Project OSCAR UK

A report received from the ISRO Satellite Centre at Bangalore,
India on March 14 says the HAMSAT VO-52 is back on the air. Mani,
VU2WMY wrote, “The commands to ‘Turn On’ the PE1RAH Dutch trans-
ponder was successfully sent during 14:00 UT 35 deg ascending node
pass over Bangalore, India. The commands were successfully received,
acknowledged and confirmed by telemetry. The beacon signal was heard
loud and strong here at Bangalore.”

Stations in Europe and North America reported good signals from VO-52
immediately after the transponder was activated. The beacon was heard
with two-way contacts completed through the transponder.

The HAMSAT team requests detailed initial reports be sent to::
tprangan@istrac.org and a copy to wmy@isac.gov.in
would be greatly appreciated.

HAMSAT VO-52 frequencies are:

Uplink: 435.2250 – 435.2750 MHz SSB/CW
Downlink: 145.9250 – 145.8750 MHz SSB/CW
Beacon: 145.8600 MHz CW

The CW beacon is sending: HI HI HI THIS IS VU SAT WITH THE DUTCH
MODE UV TRANSPONDER MADE BY WILLIAM LEIJENAAR 73 DE PE1RAH

Upon successful recovery of VO-52 Mani, VU2WMY sent the following
message on behalf of the HAMSAT team:

I take this opportunity to sincerely thank each and every
user and well wishers, who have been following and monitoring
closely all those events and activities that followed since
the interruption on 28th February 2012.

Thanks for all those encouraging and supporting expressions!

The initial telemetry reports indicated all the crucial and
critical parameters to be normal and satisfactory and we do
hope ‘HAMSAT VO-52′ would be available with much stronger power.
The overall spacecraft health is in ‘Excellent Condition’ and
all that we need to do is to monitor the transponder parameters.

14:05 UT on 14 March was a moment of great satisfaction and joy
to all of us here in bringing ‘HAMSAT VO-52′back to life. It also
gives us great pleasure to note that ‘HAMSAT VO-52′from India/ISRO
has a earned a name in the history of ‘Amateur Radio Satellites’.

On behalf of everyone, I take this opportunity to sincerely thank
particularly, Mr. Parimalarangan-Operations Director for his hard
work and great efforts besides his exemplary technical competence
and skills exhibited in recovering back ‘HAMSAT VO-52′.

Also my sincere thanks to Mission Director Mr. R. Suresh and the
entire ‘HAMSAT VO-52′ Mission Management and Project teams for all
the support, encouragement and recognition provided to ‘Amateur
Radio World’.

My Good wishes to VO-52 and the transponders on-board for a ‘Healthy
and Long Life’. My Good wishes & greetings, once again to William,
PE1RAH.

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Dear Friends,

Thanks for the encouraging and supportive expressions!

Unfortunately, we are sorry to inform that the ‘Expert Committee’ overseeing the VO-52 (HAMSAT) performance has advised to extend the ‘Observation Period’ by another week.

Hence, the decision to switch on the transponder # 2 is now put ‘ON HOLD’ till further notice. In-convenience caused to the users is regretted.

This latest decision is just only a postponement and nothing to worry about the health of the spacecraft. We re-assure you all that VO-52 is very strong and in a ‘Perfect Health’ condition.

We do hope that the technically competent user community would understand the situations involved with any Space related activities.

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Dear VO-52 (HAMSAT) users,

On behalf of HAMSAT VO-52 Mission Director, Operations Director and
the entire HAMSAT Team, I take pleasure to inform the user community
that;

After the ‘In-Orbit Maintenance Operations’ the decision to turn ‘ON’
the payload transponder was taken and accordingly;

The Transponder No 2 i.e. The Dutch Transponder made by William
Leijenaar PE1RAH would be switched ‘ON’ at 13:51 UT on 08.03.2012
during orbit # 37006 over India.

A ‘Critical Comparative Signal Report’ between the Indian and Dutch transponder would be of great help for further evaluations and necessary actions for the maintenance the transponder in good and healthy condition for better services and also, the inputs would be very valuable to the respective transponder designers.

We all hope, Williams PE1RAH would be very happy with our decision and
behalf of every one here in India involved with project, wish Williams
and his transponder all the very best and good luck.

Thanks to AMSAT-India (Nitin VU3TYG) for the all the help and co-ordination provided.

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Dear HAMSAT VO-52 users,

With regrets, we confirm the non-availability of the transponder on HAMSAT VO-52 since 28th February 2012. This is the first ever interruption in the services of HAMSAT since 5th May 2005.

The timely feed backs from John K8YSE, Domenico I8CVS, Eugenio IZ8JHD, Jan PE0SAT and Nitin VU3TYG were highly appreciated and acknowledged by the ISRO’s HAMSAT Mission Management Board.

I,m herewith enclosing the mail received from Mr. T.Parimalarangan, Operations Director-HAMSAT VO-52 regarding the ‘Temporary Non-availability’ of VO-52 transponder and beacon.

Message starts here:

Mr. Subramani VU2WMY:

Thanks for obtaining the user feedback. You may please post the following message in the Users website. If possible, try to find out who has last operated HAMSAT payload transponder on 28th and at what time

“HAMSAT Transponder services not available temporarily due to operational reasons. Inconvenience regretted”

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