SB SPACE @ ARL $ARLS014   
   ARLS014 Chinese Amateur Radio Satellite Launch Now Scheduled for September 18   
      
   ZCZC AS14   
   QST de W1AW   
   Space Bulletin 014  ARLS014   
   > From ARRL Headquarters   
   Newington, CT  September 17, 2015   
   To all radio amateurs   
      
   SB SPACE ARL ARLS014   
   ARLS014 Chinese Amateur Radio Satellite Launch Now Scheduled for September 18   
      
   Nine Amateur Radio satellites will be among 20 satellites set to launch on   
   September 18 from China. China Amateur Satellite Group CAMSAT CEO Alan Kung,   
   BA1DU, told ARRL that the satellites will head into space at 2300 UTC and   
   separate from the rocket 15:14 after launch. Four of the microsatellites and   
   two of the CubeSats included in the launch have been designated as XW-2A   
   through XW-2F. The other three satellites, a CubeSat, a nanosatellite, and a   
   picosatellite, carry the designations CAS-3G through CAS-3I, respectively.   
      
   The nine satellites carrying Amateur Radio payloads were delivered to the   
   Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Central China in August. The launch has   
   been postponed twice. Initially CAMSAT had planned to launch the satellites in   
   mid-July. Then the launch was put off until "September 7 or 8."   
      
   XW-2 Keplerian Elements Provided by CAMSAT   
      
   1 99999U 15261.96885740  .00004980  00000-0  28369-3 0 00000   
   2 99999 097.4712 269.8396 0010382 266.0521 270.6645 15.12847582000010   
      
   The XW-2 series satellites are equipped with substantially identical Amateur   
   Radio payloads - a U/V mode linear transponder, a CW telemetry beacon and an   
   AX.25 19.2k/9.6k baud GMSK telemetry downlink, CAMSAT has said. Each Amateur   
   Radio complement has the same technical characteristics, but will operate on   
   different 70 centimeter uplink and 2 meter downlink frequencies.  XW-2A   
   through XW-2F have identical quarter-wavelength deployable monopole whip   
   antennas made of steel tape.   
      
   In August the IARU informed CAMSAT that it was only able to coordinate uplink   
   and downlink frequencies for two of the nine spacecraft (XW-2D and XW-2E). In   
   a public statement released on August 20 by IARU Secretary Rod Stafford,   
   W6ROD, the IARU reiterated that coordinated frequencies must comply with band   
   plans common to all three IARU regions. "Satellites coordinated outside these   
   plans could cause interference to terrestrial amateur operations in other   
   regions," the IARU said.   
      
   CAMSAT worked with three entities to complete the other three satellites:   
   CAS-3G (DCBB), a 2U CubeSat being built by Shenzhen HIT Satellite Ltd of China   
   for educational purposes; CAS-3H (LilacSat-2), a Harbin Institute of   
   Technology of China microsatellite for science experiments and Amateur Radio,   
   and CAS-3I (NDT-Phone Sat), a National University of Defense Technology of   
   China picosatellite for carrying out technical experiments. CAS-3G and CAS-3I   
   will downlink digital telemetry on amateur frequencies, while CAS-3H will   
   carry a U/V FM transponder and APRS.   
      
   Kung said a Long March-6 rocket will carry the XW-2 and CAS-3 satellites as   
   well as the other spacecraft into orbit.   
      
   NNNN   
   /EX   
      
   )\/(ark   
      
   ... The first rule of holes: When you're in one stop digging!   
   ---   
    * Origin:  (1:3634/12.73)