Due to an IP-address change the PA3WEG.NL server was unavailable for some time. This is now fixed and everything should be back to normal. The WebSDR was not affected.

Last month I QSYd the receiver back to the Delfi-C3 downlink passband. 2m and VLF are now available

Today Delfi-C³ (DO-64) is in orbit for one year. In this one year we collected many scientific data and had a lot of fun commanding the spacecraft. Radio amateurs have used the linear transponder to communicate with other radio amateurs. Radio Amateurs also forwarded 610578 frames to the database server in Delft. Thanks for that!. The mission already was a success, but this 1 year anniversary adds up to that. I hope I can continue mission operations for a long long time….

You can listen to Delfi-C³ on the websdr

Today I solved the high samplerate sound card puzzle by doing a completely clean OS install and manual recompilation of almost all sound related modules in Linux. The result is 4 bands, of which 2 are 192kHz samplerate, one 96kHz and one 48kHz. Go to http://websdr.PA3WEG.nl and enjoy!

Approximately 1.5 year ago, the Dutch childrens TV show “Klokhuis” filmed the integration and vibration testing of Delfi-C³. Today, they aired the show. View it here (in dutch)

The soundcards came in today. After some downtime to replace the buggy harddisk and a clean install of my favorite OS, the two new soundcards were installed to provide 192kHz sample rate. Unfortunately, I ran into trouble with the drivers. Hopefully I will find a solution in the following month. A big thank you to Chris Verhoeven from Delft University of Technology for sponsoring the sound cards.

Today CAMUS school in Viry Châtillon, France, made a contact with ISS around 13:35 UTC in a 87 deg elevation pass of the ISS over france. This contact could be received over large parts of europe on 145.800Mhz. While busy with other things, my tracking program notified me of the pass and I hurried to get the recorder going. I managed to record from qeuestion 7 of the pass untill the end of the contact, question 16. Only the downlink could be received, so you hear only the answers from the ISS. A recording in mp3 format can be found here. Pauses and noise have been cut out. some of the questions asked can be found here

Currently, astronauts on board of the International Space Station (ISS) are transmitting Slow Scan TV (SSTV) pictures to earth. Most pictures are taken by space tourist Charles Simonyi using the on-board VC-H1. I received some of those pictures and put them into the photo album here

Last Christmas, Wouter Jan PE4WJ, me and my girlfriend Joke participated in the local christmas fox hunting event. Wouter Jan put some pictures and a small report about this on his website here

Thanks to Delft University of Technology, I will soon have two high-samplerate 192kHz soundcards. They agreed to sponsor this project and plan to use the receivers in their educational programme to receive Delfi-C³. The cards have been ordered and should be in pretty soon. Hopefully I can permanently expand the WebSDR to 2m and 70cm simultaniously, while still having the “old” soundcards in place for VLF and maybe 2m SSB.