Saturday 1 August 10:00- 14:45 SAST
(08:00 -12:45 UTC)
09.45 (07:45) for logging on the Webex platform
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10:00 house Keeping rules
10:05 Welcome
10:15 International Telecommunication Union and WRC27
Speaker: Linden Petzer
10:35 Progress on the new Matjiesfontein ground station and expansion of the Hartebeesthoek ground station
Speaker: Eugene Avenant Chief Engineer SANSA
SANSA is establishing a new ground station at Matjiesfontein in the Western Cape. After some initial delays, the project is now well under way, with construction progressing well at the site. The established ground station at Hartebeesthoek is also still going from strength to strength, with new infrastructure added for entities across the globe.
11:00The HamSCI Personal Space Weather Station:
Development, Deployment and Data
Speaker: Gwyn Griffiths GW3ZIL
The HamSCI Personal Space Weather Station (PSWS) is a modular system comprising one or more of the four components: HamSCI Personal Space Weather Station HF Receiver (HFRx), HamSCI Ground Magnetometer (GMag), HamSCI VLF Whistler Catcher (VLF-WC) and the Turn Island Systems WSPRsonde 8-band WSPR/FST4W transmitter (WS8). After a brief introduction to the technical aspects of each component and their development the talk with show examples of current deployments at home and remote stations. How to access PSWS data and learn what it shows about space weather rounds off the presentation.
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12:00 Amateur Radio Pico Balloons – Sending Data from Near Space
Speaker: Stewart Clark ZR1WT
This paper describes typical amateur radio pico-balloons capable of completing multiple circumnavigations of the Earth while operating at near-space altitudes and transmitting a variety of telemetry. By employing the WSPR (Weak Signal Propagation Reporter) protocol, developed by Joe Taylor K1JT, these pico-balloons gain access to a global network of tens of thousands of monitoring stations operated by amateur radio enthusiasts. Collectively, these stations – often without their operators being aware of it – contribute to the reception and recording of the telemetry transmitted by the balloons. Virtually any form of telemetry can be transmitted without requiring modification to the WSPR protocol itself. How this is achieved forms the basis of this paper.
12:30 BACAR 14: Mission Skybridge
Testing airborne amateur radio technologies for disaster response and search-and-rescue communications.
Speaker Christo Kriek ZR6LJK
BACAR 14, Mission Skybridge, will explore how high-altitude balloon payloads can act as temporary communications platforms during disasters and SAR operations. The mission will test a mix of amateur radio and digital technologies, including Meshtastic on two frequencies, LoRa APRS, LoRa point-to-point links, 2 m APRS, SSTV imaging and cross-band repeater capability. The goal is to understand how low-cost, recoverable airborne systems can extend coverage, support HAMNET field teams, and provide practical communications lessons for future emergency deployments.
13:00 Short break, have some coffee or tea and stretch your legs
13:10 Progress on AMSAT’s Golf-TEE, FoxPlus-A and FoxPlus-B
Speaker: Speaker: Burns Fisher, WB1F AMSAT NA Software Engineer
AMSAT in the US is making progress on three different satellites to be launched in the next few years. One of those is Golf-TEE, which we have been working on for many years. But flying sooner will be FoxPlus-A. The purpose of FoxPlus-A is to make another linear satellite for the amateur community sooner than Golf-TEE. We are also working on FoxPlus-B, which will be a store-and-forward packet satellite. This talk will describe these satellites and give you an idea where they are in development.
13:40 The quest of efficient powering of satellites
Speaker: Anton Janovsky ZR6AIC
AfriCUBE is a satellite project characterised by locally developing and constructing sub-systems that are unique in design and challenging the edge of current popular science.
14:10 EAK-Orbitals, Keeping Africa sustainable from space.
Speaker: Ethan Kaslassy, Aurora Ice
14:30 Symposium closing remarks
14:45 End