During a period between 2019 and 2020, I was able to detect and decode the VHF (145-146 MHz) telemetry from both the Fox series and Funcube satellites. I used a Yagi VHF antenna with 6 dB of gain, a RTL SDR and SDRSharp to record the audio signal. I am located in Los Angeles.
I started a new project this year, with a similar setup, except I upgraded to a M2 2MCP14 circularly polarized antenna with 12 dB gain. I have been able to detect and decode Funcube 1 Telemetry, but have not detected a signal from Fox 1A, Fox 1B and Fox 1C. Are they transmitting and if so, what else could be the problem?
Hi,
I am not an active listener on Fox telemetry, but the database appears to show at least Fox1C is still transmitting DUV200 telemetry ?
SatNOGS Network - Observations
Switched to Fox 1B which appears to have more / better results
SatNOGS Network - Observations
Is there any appearance of Fox signals in your receiver ? Is the M2 antenna on a rotator ?
Alot of those FOX1C obs look like bad decodes of noise or other junk (from other sats) signals. They were marked good by the network due to having decoded data.
I am not sure any of the Foxes are alive. Looking at Fox Server Leaderboard Looks like only Fox1B is alive and has had decodes in the last 24 hours.
Most of the others have had battery issues.
Yes, I see that other observers are having success. I’ve tried 1A, 1B and 1C without success. At this point, I’m not using the FoxTelem decoder, but trying to detect the signal on SDRSharp. Nothing!!
My set-up appears to be working as I get a lot of voice traffic in the same band and I was also able to detect and decode Funcube 1 beyond 1600 miles.
The M2 antenna is not on a rotator, but I manually position it for each pass, so that the satellites will be in-beam for part of their pass. 1C is going to be high in the sky from Saturday until Tuesday and so we’ll see what happens. Thanks
Yes, I saw the battery issues and that’s why I was asking about the status of the Foxes. Even if they are not decoding well, I would think I would at least get a signal on SDRSharp. As the M2 antenna was the only new item, I though maybe I had assembled it incorrectly, or that it was faulty. However, I have doubled-checked evreything and also I am picking up Funcube 1 and voice traffic. Thanks.
Yea, only Fox1B seems to be transmitting anymore, Fox1A hasn’t been heard by Satnogs (or anyone from what I can tell) in well over a year or two. Not sure about 1C tho.
Don’t take a something have data on the network as good, unless you actually check the waterfall for a signal, imo. Since the system marks anything (except CW) good if it has a decode.
Other than FunCube and Fox, are there other cubesats with telemetery downlinks in the VHF band and decode apps, that I can use to check-out my ground station?
There are the NOAA weather sats that will decode images.
Feel free also to use SatNOGS DB - Transmitters list and spectrum visualization for finding satellites that transmit in VHF. 
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I’ve had great success with the NOAA satellites using a 137-138 MHz QFH antenna that I built. The M2 2MCP14 that I am trying to check-out is 143-147 MHz and so the NOAA sats are not much use.
I’m familiar with Satnogs DB, but I was really looking for cubesats with dashboard apps, so that I can decode the data.
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I just started tracking the Space Station 145.825, AFSK downlink and found a dasboard to decode the data packets. The signal is strong and the decodes are good and so I guess that the M2 2MCP14 antenna finally checked-out. Thanks to all.
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