Subject: [NEXTEL-1] New Satellite Gets OSCAR Designation

From: Alan Dixon <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2003 09:59:48 -0500

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From:

***************
The ARRL Letter
Vol. 22, No. 02
January 10, 2003
***************

==>NEW SAUDISAT GETS OSCAR DESIGNATION

"SaudiSat-1C follows by a little more than two years the launch of
SaudiSats 1A and 1B. Now in a 650-km (400 miles) orbit, SaudiSat-1C
carries several experiments, including a new Mode J FM amateur repeater.
The downlink frequency is 436.775 MHz. The uplink frequency is 145.850
MHz. A 67.0-Hz CTCSS tone is required for on-demand access to the
satellite, which shares the same frequencies as AO-27 and SaudiSat-1A.

"...SaudiSat-1C will require activation on each pass by a designated
control operator...A worldwide network of designated control operators is
now being developed so that radio amateurs may begin using the satellite
immediately..."

---------------

A third satellite in the SaudiSat series has earned an OSCAR designation
from AMSAT. SaudiSat-1C now will be known as SO-50. The Amateur Radio
payload was successfully placed into orbit December 20 from Russia's
Baikonur Cosmodrome by a modified Soviet-era ICBM. The German-made
SAFIR-M Amateur Radio payload
<http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2002/12/24/3/#German> went into orbit
during the same launch, as part of the RUBIN-2 scientific satellite.
SAFIR-M has been designated as AO-49. SaudiSat-1C is a project of the
Space Research Institute of the King Abdulaziz City for Science and
Technology (KACST) <http://saudisat.kacst.edu.sa/>, an independent
scientific organization of the Saudi Arabian government.

"On behalf of AMSAT-NA I wish to congratulate you and your associates at
Space Research Institute of KACST on the successful culmination of this
project and hope that amateurs all over the world will have an
opportunity to use SO-50," said AMSAT-NA Board Chairman Bill Tynan, W3XO,
in making the announcement this week.

SaudiSat-1C follows by a little more than two years the launch of
SaudiSats 1A and 1B. Now in a 650-km (400 miles) orbit, SaudiSat-1C
carries several experiments, including a new Mode J FM amateur repeater.
The downlink frequency is 436.775 MHz. The uplink frequency is 145.850
MHz. A 67.0-Hz CTCSS tone is required for on-demand access to the
satellite, which shares the same frequencies as AO-27 and SaudiSat-1A.

Space Research Institute Director Turki Al Saud reports that the
SaudiSat-1C repeater was activated and tested this past week. Its
receiving antenna is a quarter-wave whip atop the spacecraft. The 250-mW
UHF transmitter is coupled to a quarter-wave antenna on the bottom of the
spacecraft. He said the repeater will be available to amateurs worldwide
as power permits.

AMSAT-NA President Robin Haighton, VE3FRH, has pointed out that
SaudiSat-1C will require activation on each pass by a designated control
operator. "A worldwide network of designated control operators is now
being developed so that radio amateurs may begin using the satellite
immediately," he said.

For tracking, the NORAD identifier for two-line Keplerian elements is
27607.

According to a report in Arab News
<http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=21335>;, the new satellite is
equipped with capabilities to provide "vital data" concerning weather
conditions and oil exploration as well as to monitor the movement of
vehicles in remote regions of Saudi Arabia.
	...

--AMSAT News Service; King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology

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