ARISS is planning a Slow Scan Television (SSTV) experiment from the International Space Station, scheduled to start on Tuesday, October 8, at 16:00 GMT and running until Monday, October 14, at 14:10 GMT.
There will be an interruption on Friday, October 11, for planned school contacts over Europe.
The SSTV transmissions will be made using the amateur radio station in the ISS Service Module. The transmission frequency will be 145.800 MHz FM, using SSTV mode PD120.
At 11:29 GMT on Saturday October 5, 2024, an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) radio contact between astronaut Sunita Williams KD2PLB aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and members of Girlguiding Surrey West County, took place at the Brooklands Museum and Brookland Innovation Academy, located in Weybridge, UK.
ARISS conducts 60-100 of these special Amateur Radio contacts each year between students around the globe and crew members with ham radio licenses aboard the ISS.
Girlguiding Surrey West is a charity organization for girls and young women. Girlguiding wants to inspire their members to learn skills in science, technology, engineering and math with fun guiding activities and science-based activities. The Brooklands Innovation Academy, established in 2022, creates inspirational STEM experiences for young people. The age range of the participants for this ARISS contact are 5 to 19 years old. By hosting this ARISS contact they are also demonstrating real-world application of STEM concepts (an important principle at Brooklands Museum) to space missions and are encouraging the girls to complete their space interest badge. The group is being supported by the Radio Society of Great Britain and the ARISS UK Team to establish the radio link.
Girlguiding patron, Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Edinburgh will attend and take part in the ARISS contact to help in promoting the engagement and involvement of girls and young women in STEM.
This will be a direct contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask their questions of astronaut Sunita Williams, amateur radio call sign KD5PLB. The downlink frequency for this contact is 145.800 MHz and may be heard by listeners that are within the ISS-footprint that also encompasses the relay ground station.
The amateur radio ground station for this contact is in Weybridge, UK. Amateur radio operators using call sign GB4GGB, will operate the ground station to establish and maintain the ISS connection.
The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for October 5, 2024 at 2:05:37 pm BST (Weybridge, UK) (13:05:22 UTC, 9:05 am EDT, 8:05 am CDT, 7:05 am MDT, 6:05 am PDT).
As time allows, students will ask these questions:
1. Who or what inspired you to become an astronaut and what advice would you have for any of these girls here today who might want to become an astronaut?
2. Do you have any free time and if so what do you spend your time doing?
3. There are many international time zones so how does time work on the ISS?
4. If you were not an astronaut, what job would you like to have instead?
5. What things do you like to take with you to remind you of home?
6. What is the hardest part of your job?
7. How does the food and drinks do you have in space compare to foods on earth?
8. What do you miss about Earth?
9. How long have you been on the international space station?
10. What was your reaction when you found out you had been selected to fly to the ISS?
11. What stars or other things have you seen in space?
12. Is space hot or cold?
13. Does space smell of anything?
14. How do you sleep in space?
15. What is your favorite planet and why?
16. Have you done a spacewalk? If so, what was it like?
17. The spacesuits look very heavy, are they uncomfortable to wear?
18. What is it like floating in space? Have you ever lost anything from it floating away?
19. What things do you like to take with you to remind you of home?
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 ISS. In the United States, sponsors are the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC), Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation program (SCaN) and the ISS National Lab—Space Station Explorers. 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 http://www.ariss.org/
Those satellite enthusiasts thinking of getting their UK Amateur Radio licence may like to know a Free online training courses are available at http://hamtrain.co.uk
For most of my early years of my Amateur Radio existence, operators' stations locations were known for their simple, modest and sometimes enormous antenna towers. This was and is basically a good indication that a "Ham Radio" operator resides somewhere near those structures. And if you had the opportunity to visit the radio rooms (Ham Shack) of those operators, some of them may have been in a corner of a room, in a closet, a spandrel, a garage, a shed or look similar to the photo above
In today's world, that is far from the case. Due to HOAs (Home Owner's Associations) and other covenant restrictions, ham operators in their infinite ingenuity, come up of many types of inconspicuous means of assembling antennas to enjoy their hobby.
The minimization of electronics have given Ham Radio operators the ability to communicate "To infinity and Beyond". During my past three years of operating portable, primarily POTA, I've had countless people inquire what I was doing. Most of the POTA sites near my QTH are parks where trying to find a spot which is safe AND a considerable distance away from people is limited.
For me its no big deal. Most of the time people will look, point, observe and casually walk, bicycle ride or run by without saying a word. But then, there are the ones who's curiosity takes the best of them. Doesn't matter the age, nationality, or sex, the sight of someone sitting under a pole with wires going this way and that way, hearing beeps and tones, have to find out what is going on.
Summits on the Air (SOTA), Parks on the Air (POTA) and World Wide Fauna (WWFF) have given ham radio operators a way to bring our equipment out of the dark rooms to the open air. It is exciting times we live in in this world of Amateur Radio. We should take advantage of the minimization of the equipment we have at our disposable and show the world just how GREAT ham radio is not only as a hobby but exposing young and old minds to potentially unimaginable innovations.
As the daylight starts to shorten, the temperatures become more tolerable, it can present the favorable conditions to take our equipment portable to remind the world that, HAM RADIO is still something people do. It doesn't have to be POTA or SOTA but its a good time to experience all Mother Nature has to offer as the season changes.
Here are some who just enjoy operating outdoors.
Portable Amateur Radio
M0KVI Owen
W0ABE "Fin"
KH6WI Eric
VE5REV Jason
KH6RF John
VA7USD Matthew
KO4TJP Jake
W3IPA Tim
Amateurs operating through Satellites and the International Space Station (ISS) can be very simple but for some, but some have a wide array of portable equipment they use for different modes to communicate via satellites and ISS.
Portable Satellite Operation
K9BCM Thomas
VA3VGR Richard
EA2CW / AE2CW - Mikel
K8ZRY Zach
WD9EWK Patrick
KE5NJ Chris
KG4AKV John
SP3RNZ Greg
NC0Q Tim
KB5FHK Thomas
Parks on the Air has taken portable ham radio operating to a different level. Here is just a few of the thousands who choose to spend a lot of their operating time outdoors.
Parks on the Air
AE4JC Matthew
K1STG Fred
KC9BKA Dan
KM6HJC Ben
KN4YZY Corey
N9OHW Michael
KA3DRR Scot
AI5DD Joe
K4WSD / Allen
KB6NU Dan
And then there are the ones who operate Summits on the Air (SOTA). Some might think this is an Extreme Sport but to them, its just another day at the office.
Summits on the Air
KO6BTM Di
EC7ZT Manu
JL1SDA Tetsuya
MM0EFI Fraser
WA7JNJ James
JR8MHA Katsu
N2SRK Dan NA0MT Scott
N6ARA Ara
K4KFO Yusef
You don't have to travel far from the Backroom to the Open Air. A few weeks ago I began a Sunday morning routine of "A Cup of Joe Patio Amateur Radio". It's my quiet time to relax, commune with nature and do some sort of ham radio operating. For me its natural boost to reset for another week.
We've come a long way baby from the days of operating portable in the photo below. Why not grab your gear now at head out for some Ham Radio Portable operating.
An ARISS contact is scheduled with students at Mrs Ethelston’s CE Primary Academy at Axminster Community Academy Trust, Lyme Regis, U.K. at 11:44 BST (10:44 GMT) on Wednesday April 17 on 145.800 MHz FM.
Matthew Dominick KC0TOR
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has received schedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact between an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and students at the Mrs. Ethelston’s CE Primary Academy located in Lyme Regis, UK. ARISS conducts 60-100 of these special amateur radio contacts each year between students around the globe and crew members with ham radio licenses aboard the ISS.
Acorn Multi Academy Trust is a small trust of seven schools (Mrs Ethelstons, Axminster, Chardstock, Marshwood, Loders, Thorncombe and Membury) that are situated on the coast of the English Dorset /Devon /Somerset border. Mrs Ethelston’s CE Primary Academy is hosting this ARISS contact and is directly involved in this project, however children involved are from the 7 primary schools within this Multi-Academy Trust and range in ages from 4-11 years.
This will be a direct contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask their questions of astronaut Matthew Dominick, amateur radio call sign KCØTOR. The downlink frequency for this contact is 145.800 MHz and may be heard by listeners that are within the ISS-footprint that also encompasses the relay ground station.
The amateur radio ground station for this contact is in Lyme Regis, UK. Amateur radio operators using call sign GB4ACA, will operate the ground station to establish and maintain the ISS connection.
The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for April 17, 2024 at 11:44:48 am BST (UK) (10:44:48 UTC, 6:44 am EDT, 5:44 am CDT, 4:44 am MDT, 3:44 am PDT).
I’ve got a couple of old RaspberryPi computers on the shelf in the shack and so decided it was time for me to put one of them to good use. The first model on the shelf is the oldest and is one of the very first RaspberryPi 1 computers that was released. (It’s the one with the yellow analog video signal output on the board!). This particular model is extremely slow but, I hang onto it just as a reminder of the first SBC in the line.
The second one is a RaspberryPi 2, a quad core machine that is only slightly faster than the first model but, it’s powerful enough to run HAM Clock.
It didn’t take long to install a vanilla Raspbian Desktop O/S and get it configured on the local LAN. I installed a few packages that I like to have available on all my Linux machines and then started on the HAM Clock install.
The first thing I needed to do was install the X11 development library that is required to compile the HAM Clock binary. To do this, open a terminal and enter the command below to install the package.
sudo apt install libx11-dev
You will need to type in your password to obtain root privileges to complete the installation process and then wait for the package to be installed.
The HAM Clock source code is available from the HAM Clock Website under the Download tab in .zip format. Once downloaded unzip the file and change directory into the ESPHamClock folder ready to compile the code.
cd ~/Downloads/ESPHamClock
Once in the ESPHamClock directory you can run a command to get details on how to compile the source code.
make help
This will check your system to see what screen resolutions are available and then list out the options available to you for compiling the code as shown below.
The following targets are available (as appropriate for your system)
hamclock-800x480 X11 GUI desktop version, AKA hamclock
hamclock-1600x960 X11 GUI desktop version, larger, AKA hamclock-big
hamclock-2400x1440 X11 GUI desktop version, larger yet
hamclock-3200x1920 X11 GUI desktop version, huge
hamclock-web-800x480 web server only (no display)
hamclock-web-1600x960 web server only (no display), larger
hamclock-web-2400x1440 web server only (no display), larger yet
hamclock-web-3200x1920 web server only (no display), huge
hamclock-fb0-800x480 RPi stand-alone /dev/fb0, AKA hamclock-fb0-small
hamclock-fb0-1600x960 RPi stand-alone /dev/fb0, larger, AKA hamclock-fb0
hamclock-fb0-2400x1440 RPi stand-alone /dev/fb0, larger yet
hamclock-fb0-3200x1920 RPi stand-alone /dev/fb0, huge
For my system 1600×960 was the best option and so I compiled the code using the command as follows.
make hamclock-1600x960
It’s no surprise that it takes a while to compile the code on such a low powered device. I can’t tell you how long exactly as I went and made a brew and did a few other things whilst it was running but, it took a while!
Once the compilation was complete you then need to install the application to your desktop environment and move the binary to the correct directory.
make install
Once the install is complete there should be an icon on the GUI desktop to start the app. If like mine it didn’t create the icon then you can start the HAM Clock by using the following command in the terminal.
/usr/local/bin/hamclock &
The first time you start the app you’ll need to enter your station information, callsign, location etc and then select the settings you want to use. There are 4 pages of options for configuring the app all of which are described in the user documentation.
Once the configuration is complete the map will populate with the default panels and data. I tailored my panels to show the items of interest to me namely, POTA, SOTA, International Beacon Project and the ISS space station track. I was hoping to be able to display more than one satellite at a time on the map however, the interface only allows for one bird to be tracked at a time.
You can access the HAM Clock from another computer using a web browser pointed at your RaspberryPi on your local LAN using either the IP address or the hostname of the device.
http://<hostname>:8081/live.html
or
http://<ip-address>:8081/live.html
You can also control the HAM Clock remotely via web browser using a set of web commands that are detailed on port 8080 of the device.
http://<hostname or ip-address>:8080/
This is a great addition to any HAM shack especially if, like me you have an old HDTV on the wall of the shack that is crying out to display something useful.
In diesem Beitrag stellen wir euch den Nachfolger des BLE-BT-TNC vor und unterziehen ihm einen Test im Freien. Neulich haben wir euch in dem Beitrag TH-D74 mit aprs.fi auf dem iPhone koppeln eine Möglichkeit aufgezeigt, wie ihr euer Kenwood TH-D74 via Bluetooth mit eurem iPhone verbinden könnt, um es mit Anwendungen wie aprs.fi (iOS) oder … B.B.Link: Kenwood TH-D74/75 mit der aprs.fi App auf dem iPhone verbinden weiterlesen
I finally got the hardware for the HamClock and installed the free software. It really looks like a labor of love on the part of its creator, Elwood Downey, WBØOEW.
I show the ISS footprint, for the occasional APRS signal from/to it, and DX cluster reports from zones near where I live.
Clark sat-1 (AMBITIOUS), callsign JS1YLT, is scheduled to deploy from the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday, December 18, 2023, at 10:15 GMT. The IARU coordinated downlink is 435.130 MHz.
Clark sat-1 (AMBITIOUS) CubeSat
Clark sat-1 is a 1U size satellite is an educational project of students at the Clark Memorial International High School in Japan. As of November 30 approximately 50 students have been involved in the project and a number have an amateur radio license. The satellite will carry out these missions:
1. Optical Camera Mission
Take photos of the Earth and will downlink them in the 435 MHz band (GMSK, 4,800 bps). The downlink schedule will be posted on X (@sat1_AMBITIOUS).
2. Digi-talker Mission
Downlink 40 to 120 seconds long Digi-talker NBFM signal (Voice message or SSTV pictures in Robot 36 format recorded before launch) including the call sign and school name. communications.
In addition to the 4k8 AX25 GMSK telemetry and mission data there will be a CW beacon every two minutes.
Through these missions, the students will be able to improve their amateur radio and satellite communication skills.
The project will also serve as a model showcase for the development of amateur satellites by the younger generation, and stimulate the interest of the younger generation in amateur radio and satellite
We would appreciate if you will report the reception to “clarksat-1@clark.ed.jp” after receiving those signals.
5) NASA’s archive movie of the satellite’s launch to the ISS
Clark sat-1 was launched on November 10, 2023 (UTC) on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida, USA. https://www.youtube.com/live/Hgj1byn08lM