SB SPACE @ ARL $ARLS012
ARLS012 New Amateur Radio FM Transponder CubeSat Now in Space

ZCZC AS12  
QST de W1AW  
Space Bulletin 012  ARLS012
From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington, CT  December 30, 2016
To all radio amateurs

SB SPACE ARL ARLS012
ARLS012 New Amateur Radio FM Transponder CubeSat Now in Space

The BY70-1 CubeSat launched on December 28 from the Taiyuan Space
Launch Center in China, but in a lower orbit than intended. The
satellite carries an Amateur Radio FM transponder.

BY70-1 was intended to go into a 530-kilometer (approximately
329-mile) circular Sun-synchronous orbit, but it appears the orbit
is 524 x 212 kilometers, which will give the spacecraft an orbital
lifetime of just a month or two.

Paul Stoetzer, N8HM, reported working Wyatt Dirks, AC0RA, through
the FM transponder during the 1709 UTC pass on December 28. "Uplink
requires precise frequency adjustment, and there's a delay on the
downlink, but the signal is strong," Stoetzer said.

BY70-1 is a 2U CubeSat project for education and Amateur Radio. It
features 3-axis stabilization and deployable solar panels. In
addition to the FM transponder, BY70-1 has a camera, and plans call
for downloading images and telemetry via a 9600 bps BPSK downlink.
The IARU Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination pages list an
uplink of 145.920 MHz, and a downlink of 436.200 MHz.

AMSAT-UK has more information online at,
https://amsat-uk.org/2016/12/27/by70-1-fm-transponder-satellite/ .
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