Have you ever wanted to ask an astronaut, or simply talk to him in any respect? Wouldn’t it’s cool in the event you could talk to the astronaut, even after they floated to the ISS in space, taking a look at the bottom? It isn’t really difficult. All you would like is a radio with ham.
Amateur radio within the international space station program
Believe or not, the space station as advanced as ISS remains to be equipped with amateur radio devices. He has a dedicated program to make contact with the station, called Amateur Radio within the international Station Space (Ariss) program. This is a standard international program that features amateur radio organizations around the globe, in addition to official space agencies equivalent to NASA. Basically, this simply implies that ISS is prepared and willing to receive radio broadcasts from you!
There could also be other operators of the HAM police automobile try to contact the ISS concurrently you, so you may compete for a conversation shot. In addition, it’s possible you’ll simply be unlucky and never get a solid broadcast on the occasion. But don’t fret an excessive amount of – the ISS walks the Earth every 90 minutes, and even in the event you haven’t got the chance to talk to them directly, you may tune in to conversations that one other operator from ISS can lead.
Still, you most likely want to talk directly to astronauts on the station. To do that, there are a number of steps to follow, although do not forget that there’s never a guarantee of creating successful contact. You can have to try persistently to have a brief conversation with someone aboard the ISS.
Determine when the ISS will go through your area
The ISS radio range changes consistently in the course of the 90-minute Earth’s orbit. To make contact, you would like to know when it’s going to undergo your area to get the very best probability to transfer the transmission. There are web sites that follow the ISS, equivalent to orbits and anticipate areas that can pass, equivalent to ariss.org or Heavens-above.com. Check them out and use them to estimate the window to make contact.
Make sure you utilize the appropriate frequency
If ISS intends to cross your area, you want to turn on radio equipment about quarter-hour ahead of time. In this fashion, you may arrange every thing and never eat in the probabilities window, configuring things. ISS uses UHF and VHF amateur radio bands, so you may have to tune yourself to the appropriate frequency to contact them. The most typical frequencies are 145,800 MHz for voice contact and 437,800 MHz for radio contacts of packages.
If you may have the appropriate frequency, the subsequent thing to do is just wait and listen to the radio signals. Because ISS travels so quickly, its radio signal will disappear each to and go quite quickly. For this reason, the very best time to make contact is when the station is so close directly. If the astronaut transfers from the ISS, he’ll use a starting mark on the NA1SS. If you hear this connection sign, you may have a probability to talk directly to someone on the station.
Send a broadcast
If you may have a license for the time being or belong to a radio club, you almost definitely know the suitable radio label when contacting ISS. Regardless, in the event you hear the transmission from the astronaut on board ISS, be sure that you wait until it stops passing before sending your personal connection sign and be sure that you utilize the phonetic alphabet (Bravo for B, whiskey for W in etc.)
After all, astronauts on board ISS are government and significant employees. They won’t speak about anything that can get into trouble. Instead, focus on the conversations of carefree or asking questions on their work, each day routine, and even what they intend to contact them thoroughly. They will probably be completely happy to speak about this stuff.
For an amateur radio operator, contact with ISS may be probably the most exciting things you may do. Thanks to the appropriate equipment and procedures, this isn’t even difficult to do, requiring only a bit of patience and happiness. Get the appropriate equipment, discover when one other window of possibilities is coming, and begin occupied with belongings you all the time wanted to ask the astronaut!
