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<DIV><FONT lang=0 size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">Hi
everyone,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">Just wanted
to forward some breaking news on Howard Long G6LVB and his project to make
an educational FUNCube receiver for the AMSAT-UK satellite under
construction.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">Like the
HPSDR project I am very interested in developing my own version, I also have
great interest in Orbiting Satellites Carrying Amateur Radio (OSCAR). Howard
G6LVB recently created the start of the compact USB VHF/UHF and low Microwave
band receiver. Below is the AMSAT-BB text and links to both Howard's FUNcube
Dongle dedicated website and a YouTube video to show how his prototype is made
and working...well done Howard, very impressive, this receiver will have
lots of other potential uses to both academic students and radio amateurs
too.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">FUNCube
Dongle</DIV>
<DIV><BR>SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-290.03<BR>FUNCube Dongle Development
Status<BR><BR>AMSAT News Service Bulletin 290.03<BR> From AMSAT HQ SILVER
SPRING, MD.<BR>October 17, 2010<BR>To All RADIO AMATEURS<BR>BID:
$ANS-290.03<BR><BR>Howard Long, G6LVB, reports that he is enormously gratified
by the large volume<BR>of interest shown the FUNcube Dongle over the past few
weeks. With so much<BR>interest being shown, Howard took some time to provide an
update about the<BR>development progress.<BR><BR>The FUNCube Dongle was
originally designed to be an accessible way to be able to<BR>receive amateur
satellites, most notably AMSAT-UK's forthcoming
FUNcube cubesat<BR>(http://www.funcube.org.uk). What does accessible mean?
Essentially we mean<BR>both low cost and easy to setup. The original target
market is, and remains,<BR>what Howard calls, "the unconverted", those,
particularly in education, who need<BR>a means of being able to practically
introduce and demonstrate real space<BR>technology in a hands-on
way.<BR><BR>When the work on FUNcube was distributed, Howard was given the task
of coming up<BR>with the ground segment, and the result is the FUNcube
Dongle.<BR><BR>As it's tuned out, the FUNcube Dongle has the added bonus that
it's a<BR>VHF/UHF and low microwave equivalent to the well-known Softrock in
an<BR>integrated plug and play package. The intention is to have two models,
an<BR>entry-level frequency-restricted version targeted at the educational
market,<BR>and a full blown Pro version that seems to piqued the interest of
many radio<BR>amateurs, radio astronomers and short wave listeners.<BR><BR>In
précis, it includes an integrated front end filter, LNA, quatrature
LO,<BR>zero-IF quadrature downconverter, dual 16 bit ADC and USB soundcard. In
it's<BR>simplest of forms, it's SMA in, USB out. It's also compatible with
pretty<BR>much any software that works for the Softrock, for example
LinRad,<BR>Spectravue, M0KGK and Rocky.<BR><BR>The passband is 96kHz, tuneable
from 64MHz to 1,700MHz. The tuning is via a<BR>USB HID interface meaning that as
well as your favourite soundcard SDR<BR>program, you'll need a little app
supplied with the FUNcube Dongle to<BR>control the centre frequency or you'll
end up only listening to Howard's<BR>favorite FM broadcast station
;-)<BR><BR>It's also compatible with XP, Vista , Windows 7 in 32 bit and Vista
and<BR>Windows 7 in 64 bit. Initial testing on the Mac and Ubuntu 32 and 64
bit<BR>shows compatibility too, however the frequency control<BR>application for
those platforms has not been written yet.<BR><BR>So, no USB drivers are
required!<BR><BR>To keep people informed going forward, a blog has been
established at:<BR>http://www.funcubedongle.com/.<BR><BR>Also there's a video of
the first pre-production unit
at:<BR>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqzTBPLqal0<BR><BR>Projected availability
of the first production batch of the Pro version is<BR>December 2010. Pricing is
subject to assembly costs, but to give you<BR>indicative pricing we are working
on an initial price of the Pro version to<BR>be circa USD150/GBP100.<BR><BR>[ANS
thanks Howard, G6LVB, for the above information]<BR><BR>/EX<BR><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">Best
regards, <BR>73's, Chris GW6KZZ<BR> <BR>Member of AMSAT-UK, RSGB &
TAPR</FONT></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>