Window Open for Accepting ARISS Education Proposals – ARISS News Release No. 22-52

ARISS logoOct 3, 2022 — The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Program is seeking formal and informal education institutions and organizations, individually or working together, to host an Amateur Radio contact with a crew member onboard the ISS.  ARISS anticipates that the contact would be held between July 1, 2023 and December 31, 2023. Crew scheduling and ISS orbits would determine the exact radio contact dates. To maximize these radio contact opportunities, ARISS is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan.

The deadline to submit a proposal is November 13, 2022.

Proposal information and more details such as expectations, proposal guidelines, and the proposal form can be found at https://ariss-usa.org/hosting-an-ariss-contact-in-the-usa/. An ARISS Introductory Webinar session will be held on October 13, 2022, at 8:00 PM ET.  The Eventbrite link to sign up for the webinar is: https://ariss-proposal-webinar-fall-2022.eventbrite.com.

The Opportunity

Crew members aboard the International Space Station will participate in scheduled Amateur Radio contacts. These radio contacts are approximately 10 minutes in length and allow students to interact with the astronauts through a question-and-answer session.

An ARISS contact is a voice-only communication opportunity via Amateur Radio between astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station and classrooms and communities. ARISS contacts afford education audiences the opportunity to learn firsthand from astronauts what it is like to live and work in space and to learn about space research conducted on the ISS. Students also will have an opportunity to learn about things such as satellite radio communication, wireless technology, and radio science. Because of the nature of human spaceflight and the complexity of scheduling activities aboard the ISS, organizations must demonstrate flexibility to accommodate changes in dates and times of the radio contact.

Amateur Radio organizations around the world with the support of NASA and space agencies in Canada, Japan, Europe and Russia present educational organizations with this opportunity. The ham radio organizations’ volunteer efforts provide much of the equipment and operational support to enable communication between crew on the ISS and students around the world using Amateur Radio.

Please direct any questions to ariss.us.education@gmail.com.

About ARISS:

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the ISS National Lab-Space Station Explorers, Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) and NASA’s Space communications and Navigation program. The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics topics. ARISS does this by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities take part in hands-on learning activities tied to space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org.

Media Contact:

Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR

Live Fox Hunt, Wallingford CT, October 2, 2022

Dave Tipping, NZ1J, writes on the ctfoxhunter list on October 1, 2022:

We’ll have a live Fox Hunt on Sunday [October 2] in Wallingford from 9:30 a.m. until 11:00 a.m.
 
We’ll be using these three frequencies:  
 
There will be a 1 watt signal continuously on 146.565 MHz. It will make a short beep every three seconds and will ID in Morse code every minute.
 
The 10 mW transmitter is on 147.475 MHz and will beep every three seconds and will ID in Morse code every minute.
 
The 1 mW transmitter is on 146.290 MHz and beeps every three seconds.
 
There is no central starting location. Other fox hunters can be contacted on the W1NRG repeater 147.360 with PL 162.2.
 
Good luck.

New England Division Town Hall Meeting, October 19, 2022

ARRL logoPhil Temples K9HI, our Assistant Directors, and I will hold our next New England Division Town Hall Meeting on Wednesday, October 19th, at 7 pm EST. The purpose of the meeting will be to provide you with an ARRL update, get your thoughts on what we should be focusing on, and answer any questions you might have about the ARRL and what we are doing on behalf of ARRL members here in New England.

We plan to spend a good deal of our time together answering your questions. If you’d like to send us a question in advance, you can do so via an email to ab1oc@arrl.org, or you can just plan to ask your questions during the Town Hall Meeting.

We will hold our Town Hall Meeting via a Zoom Webinar. You can get your personal link to join the Town Hall Meeting via the following link (paste the link in your browser to register) –

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CGyR0dsJTZu9dqO1LXqtpg

We hope to see you on October 19th!

——————————————————————–
ARRL New England Division
Director: Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC
ab1oc@arrl.org
——————————————————————–

BIG E Space Chat Deemed “A Huge Success”

screenshot from ARISS contact

West Springfield, MA—The BIG E Space Chat was an unqualified success. Many hours of planning and effort went into making the ISS contact a reality.

Thirteen young STEM students who are taking space science workshops at New England Sci-Tech in Natick, Mass., were given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity on Tuesday, September 27, 2022 to ask questions of International Space Station pilot Bob Hines, KI5RQT, orbiting 260 miles above the earth via a ground station in Belgium. Held in The BIG E Arena, a large entertainment venue, the event garnered much news and television coverage at the fair which attracts 1.5 million people during its 17-day run. It was an out of this world experience for the students from across New England.

Following several informative videos, hundreds of people who gathered in the arena, along with a national audience watching via YouTube live stream, heard from: Gene Cassidy, Eastern States Exposition CEO; David Minster, ARRL CEO; Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC; and Bob Phinney, K5TEC. The pre-contact show was choreographed down to the minute in order to assure a smooth transition leading to the contact itself.

At approximately 2:30 PM ET, the audience heard astronaut Bob Hines, KI5RQT, reply to the ARISS ground station, ON4ISS:

“Oscar November Four India Sierra Sierra, this is Oscar Romeo Four India Sierra Sierra. Over.” 

Over a dozen questions were asked by the youths and answered.

“The space station has to be flying over one of our ground stations… this one happened to be in Belgium,” said Bob Phinney, President of New England Sci-Tech. He told Springfield Channel 22 News, “The time had to be perfect. So the students got exactly ten minutes to get up and talk.”

“All the new opportunities that there are about new discoveries, new planets, and even new life,” said 11-year-old Harish Sathishkaumar.

Jack Warren told 22 News, “What fascinates me the most is the unknown…. There is just so much to learn!”

“The best thing about this work is that we probably changed one or two lives today,” said Fred Kemmerer. “The biggest takeaway from this momentous day; always to reach for the stars.”

The following day, Bob Hines tweeted the following message from the ISS:

Bob Hines tweet re Space Chat: "This was such a fun event... great questions from all the students at New England Sci-Tech. We talked all things space: @space_station, @nasa_astronauts, @nasaartemis and more! Thanks for the chat! -73

 

The BIG E Space Chat team consisted, in part, of:

  • ARRL New England Division Director Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC
  • New England Sci-Tech member Barbara Irby, KC1KGS
  • Assistant Director Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB
  • Western MA Section Manager Ray Lajoie, AA1SE
  • New England Sci-Tech President Bob Phinney, K5TEC
  • Vice Director Phil Temples, K9HI

Third-parties involved in making the effort a success included: the production company Black Helicopter, Limited; the BIG E Marketing team, and Eastern States Exposition CEO Gene Cassidy; NASA; and Amateur Radio on the International Space Station.

Several ARRL Headquarters staff from Newington, Connecticut attended the event including: ARRL CEO David Minster, NA2AA; Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1W, Director of Public Relations and Innovation; and Steve Goodgame, K5ATA, ARRL Education and Learning Manager.

At the conclusion of the contact, the youths were presented with certificates confirming their contact with Bob Hines aboard the ISS, signed by David Minster, NA2AA; Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC; and Bob Phinney, K5TEC.

Along with “Space Chat,” NESci-Tech is conducting a 12-month educational space science program that includes:

  • Amateur Radio License Course
  • Model Rocketry workshops
  • Air-Powered Rocketry
  • Introduction to Basic Electronics
  • Introduction to Arduinos Electronics
  • Public Telescope Nights
  • Morse Code Introduction
  • Elementary Mathematics for Modeling Rocket Flight

You can learn more about New England Sci-Tech’s educational space science program by visiting their website.

A recording of the pre-contact show and ARISS space station contact can be viewed on the NESci-Tech YouTube channel at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdxnD8uF8t0.

Special Announcement: Amateur Radio Hurricane Nets Activating for Major Hurricane Ian & Florida Impacts

SKYWARN logoRob Macedo, KD1CY, writes on the SKYWARN_Announce list:

The Amateur Radio VoIP Hurricane Net and Hurricane Watch Net will be active for Major Hurricane Ian and impacts on Florida. Details on their net activation plans can be seen at the following links:

VoIP Hurricane Net:
https://www.voipwx.net

Hurricane Watch Net:
https://www.hwn.org

For any SKYWARN Spotters and Amateur Radio Operators in our region who may have friends and family in the affected area and have the ability to provide surface weather or damage reports, pictures and videos, reports can be provided over these nets with pictures and videos provided to WX1BOX Facebook and Twitter feeds or to the email address pics@nsradio.org

We hope everyone in the affected area of Florida stays safe as major Hurricane Ian approaches.

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503
Email Address: rmacedo@rcn.com
https://ares.ema.arrl.org
https://www.wx1box.org

AB1OC Live Television Interview for BIG E Space Chat, September 27, 2022

AB1OC Live TV interview for BIG E Space ChatWEST SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) – Thirteen New England students will make live radio contact with Astronaut Bob Hines on the International Space Station as it orbiting 260 miles above the earth on Tuesday at The Big E.

Fred Kemmerer, director of the New England division of the American Radio Relay League and Amateur Radio on the International Space Station mentor, spoke to Western Mass News about the out-of-this-world experience and how other fairgoers can experience the event.  [video]

Live Fox Hunt, Wallingford CT Vicinity, September 25, 2022

Dave Tipping, NZ1J, writes on the ctfoxhunter list on September 24, 2022:

We’ll have a live Fox Hunt on Sunday (September 25, 2022) from 9:30 am until 11:00 am. The transmitters will be hidden within 3.2 miles of the Wallingford Senior Center (238 Washington St, Wallingford). This will be a 32 square mile search area; our usual hunts cover 40 square miles. The search area will be a perfect circle.

We’ll be using these three frequencies:

There will be a 2 watt signal continuously on 146.565 MHz. It will make a short beep every three seconds and will ID in Morse Code every minute.

The 10 mW transmitter is on 147.475 MHz and will beep every three seconds and will ID in Morse Code every minute.

The 1 mW transmitter is on 146.290 MHz and beeps every three seconds.

There is no central starting location. Other Fox Hunters can be contacted on the W1NRG repeater 147.360 with PL 162.2

Good luck.

Dave NZ1J

Barnstable ARC Hosts Big E Amateur Radio on Massachusetts Day, September 22, 2022

It was a rainy day to be at the Big E but four of the Barnstable’s (Cape Cod) club members enjoyed their day of meeting with the public and operating FT-8 via Remote Ham Radio and 70 cm FM on the D-Star HT and Icom transceiver.  It helped that 10 meters and 15 meters were open and stations from Indonesia to Saudi Arabia and all over Europe got into the log. 

Larry, W1AST, was there to greet us in the AM and got us started.  Many thanks go out to Larry and his support team for organizing the amateur radio demonstration booth at the event. 

Amateur radio at the Big E will also host the “Space Chat” the afternoon of 9/27 with hams and their families getting in free that day (bring a copy of your license). 

Barnstable ARC club members staffing the ham radio booth at The BIG E
L-R: Rob, K1UI; Chris, WA1CMR; Jake, W1JKM; and Mark, WA1EXA.  Photo courtesy Chris, WA1CMR