Since the beginning of the program in 1983, ham radio has flown on more that two dozen space shuttle missions. The astronauts and cosmonauts on the International Space Station will have ham radio as a source of communication back to earth, to schools as part of an education exercise, and to family and other hams as a means of psychological support for the crews. Amateur radio is proud to be able to do its part to enrich the lives of those living on the station. I want to thank the NASA website for some of this interesting information.
The United States, along with ARRL and AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation), are working together to provide and donate equipment for the program. The Russians have provided ports for antennas on the space module. The Italians designed the antennas and the Germans built the repeater stations which allow hams on earth better contacts with those hams aboard the station.
ARISS, which stands for Amateur Radio on International Space Station, was formed in 1996 by the eight nations involved with the International Space Station. The U.S. Call sign is NAISS and the call sign of one of the American astronauts, Clayton Anderson, is KD5PLA. The Russian, Fyodor Yurchiknin is RN3FI. The worldwide downlink frequency for voice is 145.80. Region 2 voice uplink is 144.49. The worldwide uplink for cross band repeater is 437.80
Again, this is another fascinating aspect of the amateur radio hobby. Interestingly, amateur radio was even used for communication aboard the Russian Space Station MIR, including emergency messaging while MIR was in distress.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
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About Me
- Jack Stahl
- One of the wonderful aspects of using Morse code as a communications mode is that it is very indifferent as to the operator’s age. A good fist (one who sends well) can be ten years old or one hundred. I say this is wonderful because I am happily enjoying my sixty ninth year. I am new to the hobby of amateur radio, however, since I passed my technician test in September of 2006 and was awarded the license and call sign of KD8EJY by the FCC. I then passed my General exam in November and was granted my vanity call sign request of K8ASA by the FCC Although I am new to the amateur radio hobby, I am not new to Morse code. The ASA in my call sign refers to the Army Security Agency who sent me to a special school in 1956 to become efficient in Morse code. I was sent to Ethiopia for two years to give the army the benefit of my new skill. While back in those days my knowledge of Morse code was beneficial to our national security, 51 years later it now brings me pure pleasure. There has been a hiatus of fifty years between my army discharge and my becoming a ham and I do truly regret the fact that I missed out on all those years of enjoyment with the amateur radio hobby.
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