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October 2000 marked the beginning of amateur radio as a part of the
International Space Station. Operations began with the crew setting up the
first ham radio system in the functional cargo block (FGB) portion of the ISS.
Several check out passes were conducted during November 2000 and the first
school contact was made by Expedition One astronaut Bill Shepherd on December
21, 2000 with the Burbank school in Burbank, Illinois. Since that time, crew
members have made numerous school, personal and general contacts with people on
every continent.
The ISS has continued to grow in size and capability and so have the amateur
radio operations. Several space walks were performed to place antennas on the
outside of the Service Module (SM) and additional equipment has been placed
inside. This equipment has increased the options available for ham radio
operators on the ISS and on the Earth. Future plans call for even more
capability and expanded modes of operation.
The current compliment of amateur radios include: Ericsson M-PA VHF radio,
Ericsson M-PA UHF radio, Kenwood D-700E radio
Current modes of operation include: Packet/APRS, Voice
You might hear the packet bursts or the crew talking when the ISS is overhead
by monitoring the standard downlink frequency of 145.80.
For additional information on ham radio on the ISS, follow this link:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/reference/radio/.
For current information on the ISS, follow this link:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/.
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