Detailed Description
Launched: September 26, 2000 aboard a converted Soviet ballistic missile from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. SaudiSat-1A was one of three Amateur Radio satellites on the same launch.
SaudiSat-1A can operate as 9600 baud digital store-and-forward systems as well analog FM repeater mode capability. One of two new ham satellites from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia built by the Space Research Institute at the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology. It was mostly heard by Amateur Radio Operators as a mode V/U FM voice repeater.
Saudisat-1A was one of the first Saudi Arabian micro satellites. It was designed and built by the Space Research Institute at King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
SaudiSat-1A is a low Earth orbiting Satellites carring several space experiments. They carry amateur radio communications payload.
In April of 2002 Turki Al-Saud announced: SaudiSat 1A is now open for Amateur Radio communications. Turki Al-Saud announced the following:
Please announce the availability of SaudiSat 1-A (SO-41) to AMSAT members and to follow Amateur Radio operators in your region. Saudi OSCAR-41 has been configured for operation in the amateur service. The spacecraft will automatically enable its UHF transmitter over Saudi Arabia and the United States for approximately 20-minutes each pass.
The spacecraft is operating in Mode-V/U, centered on a VHF uplink and UHF downlink of 145.850/436.775 MHz, currently configured as an analog FM voice repeater. The spacecraft will operate in this mode intermittently, as power and spacecraft experiments permit.
SO-41's downlink RF power is 1-watt over both regions with left-hand circular polarization. The uplink antenna (located on top of the spacecraft) is linear in polarization. SO-41 was in operation when turned on by an internal timer that appears to be programmed to turn it on over major land areas. The repeater was operational in September 2003 but has not been heard since that time.
|
