Even more on object numbers!
As expected, today we have seen two new objects appear on the Kep files from SpaceTrack and Celestrak.
These are 2013-066AE and 2013-066AF – and they appear to be very close to the object number we have been using for FUNcube-1 , 2013-066B.
We will see which of three turn out to be the best match for FUNcube-1 over the forthcoming days.
Welcome to the FUNcube Web Site 
The most recent keps I plugged in seem to be pretty good. I have mountains surrounding me.
At az. 311 and el. 20 degs. I lose the birds. This has been the case with FUNcube.
There may be a bit more fine tuning but the orbits seem close! What is more difficult for me is the
center frequency. I spend wasted time manually finding the “sweet spot” when FUNcube comes in.
Is there a confirmed variance or is the orig freq. still to be plugged into the software. 73
de NH7Wn
Wishing for FunCube controllers to give North American amateurs more opportunities to use the transponder. Once a week would be better than nothing. Historically microsats have a design and operational life in weeks to months, not years. I would like to get at least one QSO through AO-23 before its demise. I heard two passes with the transponder enabled on about two weeks ago. Very impressive coverage and operation! Nothing since. Please give western hemisphere hams a reliable schedule. Thanks & 73’s! Josh-KF4BF-USA
er’ AO-73 (sorry typo)
Hi Josh,
The transponder is active every evening … I Hope you enjoy it.
73
Graham
Josh,
As Graham mentioned, the transponder has been active every night since AMSAT-UK activated the current configuration on 23 November. The passes that cover most of the continental USA (basically coast to coast) have been busy every night since then. Other passes that only cover part of the country see decent levels of activity, even the west coast passes that are around 10pm to 11pm local time. Various hams have posted audio or video clips from different AO-73 passes, which should be accessible via searches. I’ve posted some videos on my YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/va7ewk
where I have been working AO-73. All using an FT-817ND as my transmit radio with no more than 5W, most of them with another FT-817ND as the downlink receiver, and a couple where I used other radios as the receiver (Kenwood TH-F6A HT with its all-mode receiver, Icom IC-R20 handheld wideband receiver). If everyone is mindful of power levels, especially in CW, the 20 kHz transponder holds up well to the crowds.
Good luck, and 73!
Patrick
P.S.: Graham – great work on having this satellite open for use by hams, so soon after the launch!
With regards to TLE’s, i’m finding that AOS is to early, by about 5 min, so this doesn’t help when trying to fine tune using auto doppler shift. Looks like they do need tweaking somewhat.
What are the latest TLE being referred to here? The latest TLE posted on this website refers to 2013-066AF (https://funcube.org.uk/working-documents/latest-two-line-elements/), but this post says 2013-066B – which is it?
Thanks,
Steve
KV6O
The latest TLE posting is more upto date than this post!
Currently we are still not 100% certain which of the three objects B, AE and AF is actually FUNcube-1, work continues on this.
At the moment, for most users, it probably wont make much difference to your antenna tracking or even your Doppler correction as they are still less than maybe 150km apart from each other.
AO73
Graham – G3VZV
Hi Graham,
Can I ask a question two different ways please.
On the FUNcube dashboard, I can receive Fitter Messages. Could you possibly add my call sign. As a data provider, I would love to see my call come down from outer space.?
Is it possible for me to send a Fitter Message ?
Thanks very much, and I’m enjoying tracking the bird and getting data on the charts.
Regards
Doug
N3NZZ
That was interesting – Object AF seems to be quite good for tracking.
I got very few packets on the last path (orbit 91) even though the signal was strong. Another Aurora I think.
Mike G0MJW
It would be nice if you guys could acknowledge the efforts that we put in for you, in tracking your bird. How about a Fitter note with our call signs, we put a lot of effort (and $) into tracking and uploading data. !
Even an answer to emails would be nice…
H Doug,
I am not involved in the project but I am downloading data. There are lots of callsigns in Fitter messages and acknowledgements of the uploads on the funcube site: https://warehouse.funcube.org.uk/ranking.html?satelliteId=2
I see you are there with 1067 packets which I am sure the team are very grateful for. I expect they will add your call to the fitter messages in due course but at the moment I understand they are concentrating on commissioning and the educational outreach.
Mike
I AM TED HC5K AND HAVE BEEN INTO THE TRANSPONDER OPTIMUM RETURN OF MY SIGNALS
“””BUT”””NOTHING HEARD TO QSO…DUE TO THE ASCENDING PASS FROM PACIFIC AND NO
ACTIVITY IN SOUTH AMERICA ON CUBE SATS…I shall be on tonight 22:40 high elev. wish me luck
need help on capturing bpsk and linking telemetry as well… GREAT JOB FUNCUBE TEAM,.
ted hc5k kg4lrj