The video on this page shows a contact made using a amateur radio microsatellite known as Hamsat. It is also designated as VUSat-OSCAR 52 or just VO-52. It orbits the earth at an altitude between 607 kilometers and 646 kilometers. Contained on board the satellite is an inverting linear transponder. The satellite listens for earth-based signals on the 70-cm band and retransmits them on the 2-meter band. Transmissions are made using single side band (SSB). Due to the nature of the transponder a transmission up to the satellite using upper-sideband (USB) is retransmitted to earth as a lower-sideband (LSB) signal. The satellite can accommodate several simultaneous conversations at once due to its passband. Another side effect of a inverting transponder is that transmissions occurring near the bottom of the passband on the uplink are retransmitted near the top of the passband on the downlink. This contact was part of a larger demonstration at the 2006 Dayton Hamvention, and was conducted by AMSAT.
Last updated Friday, April 4, 2014. ©2004 - 2014 by Edward S. Raybould. Extracting written content, images, audio clips, video clips, applets, and ActiveX controls, without written permission from the author is expressly prohibited.
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