At 0230 UTC this morning, the Chinese Yaogen-8 Remote Sensing Satellite has been successfully launched by a CZ-4C rocket from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center into a sun-synchronous orbit about 1200 km high. The launcher also carried a secondary payload, which is the first Chinese amateur radio satellite called XW-1. The XW-1 communications payload includes a beacon and three cross band transponders operating in FM, linear, and digital modes.
XW-1 beacon transmits housekeeping telemetry in Morse code on the UHF band around 435.790 MHz. Here is one of the first recordings of XW-1 telemetry made available by Mateusz SQ7DQX.
Listen to the audio and try to write down the letters and numbers. If you write them down correctly you should be able to decode the housekeeping telemetry using the format description published here.
You want more? Here is a longer recording of a whole pass (16 minutes) recorded at 1130 UTC:
Due to the simple format it is very easy for anyone to receive and decode this telemetry without any fancy satcom equipment. If you or your friends have a scanner that can receive 435.790 MHz SSB/CW you can try to listen for it yourself but you may need a medium gain antenna like a UHF TV antenna. Indoor TV antenna might also work; what's important is that you have clear line of sight, i.e. not behind walls or trees. Once XW-1 is officially commissioned you can predict the passes over your location using online tools like Heavens Above or the AMSAT passs predictor. Don't forget to listen +/- 10 kHz due to Doppler shift!
There is more info about XW-1 on the AMSAT China website.
