Technical

ARISS Mentor AB1OC Assists with Ontario School Contact, February 5, 2021

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ARISS logoJon Turner, AC1EV, writes:

An ARISS contact is scheduled for this Friday, February 5th with students from the Ottawa Carleton District in Ottawa, ON, Canada.  The contact will be a multipoint telebridge contact. Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC, will serve as the relay amateur radio station.  The astronaut is Mike Hopkins, amateur radio call sign KF5LJG.

The pre-contact program will begin around 12:20 pm local time and the ISS will come over the horizon at about 12:40 pm local time. You can listen to the downlink from the ISS on 145.800 MHz FM and you can watch the pre-contact program and the contact on the ARISS YouTube channel via the following link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxm5Ca2y0HD_NxXlZWXv11A

[…] There are different frequencies for uplink and downlink so it is only possible for the public to monitor the downlink.  The ISS will be overhead in our area for this contact, so it will be easy to hear. 

One of the things I am doing now in ham radio is helping Fred Kemmerer, who is the President of the Nashua Area Radio Society, work with schools to make scheduled contacts with an astronaut on the International Space Station.  Fred is a designated ARISS mentor for the US.  ARISS is an organization that coordinates Amateur Radio activities on the International Space Station.  I am currently assisting Fred behind the scenes with testing and setting up the ground infrastructure and internet connectivity needed to have students who are remote to their school have successful contacts with the ISS.  We have a project underway with a school in Nashua for a contact in a few weeks. 

This is a link to the recent contact from RSU#21 in Maine:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN70OpJFMgs&feature=youtu.be

Here is a link to a report from a TV station about a contact from a few weeks ago with RSU#21:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=013JxlionCU

Here are other links on the contact you may find interesting:

https://www.wabi.tv/2021/01/22/maine-students-talk-with-astronaut-on-international-space-station/

https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/education/kennebunk-students-have-an-out-of-this-world-experience-talking-to-an-astronaut-aboard-the-iss/97-1a7a7bb5-19f9-4dbc-b353-e30b13c9f475

https://www.pressherald.com/2021/01/22/sea-road-students-chat-long-distance-to-astronaut-on-the-international-space-station/

https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/news/local/york-star/2021/01/22/sea-road-school-students-talk-astronaut-space/4175367001/

I hope you find this interesting and are able to tune in to hear ham radio from space. 

73 and stay safe (sane, too)

Jon Turner

AC1EV

photo of the international space station

ARISS SuitSat-1 Experiment is the Star in this Haunting New Sci-Fi Video, “Decommissioned”

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screenshot from the new sci-fi thriller "Decommissioned"From ema.arrl.org:
 
Most of you will remember SuitSat. In 2006, the ARISS team managed to acquire a Russian spacesuit with an expired expiration date that would have just been thrown overboard to burn up. ARISS designed and built an antenna and radio gear that was approved for installation into the suit and the whole shebang got deployed by a cosmonaut and Commander Bill McArthur, KC5ACR at the start of a spacewalk.
 
It transmitted a lot during its short life. After the ARISS engineers figured SuitSat-1’s orbit and spin characteristics, they knew the legs and arms would have to be filled with something, so they asked the crew to stuff dirty laundry inside. That’s just what they did.
 
Here’s a small part of what Rick Lindquist’s ARRL story said about SuitSat-1  (http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter?issue=2006-02-03):  
 

“The Amateur Radio community, students, scanner enthusiasts, space fans and others have been eagerly awaiting the launch of the most novel satellite ever to orbit Earth. SuitSat-1 will transmit its voice message “This is SuitSat-1 RS0RS!” in several languages plus telemetry and an SSTV image on an eight-minute cycle as it orbits Earth. The three batteries powering the satellite are expected to last about a week, and SuitSat-1 should re-enter Earth’s atmosphere after several weeks of circling the globe. and  SuitSat-1 has piqued the imagination of the news media over the past couple of weeks. In addition to articles in The New York Times, the Houston Chronicle and Associated Press, National Public Radio, Fox News, CNN, Readers Digest, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, MSNBC and others also produced broadcast or cable news reports. A magazine article is set to appear in Aviation Week and Space Technology.”

 
Well, SuitSat is back! It’s featured in an eerie, six-minute sci-fi short, “Decommissioned.” The  video can be viewed at

https://io9.gizmodo.com/an-astronaut-has-an-unwelcome-and-possibly-undead-visit-1846085578.

-Thanks, Rosalie White, K1STO, ARRL ARISS US Delegate

Propagation Data Collection During December 14 Eclipse

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HamSCI (www.hamsci.org) is looking for amateur radio operators around the world to help collect propagation data during the December 14 eclipse across South America. Data collection requires an HF radio connected to a computer.
 
There will be 24-hour practice runs on November 21 and December 5. The main data recording will run from December 9-16, to ensure an abundance of control data.
 
Details of the experiment may be found here:
 
Instructions are also available in Spanish and Portuguese. 
 
Interested operators should sign up at this link (https://forms.gle/C9PFSTeLf7xvCQDYA) or directly contact Kristina Collins at kd8oxt@case.edu.

AMSAT Partners with University of Maine WiSe-Net Lab to Develop State’s First CubeSat

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From ARRL Web:

07/26/2020–The University of Maine Wireless Sensing Laboratory (WiSe-Net Lab) and AMSAT have signed an agreement to collaborate on building and operating MESAT1, Maine’s first small satellite. Carrying an amateur radio payload in addition to science payloads, MESAT1 is set to launch sometime in the next 3 years under NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI), which provides opportunities for nanosatellite science and technology payloads built by universities, schools, and nonprofits to ride-share on space launches. AMSAT President Clayton Coleman, W5PFG, celebrated the announcement.

“This is a great day for AMSAT and UMaine’s WiSe-Net Lab,” Coleman said. “This partnership is a true win-win for both education and the amateur radio community. The collaborative effort under AMSAT’s engineering and operations teams has once again succeeded to bring another opportunity to AMSAT.”

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