Integration of 4M

Hi all,
the integration of 4M has been completed this night. The S/C is ready for launch. Onboard clock has been adjusted to start JT65B at the UTC minute +/-1 second. It is likely to drift during the mission, and manual offset introduction will be required after a week or so.

The launch date is 23 October at 1800 UTC.

Beginning of transmission of 4M will start between 1917 UTC and 1927 UTC. Alternatively, use the ‘tracking’ section where you can compute your traking elements by introducing your geographic coordinates. The table can be copied/pasted into a text file. As the apparent movement will be close (and closer) to the one one of the Moon, manual pointing is easy but for the largest arrays. We’ll try to publish equivalent TLE’s to input in usual tracking softwares.

The link budget is quite tight, but the first hours should give comfortable signals. QSB is to be expected.
As JT65B is used: please remind those not yet too familiar with it that the receiver must not be tuned during the transmission.
A dedicated webpage is being written to detail the procedure.
A dedicated java application is also available to automatically transmit the decoded messages to the 4M website and ease the data collection. (Thanks to LSE Space)
Alternatively, OM can also transmit the decoded messages by eMail, sending the ALL.txt file.
For those not wishing to use JT65B, please record the signals (11025s/s, 8or 16 bits, mono), taking care not to saturate the recording and NO MP3 please.
SpectrumLab is an excellent choice, although some may wish to use simpler recording software.

You can imagine that the team is quite eager to receive the first reports, so , do not hesitate to mail immediately, send decoded messages or even phone or text me at +352 661 678 986. Our friends of IC CMalaga are also quite eager to receive the results of their radiation dosimeter experiment.

Basic rules of the contest have been delineated in the blog section. Complete rules will be published soon. Stay tuned on our website or Facebook page.

Please disseminate the information and send questions to pr@luxspace.lu. If possible, help OM’s.

vy 73 and best regards to all.

LuxSpace Sàrl

m4_decode

soundA sample wav file can be downloaded here: http://www.dk3wn.info/sounds/A03000.WAV
 

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