Hi! Anyone want to experiment with me?

To try a contact through the ARISS cross- band repeater in L/V mode (see announcement below), I have an L-band antenna, feedline, and all the V-band equipment.

But I need someone with a means to transmit FM voice on 1269.650 MHz.

Shall we team up?

Otherwise, anyone have an L-band transverter in good working condition to loan or sell soon?

Cheers,

Pat N8PK Sykesville, Md. 21784 (FM19mk) Carroll Co.

-----Original Message----- From: ARRL Letter Mailing List Sent: Friday, December 19, 2008 11:19 AM To: pat@patkilroy.com Subject: The ARRL Letter, Vol 27, No 50 (Friday, December 19, 2008)

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The ARRL Letter Vol. 27, No. 50 December 19, 2008

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IN THIS EDITION:

[snip]

• • ARISS Finalizes Plans for Silver Anniversary of Amateur Radio from

Space

[snip]

+Available on ARRL Audio News http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/audio/

REMINDER: There will be no ARRL Letter or ARRL Audio News on Friday December 26, 2008 or January 2, 2009. Both the Letter and the Audio News will return on Friday, January 9, 2009.

[snip]

==> ARISS FINALIZES PLANS FOR SILVER ANNIVERSARY OF AMATEUR RADIO FROM SPACE

The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) http://www.rac.ca/ariss/oindex.htm team is currently celebrating the silver anniversary -- 25 years -- of Amateur Radio operations from space. According to ARISS International Chairman Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, the crew on the International Space Station (ISS) has configured the radio to support cross-band repeater operations. They have also supported some SSTV downlinks and participated in a special test of 9600 baud packet radio operations on the simplex frequency of 145.825 MHz. After December 19, Bauer said he expects the ISS ham radio system to be on the 145.825 MHz frequency supporting 1200 baud packet. If PCSAT is configured during the week, he said double hop APRS is possible.

"During the week of December 21-26, we plan to support the cross-band repeater mode with a twist," Bauer said. "Our intent is to configure the radio for 145.99 MHz uplink -- including CTCSS tone of 67.0 and 437.80 MHz down. This will be performed in low power mode. We should also note that an extra-vehicular activity (EVA) is planned for that week -- Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, and Flight Engineer Yury Lonchakov, RA3DT, plan to perform a spacewalk on December 22. As per standard procedure, the ISS ham radio system will be turned off for the EVA."

Bauer said that from December 28-January 3, the cross-band repeater will be reconfigured for what he called "a special experiment. This will be a test of our L-Band uplink capability, which, to date, has not been proven out. Plan for an uplink of 1269.65 MHz and a downlink on the standard frequency of 145.80 MHz, using low power," he said. "Given the substantial cable losses of the L-band system, we hope some 'big guns' are able to penetrate through, keep up with Doppler and make the connection."

A special certificate is being developed for those who communicate with the ISS from November 30, 2008 to January 15, 2009. This certificate will be awarded to those who have had two-way communications with the ISS on voice, packet (APRS) or through the voice repeater. Those who hear the ISS from space in any of the ARISS operations modes -- voice, SSTV, school contact, voice repeater or digital - will also be eligible to receive a certificate.

To receive the certificate, Bauer said to note the ARISS mode of operation (such as SSTV, voice or school) on your QSL and whether the contact was one-way (receive only) or two-way. "You should send your self-addressed, stamped envelope to the normal ARISS QSL volunteer distributor in your area of the world," he explained. "On the outside of the QSL envelope, please include the words '25th Anniversary Certificate.' Make sure your envelope is big enough to accept an 8.5 x 11 inch certificate and includes the proper postage." If you do not know where to send your QSL, check the ARISS Web site http://www.rac.ca/ariss/oindex.htm#ARISS_Update--25th_Anniversary_of_Ha m_Radio_in_Space to find the one that serves your part of the world.

"We will be sending your certificate to the volunteer distributors in bulk after the event is over," Bauer said. "This saves workload and money. So do not expect to see it until 1-2 months after the event closes on January 15."

Bauer reminded hams that due to ISS flight requirements related to spacewalks and vehicle activity, the radio onboard the ISS may be off for some portion of this schedule. School contacts and general QSO opportunities by the crew will also preempt this schedule for short periods of time. "But remember that if you hear these," he said, "you still qualify for a commemorative certificate. Enjoy the ARISS ops on ISS!"

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From Weekly Satellite Report WSR-353:

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (ISS) - ARISS Catalog number: 25544 Launch date: November 20, 1998

Status: Operational

Current Active Modes: FM Repeater - U/v Voice - V/v BBS - V/v APRS - V/v 9k6 SSTV - V/v

Expedition 18 Crew: Commander: Mike Fincke KE5AIT Flight Engineer: Yury Lonchakov RA3DT Flight Engineer: Sandra Magnus KE5FYE

Available Modes and Frequencies:

Digital/APRS: Worldwide packet uplink: 145.825 MHz FM 9k6 Worldwide packet downlink: 145.825 Mhz FM 9k6

Voice: Region 1 voice uplink: 145.200 MHz FM Region 2/3 voice uplink: 144.490 MHz FM Worldwide downlink: 145.800 MHz FM

Crossband Repeater: Repeater Uplink: 437.800 MHz FM Repeater Downlink: 145.800 MHz FM

SSTV Robot 36: Downlink: 145.800 MHz FM

Mode and Antenna Polarization: V: Linear U: Linear

Callsigns: Belgian: OR4ISS German: DP0ISS Russian: RS0ISS RZ3DZR United States: NA1SS Packet Mailbox: RS0ISS-11 Digipeater callsign: ARISS

Official ARISS Webpage: http://www.rac.ca/ariss ISS Fan Club Webpage: http://www.issfanclub.com APRS tracking page: http://www.ariss.net/

ISS Daily Crew Schedule: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/timelines Remember that the crew operates on UTC time. Also, all of the time line is NOT translated from Russian and posted. [121812008] NNNN /EX