It is business as usual in terms of operating Masat-1 in the winter. At our Primary Station in Budapest we are observing and following the daylight portion of the orbits. During these passes we are initiating data acquisitions and programing the camera module to take photos. Log files, data and photos taken earlier are being downloaded continuously. Amateur radio operators’ contribution to this process is a great help to our team.
We have also made some improvements regarding our satellite receiver hardware and software. For instance, the software has been supplemented with an automatic frequency control (AFC) module. Among other things this was necessary because the current receiving frequency is calculated based on orbit data, and even though we have more accurate orbit data than before, sometimes small adjustments might still be necessary for successful demodulation. Until now we have been doing it manually. Now the task is carried out automatically by software.
People might have noticed that there have been some changes regarding the antenna system on the roof of building E of BME. A new lightning protection system has been installed around the YAGI antennas, which will be very useful in the spring. A parabolic antenna has been moved from building V2 of BME to building E, which we would like to use during high-speed communication with next generation Masat satellites. Making the 2.2-2.4 GHz S-band fully operational still requires a lot of work and financial sacrifices. Nevertheless, students of the Department of Broadband Infocommunicatons and Electromagnetic Theory have already started designing the system. Levente Pápay has reported on the current status of the project in his Scientific Students’ Associations research paper.
Meanwhile, at the Secondary Station in Érd, we are focusing on the night portion of the orbits. This is a great opportunity to experiment with Masat-1’s so far rarely used function. According to our website, the data transmission of the communication system is most reliable between 625 bps and 1250 bps. At this speed it takes five to six passes to download a picture (approximately one to two days). We have left open the possibility of modifying it later, so it can be set to 5000 bps (5kbps). This mode, however, requires a special receiver instrument. We are currently using the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) device made by National Instruments. If everything goes according to plan, this faster download function will be fully operational in a few months.