, it doesn’t appear that the Raspbian NTP service is handling the … Continue reading →

Posted in Raspberry Pi, Satellite, Tracker | 10 Comments

Auto Login and Auto Run gpsd

Posted on March 27, 2015 by robert

As I continue to work on the Autonomous Satellite Antenna Tracking System (ASATS), to changes need to be made to setup the RPi so things happen automatically on power-up.  This requires two changes to the RPi: Setup for Automatic Login … Continue reading →

Posted in Raspberry Pi, Satellite, Tracker | 1 Comment

GPredict and RPi 2 Model B Power Consumption

Posted on March 23, 2015 by robert

I started today’s experimentation by loading the gpredict program.  This was written by Alexandru Csete, at http://gpredict.oz9aec.net/ While his repository has all the source code, there is no reason to do anything other than load it into the pi, at … Continue reading →

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Satellite Tracker – Finally Underway

Posted on March 21, 2015 by robert

Toward the end of last year I decided to make a small antenna satellite tracking system that was based on the Raspberry Pi.  It was to be entirely self-contained — no other computer devices required.  Seven months later, I’ve finally … Continue reading →

Posted in Raspberry Pi, Satellite, Tracker | 1 Comment

An Autonomous Automatic Satellite Tracker for a Small Crossed Beam

Posted on August 15, 2014 by robert

One of the goals I set for 2014 was to develop an antenna tracker that would be fully self-contained and not require an interface to a PC to obtain the tracking coordinates. The major components of the project are: Raspberry Pi … Continue reading →

Posted in Raspberry Pi, Satellite, Tracker | 2 Comments