AMSAT has announced that its Fox-1B (RadFxSat — Radiation Effects Satellite) CubeSat is set for a January 20, 2017, launch. Fox-1B will carry Vanderbilt University Institute for Space and Defense Electronics radiation experiment, AMSAT Vice-President Engineering, Jerry Buxton, N0JY, said. It also includes an Amateur Radio FM transponder (435.250 MHz, 67.0 Hz CTCSS tone, up; 145.960 MHz down). The latest version of the Fox-1 Operating Guide is available from AMSAT's Station and Operating Hints page.

Fox-1B will ride on a Delta II launcher along with a NOAA spacecraft. The satellite will go aloft as part of the NASA Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) program, which offers free launches to educational entities and encourages science missions. AMSAT has been developing a family of CubeSats with Amateur Radio payloads that can support advanced science experiments, and it has been working with universities on scientific and educational missions that fit the ELaNa mold.

The Fox series 1-Unit CubeSats allows simple ground stations using hand-held transceiver and simple dual-band antennas to make contacts. — Thanks to AMSAT News Service via AMSAT Vice President-Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY