As of April 25th, the D-Star Satellite OUFTI-1 is now in orbit.
The word ‘OUFTI’ is not really translatable but is used as a Belgian exclamation akin to the Ozzie “Oops!”.
Of course, it can also be construed as an acronym for something technical but to achieve that you’d need more than the obligatory single brain cell of either LA2QAA or VK3DLR whom, between the pair of them, have two (!)
You *WILL* have heard of the … err … “Twisted Pair”.
As is well known to satellite experts the preliminary Keplarian Elements are *NOT*
precise for the first 14 days after launch. This is due to the American Space Command
needing to aquire the correct object from the 3 x cubesats launched on the Soyuz rocket
by Arianne Space from Kirou, French Guiana.
The following elements (Keps) can be used but be aware that when plugged into ORBITRON
they give false pass predeictions. Plugged into NOVA they’re ‘almost’ correct.
Until the keps are detwrmined by Space Command, by far the best method of tracking the
satellite is by using the online LIVE SATELLITE TRACKING by N2YO.
OUFTI-1
1 41461U 16025F 16117.30667064 -.00000094 00000-0 00000+0 0 9991
2 41461 98.2188 124.8169 0178647 240.9247 250.0360 15.00130631 46
The Frequencies are …
D-Star transponder
Uplink = 435.045 D-Star
Downlink = 145.950 D-Star
Beacon
CW = 30 seconds every 2 minutes … or … 1200 BPSK
Information in French is on the OUFTI-1 website … (Google it).
Information in English is on the ON-AMSAT (Belgian) website.
Other information can be found on the AMSAT-NA and AMSAT-UK websites.
73 LA2QAA.
John on Frei Island (off the coast of Norway)