AMSAT Oscar-13 Telemetry Block Format

Compiled by DB2OS for AMSAT-DL 1st September 1988

AMSAT OSCAR-13 (like all P3-Satellites) transmits 512 bytes per block, 
treated as 8 lines of 64 bytes each. Blocks are identified according to 
the first byte of the block (followed by space, coded as #20).

K, L, M, N  blocks are message blocks (flying mailbox) from one command 
station to another, but also used for broadcast. All characters use 
ASCII representation. Bit 7 set to 1 may be used to indicate highlighted 
character display. No CR/LF will be transmitted, they should be inserted
at the ground after 64 received characters!

Q blocks carry 128 logical telemetry channels in compressed data format.

Y blocks carry 64 plain text analog telemetry channels and will be sent 
infrequently (less than Q-blocks). It is proposed to use the Q-blocks 
for decoding, since Y-Blocks may be withdrawn in the feature. 


Q-Block format:
---------------

Q  HI, THIS IS AMSAT OSCAR 13                   hh:mm:ss  dddd
#hhhh   #hhhh   #hhhh
ddd ddd ddd ddd ddd ddd ddd

0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF
0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF
0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF
0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF

Line specification:
-------------------

Line 0:
Byte pos.= 0     2             48           58
<Q|Y> <text,name>   hh:mm:ss     dddd
U T C       AMSAT day number
1 January 1978 = 0
Line 1:
Byte pos.= 0             8             16
#hhhh         #hhhh         #hhhh
safety        transponder   command
information   status        number
word          (Syspage
(see below)    byte #5E)

Safety Information Word (Emergency Flags):
bit    significance
0..7  as Syspage byte #56
8     Low Power, QRP mode
9     Extremly low power, QRPP mode
10     Command loss (Watchdog)
11     High temperature (battery or transponder)
12     Sunangle exceeds limit (~50 degrees)
13..15 not used

Line 2:
Byte pos.= 0       4       8       12      16      20      24
ddd     ddd     ddd     ddd     ddd     ddd     ddd
2MUX0   2MUX1   2MUX2   2MUX3   2MUX4   2MUX5   2MUX6 
(Syspage   #40     #41     #42     #43     #44     #45     #46)

Line 3:    empty, blank line.

Line 4:
Byte = 0               10              20              30         
0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF

Line 5:
Byte = 40              50              60              70
0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF

Line 4 and 5 are the telemetry channels #00 to #7F of the INTERMEDIATE 
EVENT SYSPAGE buffer. Up to 6 events stored, 128 bytes per event. The 
buffers are read out cyclically, one event at a time. The time recorded 
and the event counter identify the particular event.

Line 6:
Byte = 0               10              20              30
0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF

Line 7:
Byte = 40              50              60              70
0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF0123456789ABCDEF

Line 6 and 7 are the SYSPAGE logical telemetry channels #00 to #7F,
normally used to display realtime telemetry. Decode according to the 
OSCAR-13 telemetry decoding document. Bytes are expressed directly, not 
as character values.
In Y-Blocks only SYSPAGE channels #00 to #3F (analog channels) are 
transmitted in ASCII (16 channels per line, 4 bytes per channel)!!

Example for Y-Blocks:
---------------------

Y  HI, THIS IS AMSAT OSCAR 13                   19:22:41  3894
#00A6   #0020   #0193
64  1   255 166 19  230 0

193 7   147 7   193 7   164 117 200 7   130 25  118 7   149 32
7   7   133 7   13  7   131 112 14  7   131 7   112 7   131 7
155 129 134 148 191 145 132 142 75  145 132 7   228 129 127 7
179 129 126 128 62  141 132 7   13  127 124 7   208 133 125 7



Example for decoded Q-Blocks: (as displayed on the ATARI 800XL IPS 
-----------------------------  groundsoftware package of AMSAT-DL)


Q  HI, THIS IS AMSAT OSCAR 13                   19:25:57  3894
#00A6   #0020   #0193       64  1   255 166 19  230 0
SA    1.2
COM-U                                           RUDAK-ON
CMD-F    -140   U9-V       9.1   2-ANT  HI      T-TX      25.7
F-BIT    405.5  U14V-ST   14.6  70-ANT  HI      T-RX      15.7
AGC DB     -6   I14V-ST  2402                   T-S        4.0
MEM         5   CW-S       55                   P-OUT     11.2



Q  HI, THIS IS AMSAT OSCAR 13                   19:25:57  3894
#00A6   #0020   #0193       64  1   255 166 19  230 0
SA    1.2
STROEME:        SPANNUNGEN:     LEISTUNGEN:     PANEL-I UND T:
BCR-SIN   31.0                  P1        422
BCR-IN      0   BCR-IN    37.2  PANELS     0.0  P2        160
BAT-NET    74                   P-BAT      1.0  P3          0
BAT-CH      0   BCR-SO    14.5                  P4        611
BCR-OUT  2596   BCR-OUT   14.6  BCR-OUT   37.9  P5        694
14V-ST   2402   14V-ST    14.6  P-TRANS   35.0  P6          0
14V-S      43   A-BAT      0.2  P-HF      11.2  SC-ROH  #00F1
10V-C      77   10V-C     10.0                  T-P1       8.1
BCR-O1    10.0                  T-ABAT1    6.4
BCR-O2     0.7                  T-MBAT     6.4



Q  HI, THIS IS AMSAT OSCAR 13                   19:25:57  3894
#00A6   #0020   #0193       64  1   255 166 19  230 0
SA    1.2
T'S ARM 1:      T'S ARM 2:      T'S ARM 3:      T'S ZENTRUM:
P1         8.1  P3         6.9  P5         6.9  N2O4       6.9
RX-U      15.7  SEU        7.5  HELIUM     5.2  AZ50       7.5
RX-L      14.5  T-TO-S     1.7  IHU        5.8
WALL      12.2  WALL       5.2  RUDAK      5.2
TOP        4.0  BCR       16.9  M-BAT      6.4
BOTTOM     3.4  ABAT-1     6.4  NUT-D      2.8
TX-U      25.7  ABAT-2     6.4
TX-L      14.5
TX-S       4.0



Q  HI, THIS IS AMSAT OSCAR 13                   19:25:57  3894
#00A6   #0020   #0193       64  1   255 166 19  230 0
SA    1.2
NAV, POS:   162-165
SPINRATE  36.1  SS-1        0*  S-SENS      5
T-HE       5.2  SS-2        1*  ES-SENS    64
T-N2O4     6.9  LS-A(MV)    0   LS-R'S     7.5
T-AZ50     7.5  LS-M(MV)    8   L-O#,Z  #A26F
ES-M      241   U-O#,Z  #A26F
ES-A      241
SPERR-#    15
M-STATUS    0
M-SOLL    246
END