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CX7BY > SAT 16.11.03 02:22l 69 Lines 3136 Bytes #999 (0) @ AMSAT
BID : ANS-320.02
Read: GUEST
Subj: UO-14 Satellite Declared Dead
Path: DB0FHN<DB0FOR<DB0SIF<DB0SON<DB0ERF<DB0FBB<DB0GOS<ON0AR<WB0TAX<7M3TJZ<
CX2ACB<CX7BY
Sent: 031115/2352Z @:CX7BY.MVD.URY.SA #:60372 [Montevideo] FBB $:ANS-320.02
From: CX7BY@CX7BY.MVD.URY.SA
To : SAT@AMSAT
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 320.02 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD. November 16, 2003
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-320.02
The UO-14 satellite has been declared officially dead. The Mission
Control Centre at the Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) Center for
Satellite Engineering Research reports that the venerable and popular
bird "has reached the end of its mission after nearly 14 years in
orbit." Launched in 1990, UoSAT-OSCAR-14 pioneered the PACSAT
communication concept as the first 9.6 kbps Amateur Radio data
communications satellite, although it became best known in recent years
as an FM "easy sat" repeater.
"Since launch, UO-14 has completed over 72,000 orbits and as many
charge/discharge cycles of its on-board NiCd battery," said AMSAT-UK
Chairman Martin Sweeting, G3YJO. "However recently one of the battery
cells has become exhausted and can no longer support continuous
operation of the repeater." Sweeting said UO-14's transmitter shuts
down shortly after it is commanded "on" due to undervoltage, so the
microsatellite's mission has been terminated.
"Thank you UO-14 for your long service!" Sweeting concluded.
AMSAT-NA Board Member Bruce Paige, KK5DO, an enthusiastic UO-14 user,
called the AMSAT-UK announcement "sad news." He said the lost of UO-14
leaves amateurs with SO-41 and SO-50 as the only two LEO FM voice
satellites now in operation, although he noted that the planned 2004
launches of the OSCAR-ECHO and VUSAT could help fill in the void.
The popular and heavily used FM satellite quit working in August, but
hope remained within the amateur satellite community that UO-14 somehow
could be revived. Ground controller Chris Jackson, G7UPN, at one point
was able to reset the satellite, but he later determined that UO-14
had suffered a primary power system failure that was causing the
spacecraft to shut down during some eclipses.
During its active lifetime, UO-14 served several roles. After some 18
months in orbit as a PACSAT, UO-14 was switched to non-amateur
frequencies for humanitarian use by Volunteers In Technical Assistance,
which used it for messaging into Africa. After the store-and-forward
communications computer proved no longer able to perform that task,
UO-14 was turned back to amateur use as a single-channel FM voice
repeater, the role for which it was best known. UO-14 worked as an "FM
bent pipe repeater satellite" in full duplex mode.
UO-14 again served a humanitarian role in early 2001 when hams
assisting with earthquake relief operations in the Indian State of
Gujarat took advantage of the satellite to provide communication from
the stricken region.
The beauty of UO-14 was that it required minimal gear to make
contacts--typically 5 W and modest antennas would do the trick.
Operators with dualband handheld transceivers and "rubber duckie"
antennas often could make QSOs via UO-14.
AMSAT-NA has said that its new ECHO satellite, planned for launch next
March 31, will take over the role of the now-defunct AO-27 and UO-14
low-Earth-orbiting satellites.
[ANS thanks ARRL for the above information.]
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