Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report
December 6, 2010
1. ARISS Celebrates Ten Years of School Contacts
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) celebrates its tenth anniversary of school contacts this month. On December 21, 2000, astronaut William Shepherd participated in the first ARISS contact with Burbank School students in Burbank, Illinois. To date, ARISS has performed 565 contacts with children around the world, stimulating their interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). To view the full press release, see: https://www.rac.ca/ariss/oindex.htm (under Latest News).
2. ARISSat-1 Shipped to Russia
ARISSat-1 was shipped from Johnson Space Center on November 24. It was held in Germany until Saturday, December 4 at which time it was transferred to Russia. Energia representatives are expected to pick up the hardware early this week. The Russian team will install the battery and the Kursk University experiment and will then be joined by U.S. team members. Together, the team will test the satellite for flight. A final safety review will follow in January. ARISSat-1 is scheduled to launch on Progress 41P on January 28.
3. ARRL Article on Expedition 24/25 Crew
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) ran a Web story on Expedition 24/25 crewmembers Doug Wheelock, KF5BOC, Shannon Walker, KD5DXB and Fyodor Yurchikhin, RN3FI. The U.S. astronauts participated in 22 ARISS contacts while on the ISS. Additionally, Wheelock made numerous general contacts with ham stations around the world during his stay in space. The article was also included in the December 2 ARRL Letter. To view, "ISS Expedition 24/25 Crew Back on Terra Firma," see:
http://www.arrl.org/news/iss-expedition-24-25-crew-back-on-terra-firma
4. AMSAT Provides Update on ARISSat-1
On December 5, the AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) News Service bulletin (ANS-339) provided a status on ARISSat-1and its shipment to Russia. See: http://www.amsat.org/amsat/archive/amsat-bb/48hour/msg82532.html
5. Amateur Radio Newsline Reports on ARISS
On December 3, the Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1738 ran two ARISS news items under its heading Ham Radio in Space. "Expedition 24 All Ham Crew Returns Home" is about the crew of Doug Wheelock, KF5BOC, Shannon Walker, KD5DXB, and Fyodor Yurchikhin, RN3FI returning to Earth. The story is followed by "Two Hams in New ISS Crew Soon to Launch" which is about Catherine Coleman, KC5ZTH, Paolo Nespoli, IZ0JPA and Dmitry Kondratyev who are readying for their flight in mid-December. See: ftp://ftp.arnewsline.org/quincy/News/news.txt
Upcoming ARISS Contact Schedule as of 2010-12-06 06:00 UTC
Quick list of scheduled contacts and events:
Check out Doug’s new video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h73EYcyszf8
2010-11-26 to 2001-01-03: No school contacts due to strict startup date
that is very close to the Christmas and New Year holiday period
2010-11-26 to 2010-12-15: No US licensed crewmember
ARISS expects to see very few if any general voice contacts during this
time frame.
Note, all times are approximate. It is recommended that you do your own
orbital prediction or start listening about 10 minutes before the listed
time.
Total number of ARISS ISS to earth school contacts is 565.
Total number of ARISS supported terrestrial contacts is 38.
A complete year by year breakdown of the contacts may be found in the
file.
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf
Please feel free to contact me if more detailed statistics are needed.
IN LIGHT OF SOME COMMENTS THAT HAVE APPEARED RECENTLY ON THE VARIOUS
BULLETIN
BOARDS; THE COMMENTS BELOW STILL HOLD TRUE:
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lately there have been some comments on the various bulletin boards about
having general contacts or leaving the packet or crossband repeater on.
Remember that ARISS is a guest onboard the ISS and if the crew elects to not
turn something on or to operate, then that is their decision.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++
QSL information may be found at:
http://www.arrl.org/ARISS/arissfaq.htmlhttp://www.rac.ca/ariss/oindex.htm#QSL's
ISS callsigns: DPØISS, NA1SS, OR4ISS, RSØISS, IRØISS
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The complete schedule page has been updated as of 2010-12-06 06:00 UTC.
(***)
Here you will find a listing of all scheduled school contacts, and
questions, other ISS related websites, IRLP and Echolink websites, and
instructions for any contact that may be streamed live.
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf (note change of file
type)
The successful school list has been updated as of 2010-11-25 06:00 UTC.
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/Successful_ARISS_schools.rtf
Frequency chart for packet, voice, and crossband repeater modes showing
Doppler correction as of 2005-07-29 04:00 UTC
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ISS_frequencies_and_Doppler_correction
.rtf
Listing of ARISS related magazine articles as of 2006-07-10 03:30 UTC:
http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/ARISS_magazine_articles.rtf
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There have been rumors in the past indicating that the ISS was having
direct contacts on the 40 meter band. There is no HF radio equipment on
board
and available yet. The HF antenna is mounted. Sometimes WA3NAN will
retransmit shuttle audio.
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Exp. 25 on orbit
Alexander Kaleri U8MIR
Scott J. Kelly
Oleg Skripochka RN3FU
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73,
Charlie Sufana AJ9N
One of the ARISS operation team mentors
