ISS Amateur Radio Status: April 20, 2008
By Miles Mann WF1F,
MAREX-MG News
http://www.marexmg.org/
Manned Amateur Radio Experiment
International Space Station, Voice link, April 21, 2008, 17:48 UTC Monday
Starting at: 17:48 UTC (1:48 PM Boston time); Ending at: 17:58 UTC
Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, Orlando, Florida, USA on 21 April
For the next few weeks the crew of the International Space Station will be treating Short-Wave-Listeners and Amateur radio operators to live down links from ISS via the Amateur Radio station on ISS. The crew will be conducting Weekly radio links to schools in North America. Everyone is invited to listen to the downlinks.
On Monday April 21, ISS will pass over the north western USA and will be actively talking to students.
The path of the International Space station will be entering the USA from the Pacific near Oregon, and heading north east into Idaho and Montana and south west Canada. The Best listening will Northern CA, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.
Most people all along that line will be able to hear the Space Station with a modest outside antenna and a good scanner/receiver.
This week short-wave-listeners and amateur radio operators will be able to listen to the ISS via amateur radio directly. Listeners living within 500+ miles of one of the cities below should be able to hear the signals directly with a simple scanner or other VHF receiver (an outside antenna is recommended 0 dBd gain or better). ISS will be transmitting on 145.800 FM (5 kHz deviation). You will only be able to here one side of the conversation, since the school will be transmitting on an undisclosed uplink frequency (VHF or UHF).
If you do not have a tracking program, here is a live link to NASA that will show you where ISS is located.
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/index.html
Tips on listening:
http://www.marexmg.org/fileshtml/issvoicetips.html
Link to Audio files from previous school schedules. All files recorded directly off the air via a public Amateur Radio down link frequency.
http://www.marexmg.org/fileshtml/issaudiofiles.html
Current ISS Crew Members as of August 2007
The new crew #17 consists of: Commander Sergei Volkov, Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko,
Garrett E. Reisman and Gregory E. Chamitoff will serve as flight engineers during Expedition 17.
Orbital Tracking Data from April 12, 2008
ARISS [+]
1 25544U 98067A 08102.86951319 .00025933 00000-0 15720-3 0 2918
2 25544 51.6418 358.2303 0000954 5.6626 86.6887 15.77368848538066
Copy of memo from ARISS and SAREX
An International Space Station Expedition 17 ARISS school contact has been planned with participants at the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, Orlando, Florida, USA on 21 April. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 17:48 UTC.
The contact will be a telebridge between stations NA1SS and W6SRJ. The contact should be audible over most of the Western USA. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The participants are expected to conduct the conversation in English.
Audio from the QSO is planned to be fed into the EchoLink *AMSAT* (101 377) and *JK1ZRW* (277 208) servers during the contact.
Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children is located in Orlando, Florida. It is one of 8 hospitals under the Orlando Regional Healthcare umbrella and addresses the unique medical needs of children in the Central Florida area, including a level one trauma center. The children who participate
in this contact will be patients at the hospital. It will be an exciting surprise and enriching experience that will make their hospital stay a memorable event.
Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows:
1. What kind of food do you eat, and is it good?
2. How long can you stay out on a spacewalk?
3. What experiments are you doing in space?
4. What duties are yours on the Space Station?
5. How do you communicate with your family?
6. What do you do if you get sick in space?
7. What can you see on Earth from Space?
8. How long will the Space Station last?
9. What skills do I need to be an astronaut?
10. What is your favorite thing to do on the Space Station?
11. How does the Space Station stay in orbit?
12. How does the air stay fresh on the Space Station?
13. If an object hits the Space Station, what would you do?
14. What was your launch in the shuttle like?
15. How much water do you use, and how do you get it?
16. Do the solar panels provide all the power for the Space Station?
17. How many computers do you use on the Space Station?
18. When and how will you return to Earth?
19. How do you exercise in space?
20. How many persons can stay on the Space Station?
Information about the upcoming ARISS contacts can be found at http://www.rac.ca/ariss/upcoming.htm#NextContact. Packet is transmitted on 145.825 simplex.
Next planned event(s):
1. Star City School, Shchelkovo, Russia - Mon 2008-04-23 09:24 UTC via ON4ISS.
2. The National Air and Space Museum (NASM), Washington, DC - Sat. 2008-05-03 15:52 UTC via NN1SS.
ARISS is an international educational outreach program partnering the participating space agencies, NASA, Russian Space Agency, ESA, CNES, JAXA, and CSA, with the AMSAT and IARU organizations from participating countries.
ARISS offers an opportunity for students to experience the excitement of Amateur Radio by talking directly with crewmembers on-board the International Space Station. Teachers, parents and communities see, first hand, how Amateur Radio and crewmembers on ISS can energize
youngsters' interest in science, technology, and learning. Further information on the ARISS program is available on the website http://www.rac.ca/ariss (graciously hosted by the Radio Amateurs of Canada).
