FUNCube-1 has applied for and been granted AMSAT Oscar 73 (AO-73). Congratulations to AMSAT-NL and AMSAT-UK!
After a brief periood of testing, AO-73 has been switched to autonomous mode, where the educational beacon runs at 300mw while the spacecraft is illuminated. During eclipse, the beacon runs at low power, and the mode U/V transponder is activated. (If any part of the footprint of the satellite includes a sunlit area, the satellite is illuminated. When the entire footprint is dark, the satellite is eclipsed)
Reports are in that many QSOs have been made, with generally strong signals. It should be noted that until Keplerian elements stabilize, full Doppler CAT tuning may not be very successful. When tuning manually the convention is to tune the higher of the two frequencies, in this case the uplink.
Frequencies are as follows:
• 145.935 MHz BPSK Telemetry 30 or 300 mW
• Inverting SSB/CW transponder 300 mW PEP
– 435.150 – 435.130 MHz Uplink (reports indicate this has shifted~10kHz higher)
– 145.950 – 145.970 MHz Downlink
Video of AO-73 transponder over Europe
