Hams, teachers, and space communications fans gathered this weekend at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Ham Radio From Space. Following ARISS International meetings and discussions, the event took place Friday and Saturday January 23rd and 24th including a tour of KSC and a dinner gala. The dinner featured a keynote speaker, Richard Garriott, son of Owen Garriot-- both hams. Owen Garriott used a Motorola HT to make the first amateur radio contact from orbit. ARISS international representatives including STEM educators, hams supporting ARISS ground support, ham astronauts, and fans of space communications gathered to review the history of the obstacles and joys of Space Shuttle and ISS comm. Several vendors also attended, including YOTA, ICOM, and the Este rocketeers as well as ARISS sponsors, including the ARRL's Steve Goodgame and Rosy Schecter from the ARDC as well as others. Discussions were held regarding ARISS programs past, present, and directions for ARISS future programs. Astronauts spoke of their roles and anecdotes of using the amateur radios on the Shuttle and ISS, and the international ARISS representatives detailed their own experiences developing the agreements that allow the Shuttle and ISS to provide services across the several IARU jurisdictions. ARISS Educators, many of them award-winning, detailed the experiences of classrooms connecting with astronauts and cosmonauts. Teachers from the US, Canada, and Italy relayed the positive and valuable impact of classes and schools to someone in space via ham radio. An award was given to Lou McFadin W5DID for his contributions towards advancing ham radio in space through forty years+ guiding engineering contributions and the best in ham hacks. ARISS Pioneers (L to R) Frank Bauer KA3HDO, Rosalie White K1STO, and Lou McFaddin W5DID presenting. ARISS Conference Exibits and Attendees 73 Tom W9YW (Caveat-- I'm a board member of ARISS)
Had fun working the KSC Amateur Radio Club station N1KSC today as they celebrated the ARISS 40 year event!
Heard that during the ARISS live contact two astronauts on board the International Space Station participated! Both @KI5WSL and @KI5TOM participated in the contact as a great surprise for the audience!
There was a live contact, with the requisite questions that ARISS teaches to query on a QSO-- with students! The Lunar Lander link was also viewed live; numerous panels with astronauts-- some of which had interesting stories about ham radio from space. I had no idea that there was geo-cacheing on the ISS! 73 Tom W9YW
Congrats to everyone at ARISS, every location that hosted an ARISS contact over the years, and all of the students who had the opportunity to participate. Sorry I wasnt able to attend this event. 73 KD8COJ
Apparently there is a geo-cache on the ISS. Who knew? Hunting them is fun, but on the ISS, it's a pretty exclusive club. 73 Tom W9YW
Well I am all for ARISS to kids in school, good job, I just wonder when they are going to make it available for Ham radio operators on earth to get involved? 73 Lance - VK6DU
I thought that school contacts are being arranged by Ham Radio operators on Earth. Or did you mean similar contacts to Ham Radio clubs or Hamfests? It is a welcome suggestion. I heard that even casual contacts with Hams causes a pileup on ARISS uplink frequency. 73 de Jon, VU2JO
HamTV will be restored soon. New equipment is going up to the ISS shortly. I can't say exactly when. There'll be a private test to ensure all is going correctly, then you'll see the public announcement. Until then.... there are many sites that detail how to talk to/across the ISS during a pass. I'm guessing the April 2024 time frame. Once it arrives, the equipment deployment will be scheduled, it'll be trialed/tested, then it goes live. Learn about ARISS at ARISS.org or amsat.org-- both great sites to get started with ISS comm, @VK6DU. ARISS actively seeks classrooms and schools. There's a process to doing this, as there are many moving parts to a contact. If you're lucky, however, you might hear an astronaut/cosmonaut ham on a pass overhead. It happens randomly, but more frequently than imagined. Some passes might allow it on a simple HT. Other passes require a gradient of more serious equipment. 73 Tom W9YW
Good to see Rosalie (my first boss during my first tenure at ARRL) still at work, and good to see ARRL support of ARISS continuing.
