Communication with the ISS

[scubadude85]

My daughter this year for school will have an opportunity to have he science experiment sent to the ISS as well as everyone else in her school, which is a steam school.  I think to make this event more conductive for the students of her school is that if one of the parents has a ham ticket that allows them to communicate with the ISS. I am looking for information on the level of ham ticket that is needed to allow this communication to help the students in my daughter's school. If no one in the school has the Ham ticket I will get it so we can make this happen.

[MichaelLAX]

Technician or above

https://www.ariss.org/contact-the-iss.html

[scubadude85]

Thank you for that. The only problem I have is it don't tell what level of ham ticket is needed. Like tech or gen or extra. I need a quote to prove the level needed. The other problem I have is learning the info needed in all my looking on the internet I can find practice tests witch I fail because I don't know the info needed. So how do I get the proper info to pass the testing that is needed? 

[WyoJoe]

58 minutes ago, scubadude85 said:

Thank you for that. The only problem I have is it don't tell what level of ham ticket is needed. Like tech or gen or extra. I need a quote to prove the level needed. The other problem I have is learning the info needed in all my looking on the internet I can find practice tests witch I fail because I don't know the info needed. So how do I get the proper info to pass the testing that is needed? 

For info on studying for and passing the ham radio license exam, I recommend checking out the following YouTube channels: Ham Radio Crash Course and Ham Radio 2.0. Josh and Jason, respectively, are the hosts of those channels, and both provide info regarding getting licensed.

From MichaelLAX's link above: "A typical ground station for contacting the ISS station includes a 2-meter FM transceiver and 25-100 watts of output power. A circularly polarized crossed-Yagi antenna capable of being pointed in both azimuth (North-South-East-West) and elevation (degrees above the horizon) is desirable."

The minimum license necessary for 2-meter (VHF) communication is a Technician class license. Higher class licenses are not required until you get down into the HF bands. It's defined in the user privileges for the different license classes.

[mbrun]

My daughter this year for school will have an opportunity to have he science experiment sent to the ISS as well as everyone else in her school, which is a steam school.  I think to make this event more conductive for the students of her school is that if one of the parents has a ham ticket that allows them to communicate with the ISS. I am looking for information on the level of ham ticket that is needed to allow this communication to help the students in my daughter's school. If no one in the school has the Ham ticket I will get it so we can make this happen.

Agreeing that technician license is all that is needed.

At Field Day this year we had a amateur member focused on communicating CW with the ISS.

He had a nice setup. In consisted of a dual band ICOM radio, a homemade circular polarized Yagi mounted on top of heavy duty camera stand. Club members took turns (including myself) tracking the ISS across the sky while using a satellite tracking app on an android. There was loads of traffic to be heard.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

[BoxCar]

We captured some slow scan images from the ISS during Field Day.

[AdmiralCochrane]

If you like paper study guides, those by ARRL.og and the one by Gordon West are always highly rated by people who have used them to study for the various ham licenses.  If you already know simple electricity, ohm's law etc, you only have a little more stuff to learn about particular radio operation and band restrictions in order to pass the technician license test.  Most people pass on their first try and some second and third generation hams can pass the test as soon as they are old enough to read ... yes, elementary schoolers.  

A middle school STEAM student should easily be able to pass the technican class after reading one of the above study guides - you AND YOUR DAUGHTER should get your licenses! 

 

On high angle passes I have been able to hear the relay repeater on the ISS with just a simple hand held $50 radio with the stock whip antenna.  You can start practicing tracking and receiving before you get your license, you only need the license in order to transmit (talk). 

[n4gix]

Please note that school events are scheduled several years in advance.

For more information on the ARISS* program, see: ARISS - Home

* ARISS - Amateur Radio on the International Space Station

[Lscott]

For tracking there is a very nice FREE tracking package that runs on Windows and Linux systems.

http://gpredict.oz9aec.net/

[JLeikhim]

Please note that school events are scheduled several years in advance.
For more information on the ARISS* program, see: ARISS - Home
* ARISS - Amateur Radio on the International Space Station

Some years ago, a science center opened up near where I used to live. The local ham club asked me to move my satellite station there for an ISS contact. So naturally, I volunteered. Big mistake, next day, word got around to ARISS and I got all kinds of nasty messages from the ARISS folks saying I could not do that. Great way to treat volunteers.

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

[n4gix]

At a guess it was a result of their scheduling protocols. As I mentioned they have several hundred requests every year and have to make decisions far in advance.

Did this science center already have a firm sked set up?

[JLeikhim]

At a guess it was a result of their scheduling protocols. As I mentioned they have several hundred requests every year and have to make decisions far in advance.
Did this science center already have a firm sked set up?

I had no affiliation with ARISS and as far as I know ARISS does not control private contacts with the ISS. Nor does ARISS have any control of the airwaves.

I was requested by local ham club to set up my station at a private event at a new museum. Instead of them politely inquiring what my involvement was I got bashed by so called "ARISS officials".

I was just the guy who accepted when asked to volunteer my time and equipment.

Very bad PR on their part. They could have been supportive if that is their charter, but instead chose to be asses.

So no, no demo from me.

This was a long while back, but left very bad taste for that org.

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[n4gix]

I honestly don't have any answers myself for what transpired. I am deeply sorry to hear about your disappointing experience. I do know that NASA is very protective of their astronauts' so-called free time, and have the final word on when and if any such contacts are scheduled. 

[Ian]

On 8/9/2021 at 11:37 PM, scubadude85 said:

Thank you for that. The only problem I have is it don't tell what level of ham ticket is needed. Like tech or gen or extra. I need a quote to prove the level needed. The other problem I have is learning the info needed in all my looking on the internet I can find practice tests witch I fail because I don't know the info needed. So how do I get the proper info to pass the testing that is needed? 

The ISS is in the UHF/VHF bands which a mere Technician has privileges for.  A tech with a BaoFeng can do it, but more fine-grained control to compensate for Doppler shift would be worlds away better.  You'll also want a UHF/VHF directional antenna and a steady hand to keep the thing pointed right at the station.

(I honestly don't know which ISS radios are currently active; I read that they recently got a new Kenwood VHF rig a few years ago…)

[Lscott]

3 hours ago, Ian said:

(I honestly don't know which ISS radios are currently active; I read that they recently got a new Kenwood VHF rig a few years ago…)

https://www.ariss.org/contact-the-iss.html