So the CPX Data Decoder software is now available for download now at http://moredbs.atl.calpoly.edu
Follow the link and click the ‘Download’ menu option. This will take you to the download page where you can download the software for your computer.
You will still need to have your own tracking software to control the rotors and radio as our software simply links onto the output of your TNC.
Launch night will hopefully go as follows. The rocket carrying CP6 will launch on May 6th between 01:00 UTC and 04:00 UTC. Minutes later the rocket will kick out our CubeSat into orbit. Due to safety reasons, our satellite will turn on 4 hours after it is deployed and will start to beacon every 2 minutes. Each beacon is 6 seconds long and contains 4 seconds of CW followed by 2 seconds of a 1200 baud AX.25 packet.
Unfortunately for tracking purposes, tuning will still be a minor issue as it was with our previous satellites (work is being done on our next generation Comm system which will hopefully make this issue disappear). The best way to combat our transceiver frequency drift is to start with the calculated frequency and adjust the radio frequency manually as soon as you hear a beacon. This is part of the reason why we have 4 seconds of CW before the AX.25 data packet. One trick it to tune the the CW signal to 1200 Hz on a waterfall display (something like MixW if you have it) which happens to line up the frequency to decode data packets. Hope everyone is up for a small challenge :).
As for the TLE required to track our satellite, we have created a very rough predicted TLE. We are told we will receive the actual TLE 4 hours after the launch occurs which is approximately when our satellite will start to beacon. We will be posting the updated TLE as soon as we receive it on the
CP6 information page found at http://polysat.calpoly.edu/CP6.php
We will also announce the updated TLEs in the CubeSat IRC room which can be found at
Server: irc.freenode.org
Room: cubesat
If you have any questions regarding the software or trying to contact CP6 please feel free to ask. Thanks for such a great initial response and I wish you all happy satellite listening.
Jason Anderson, KI6GIV
spectrum of CP-4 beacon