european monitor post: May 2009

Does Google dislike me?

That's what it looks like if google dislikes your new web design. ;-)

Flashmob Grundgesetzlesen – May 23rd

Some information for the germans of you..

Grundgesetzlesen – MOGIS & Freunde Wiki: "Bundesweiter Flashmob zum 60. Geburtstag des Grundgesetzes

Samstag, 23. Mai 2009 um 14:00 Uhr in vielen Städten bundesweit

Ausnahme & Planänderung:
Berlin beginnt bereits um 13:00 Uhr!"

Have some fun, folks!

Herschel and Planck received in the UK

My buddy Paul did it again..here's what he wrote on the Hearsat mailing list:

"I managed to catch signals from the ESA satellites recently launched, not really DX as they were close at 170,000 miles.

I've put some FFT screenshots of the received signals on like at;
http://www.uhf-satcom.com/amateurdsn/herschel/
http://www.uhf-satcom.com/amateurdsn/planck/"

Both space observatories, Herschel and Planck operate on a frequency of 8468.454 MHz.

Wallops Minotaur Launch May 19/20

Wallops Flight Facility: "The new launch date for the TacSat-3 [and PharmaSat-1, Hawksat-1 and Polysat CP6] mission on an Air Force Minotaur 1 rocket from Wallops Island has been set for May 19 with a backup day of May 20. The launch window for both days is 7:35 to 11:30 p.m. EDT [2335z to 0230z]."

Exercise Joint Warrior 091 started today

Just a brief note:

Scottish Naval Exercise Area Information:
"Exercise Joint Warrior 091 11 - 21 May 2009"

Very likely, last years frequencies will be in use:

3.323 MHz/USB
3.924 MHz/USB
4.060 MHz/USB
4.447 MHz/USB
4.706 MHz/USB
4.782 MHz/USB
5.095 MHz/USB
5.430 MHz/USB
5.433 MHz/USB
5.472 MHz/USB
5.618 MHz/USB
6.371 MHz/USB
6.691 MHz/USB
6.697 MHz/USB
6.757 MHz/USB
7.520 MHz/USB

May 8 Minotaur launch scrubbed at Wallops

For a yet unknown reason, the launch was scrubbed again. Here are the last two posts from the Wallops Webcast:

"Posted by RCC on 2009-05-08 at 22:50:49 EDT
We have scrubbed the launch for tonight

Posted by RCC on 2009-05-09 at 00:01:20 EDT
We will not try a launch attempt on May 9. A new launch date is expected to be set next week."

STS-125 - the final Hubble mission

NASA - Missions: "Atlantis and the STS-125 crew are set to launch at 2:01 p.m. EDT on Monday, May 11, on a mission to upgrade the world's most famous observatory."

Interesting frequencies for this event:
5711 kHz/USB
10780 kHz/USB
259.7 MHz/NFM (post-launch)
261.575 MHz/NFM
261.875 MHz/NFM

UPDATE (May 8th 2009, 1305z): 261.700 MHz is up with comm checks of Wolfhound 1 and Wolfhound 2.

May 7 Minotaur launch scrubbed at Wallops

Wallops Flight Facility: "The launch of the Minotaur rocket from Wallops has been scheduled for Friday, May 8. The launch window is 8 to 11 p.m. The launch was scrubbed this evening due to weather issues. We were not working any problems with the launch vehicle, spacecraft or the range at the time of the decision to stop tonight's launch attempt."

Aboard the Minotaur are TacSat-3, Polysat CP6, Hawksat-1 and PharmaSat-1.

TacSat-3

The Tactical Satellite-3 spacecraft features an onboard processor, which will provide real-time data (within 10 minutes of its collection) to the combatant commander in the theater of interest. TacSat-3 project partners include the Army Space and Missile Defense Command, the Dept. of Defense's Operationally Responsive Space office, the Office of Naval Research, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and the Air Force Research Laboratory's Sensors Directorate.

The launch is currently scheduled for May 7 2009 between 8pm and 11pm EDT from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.

Please find a follow-up at the May 7 Minotaur launch scrubbed at Wallops article.

Polysat CP6

A 1kg cubesat project to test attitude determination and control via magnetometers and magnetorquers. The secondary mission is earth observation via two on-board cameras. Will also carry an experimental deorbit tether. A UHF transceiver will be carried with CW and 1200bd FSK AX25 transmit capabilities. This launch is to be shared with Pharmasat-1 and Hawksat-1. 437.365 MHz is the coordinated downlink frequency. More info at http://polysat.calpoly.edu/.

The launch is currently scheduled for May 7 2009 between 8pm and 11pm EDT from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.

Please find a follow-up at the May 7 Minotaur launch scrubbed at Wallops article.

Hawksat-1

Demonstrator cubesat mission. Payload consists of multiple COTS and custom products. It will use a downlink frequency of 437.345 MHz.

The launch is currently scheduled for May 7 2009 between 8pm and 11pm EDT from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.

Please find a follow-up at the May 7 Minotaur launch scrubbed at Wallops article.

PharmaSat-1

PharmaSat-1 will be in a low earth orbit at 40 degrees inclination. The orbit should be nearly circular with an altitude of 390 km at the start of the mission, degrading to 200km after approx 250 to 300 days, at which time it would de-orbit. There will be a 150mW UHF beacon operating with 1200baud AX25 packet for 1/2 sec every 5 secs. Command and control will use an experimental licence in the 2.4GHz ISM band. The satellite will be a triple cubesat with a mass of approx 4kg. The co-ordinated downlink frequency is 437.465 MHz.

The launch is currently scheduled for May 7 2009 between 8pm and 11pm EDT from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.

Please find a follow-up at the May 7 Minotaur launch scrubbed at Wallops article.

Global Frequency Database: new design

Just an updated design (and a couple of fixed bugs) are the news of the Global Frequency Database today.
The latest additions to the database were the following:

May 1st riots in Berlin and Hannover, Germany

In Berlin, a drunk and aggressive group of 200 people to confront the police. There were bottles and stones thrown. 29 officers were injured. Further, a Ford Mondeo burned down in the Kreuzberg district last night.

pic courtesy of tagesschau.de

A huge demonstration of right extremists in Hannover is prohibited. The city is afraid of riots. The demonstration would have drawn some 1,000 participants. At a demonstration of the left wingers, some 10,000 people are expected.

Webcams:
Hannover
Berlin
Berlin
Berlin
Berlin
Berlin
Berlin

Since the german police is still using analogue radios, everyone can still listen. The channels assigned for these large-scale operations are:

427 (85.615 MHz) in Berlin
444 (85.955 MHz) in Berlin
424 (85.555 MHz) in Hannover
228 (172.700 MHz) in Hannover

The globaltuners.com network is offering about 50 receivers world-wide, also one in Berlin and two in Hannover. ;-)

With a bunch of friends, I will go to Hannover and post some pictures in a couple of hours. Stay tuned!

UPDATE: Back at home. Here are the promised pics.