In mid-August, on the night of August 12-13, during the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, the technical team of the Slovak Space Activities (SOSA) launched from the airport in Partizánské stratosférickú sondu JuloX.
Among other things, the stratospheric balloon carried the communication module of the first Slovak satellite skCUBE, with which amateur radio experiments were carried out. A stratospheric balloon flight is ideal for testing satellite components because the conditions in the stratosphere are very similar to those in space, such as low pressure, temperature and increased radiation.
Prvým rádioamatérskym experimentom bola obojsmerná komunikácia v rádioamatérskom pásme 70cm. Transceiver pracoval v režime digitálneho opakovača (Digipeater), teda po príjme AX.25 rámca dekódoval volaciu značku a odpovedal spať. Digipeater sa v cykle opakoval s CW majákom, ktorý vysielal základnú telemetriu. Transceiver skCUBE vysielal s výkonom 1W – AX.25 a 100mW – CW do dipólovej antény. Na pozemnej stanici sa nachádzala 7-el yagi antenna that was pointed at the balloon probe thanks to Rob's OM1LD tracking platform.
The second experiment was CW reception in the 2.4GHz band. The transmitter worked with a power of 250mW and was connected to a patch antenna developed by us with a gain of 6dB.
You can read more about the JuloX flight and details at svetelektro.com