Chinese Satellite with HF Transponder (CAS-7A)

    • Official Post

    Chinese CAMSAT amateur radio satellites, CAS-7A and CAS-7C, are scheduled for launch on September 15. CAS-7A is a 27 kg microsat with a transponder for 15 m / 10 m and other features. The frequencies were planned in cooperation with IARU.

    Both satellites will be placed in a 500 km sun-synchronous orbit with an inclination of 98° by the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Below is some data on the planned frequencies for CAS-7A. All transponders have a pass bandwidth of 30 kHz. In H/T mode the uplink is in the range of 2̶1̶ ̶2̶4̶5̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶2̶1̶ ̶2̶7̶5̶ ̶k̶H̶z 21 395 to 21 425 kHz and the downlink in the range of 29 435 to 29 465 kHz. The CW beacon transmits on 29 425 kHz.

    The satellites remind a little bit of the former Soviet Iskra amateur radio satellites of the Ordschonikidze Aviation Institute in Moscow in the early 1980s. They also had their uplink in the 15-meter band and the downlink in the 10-meter band. They were mainly designed for radio amateurs of the former Eastern Bloc, most of whom had no equipment for higher amateur bands. Iskra 2 was also the first satellite ever launched from a space station — from Salyut 7 on 17 May 1982, and Iskra 2 burnt up about seven weeks later, on 9 July 1982.


    (Source: IARU HF-committee-C4)