COMPASS-1 CubeSat Project

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Following the main mission phase the operation of the satellite is now entirely open to radio amateurs with an interest in experiencing satellite communication with the COMPASS-1 CubeSat.

The satellite receives commands in DTMF tones on the VHF uplink frequency of 145.980 MHz. Downlink of Ax.25 UI data packets is on UHF 437.405 MHz in either 1200 bps AFSK or 2400/4800 MSK, depending on the on-board setting.

Of course, for receiving the periodic Morse code beacon (once every 3 minutes) in UHF frequency 437.275 MHz you do not need a ham license, but only the necessary receiving station.

An example of a beacon can be downloaded here.
An example of an AFSK 1200 bps packet can be found here. Packets in MSK 2400 bps is here and in MSK 4800 bps is here.

Mike Rupprecht (DK3WN) has published several tools for decoding beacon and packets and can be found at http://www.dk3wn.info/sat/afu/sat_compass.shtml

Uplink Commands

DTMF Tones	Description
**30##	Switch to AFSK 1200 bps
**31##	Switch to MSK 2400 bps
**32##	Switch to MSK 4800 bps
**35##	Request a test beacon
**36##	Request a test packet (Ax.25)
**60##	Request housekeeping data (Ax.25)

For more commands, please get in contact with us.

Acknowledgments

The COMPASS-1 team appreciates very much the great and ongoing effort of hams from around the world, who not only contributed in the collection of mission data but also actively helped to recover the satellite during a few critical situations. In fact, their help cannot be underemphasized, as the satellite would have surely been lost once or twice without their help.

Felix, DO3FKA, and Kevin, DG9KK, from Aachen University of Applied Sciences, responsible for mission operations