Here is an idea for a cheap educational receiver kit for AMSAT/ARRL/ARISS? to provide as part of their outreach to youth:
http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/amsat-radio.html
This design uses a simple $9 FRS FM Walkie Talkie as the receiver and a -converter- kit to convert 145.800 from the Space Station to 462.5625 MHz. All of the mechanical parts in this concept total about $3 and if we can get the electronics to under $20 then this could be a great receiver kit for students to listen to the Astronauts on the ISS and Space Shuttle.
My original proposal back in October had a different mechanical arrangement:
http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/amsat-ideas.html
But this new juice-can concept solves many problems by not only providing a good mechanical housing for the device, but it also provides the IF shielding necessary to prevent any local FRS activity from bleeding through the receiver. It also improves the coupling between the converter and the receiver.
Anyway, I think this idea is a nice circuit design challenge sith lots of potential. This juice-can mechanical concept is intended to simplify some of the construction challenges for students. Can anyone design a cheap converter kit?
de WB4APR, Bob