Three licensed radio amateurs are on board Artemis II and headed for a lap around the Moon. Astronauts Reid Wiseman, KF5LKT; Victor Glover, KI5BKC, Jeremy Hansen, KF5LKU. Here's a link to more details from Coos County Radio Club. Artemis II Radio Plan Back on earth other radio amateurs are making serious contributions for NASA and making headlines (again!) Hope you enjoy, 73, John, WØPV B.C. amateur astronomer using a 'whole lot of math' as he tracks Artemis II for NASA 'It's like a test of non-NASA systems, to see how well they can keep track,' said Scott Tilley. Author of the article: By Glenda Luymes NASA's Artemis II moon rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday. Photo by Scott Tilley Scott Tilley has long been fascinated by the distant whispers of satellites and spacecraft drifting far above the Earth. From his home on the Sunshine Coast, the amateur astronomer follows secret space missions, once discovered a missing satellite, and keeps tabs on space traffic — all by examining radio waves. This week, he is tracking NASA’s Artemis II rocket as one of 34 individuals and organizations from around the world selected by the American space agency to monitor its first crewed mission to orbit the moon in more than 50 years. “I’m excited to be part of it,” he said in an interview Thursday afternoon when the Artemis II had dipped 24 degrees below the horizon and was no longer traceable from the B.C. coast. But he admitted the mission was a “little bland.” “There’s so much information in the media. It’s so much more followed than other missions,” he said. Tilley, whose blog is called Riddles In The Sky, is accustomed to finding and observing classified satellites whose launches are not publicized. Using an S-band radio and a two-metre dish mounted on a platform on the roof of his house, he scans the skies for radio signals. A software program records the frequency numbers, which he then extracts, using a “whole lot of math,” to determine a satellite’s position. In contrast, the Artemis II, which launched Wednesday afternoon from Florida with a crew of four, including Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, is being carefully watched, including by NASA’s Deep Space Network, an international array of giant radio antennas that support interplanetary spacecraft missions. The antennas, positioned in California, Spain and Australia, are part of the agency’s primary system for tracking space travel — although they might not be the most efficient. The Artemis II crewed lunar mission lifts off from Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on April 1, 2026. Photo by JIM WATSON /AFP via Getty Images Last August, NASA issued a request for proposals seeking volunteers willing to track the spacecraft using radio waves. Tilley, who tracked the Artemis I, was one of the Canadian applicants selected, along with the Canadian Space Agency and the University of New Brunswick. Over the course of the 10-day mission, the groups will send their data to NASA. “It’s like a test of non-NASA systems, to see how well they can keep track,” said Tilley. The data will help NASA “identify ways to augment future moon and Mars mission support,” according to an agency statement. Or, as Tilley puts it, it’s a way to see if smaller stations that use technology such as his could be used on future moon missions, so they don’t have to task the larger, more costly primary systems. Tilley, an electrical technologist who designs, installs and fixes power systems for boats, has been interested in radio waves since he was a boy. He remembers watching a 60 Minutes program with his father about kids who tracked Soviet satellites during the Cold War. He studied engineering in university and over time began tracking satellites as a hobby, hoping to learn more about celestial mechanics and the math behind it. Scott Tilley’s satellite dish. Photo by Scott Tilley The amateur astronomer is tracking the Artemis II mission from his Sunshine Coast home. Scott is one of 34 individuals and organizations from around the world selected by the American space agency to monitor its first crewed mission to orbit the moon in more than 50 years. He has consulted for NASA in the past, making presentations about “people like me, and how what (NASA is) doing can be observed through modest means,” a topic that has implications for safety and security. He has also done work for private companies working on moon landings. “What I’m doing is more like research in that it’s demonstrating the viability of (smaller systems),” he said. Using radio waves, Tilley has watched dramas play out in space, including one where a private lunar lander approaching the moon misjudged its position and came into an unstable orbit. He debated whether to write a blog post about it, or simply share his data and let readers interpret it. He chose the latter, and eventually the company in question made a public statement about the mishap. As the Artemis II continues its journey, one that will take it 1.1 million kilometres around the moon and back, Tilley will check his data, crunch the numbers and send it to NASA. Like the sun or other stars, the spacecraft is traceable over B.C. for a specific period of time each day. On Thursday, it rose above the horizon just after midnight and set at about 8:30 a.m. Tilley’s first data from the mission looks like a graph with frequency on one axis and time on another. An orange line in a reverse S shape drops from the top to the bottom like a piece of spaghetti. “It doesn’t look like much,” he wrote in an email. “The mission was about 75,000 kilometres away when I recorded this.” He added: “This data is highly useful for tracking purposes.”
We need more Good headlines about Ham Radio Operator's in the news. I cheer these guys on from my home in Hutchinson KS. Bravo Guy's Amazing work so far.
The 13cm EME guys are tuning in. Orion xmits downlink on 2216MHz +/- 2.5MHz. easy to see the continuous signal with some gain from a dish and a good preamp. To look at the spectrum, ome folks are using a down converter to an SDR, or an SDR that can work on 2216MHz, or a spectrum analyzer directly! Can see the chips in the signal, so it looks like QAM something, but I'm sure it's more complex. Several folks have reported they can see the Doppler shift in the mark tones. Fun stuff!
I believe Scott is VA7LF? The headline is well intentioned but not technically correct: radio amateur astronomers track celestial objects not sats or spacecraft. Just a nomeclature issue, not a diss on the activity of said tracking. Personally I think its cool. Better name is 'Amateur Sat Trackers', among other possibilities. 73 Chip W1YW
Scott is also VE7TIL Point taken on the headline. 73 & Happy Holiday, John, WØPV PS - any chance you will be at Hamvention '26?
I will be. I am lower profile nowadays given world events. No forum for me this year. Lotsa other great people running'em. 73 Chip W1YW
Just a taste of history here so it doesn't disappear with time: the first 'radio dish' (the main tool of radio astronomers and sat trackers alike) was built in the 1920's outside of San Francisco and was called the 'copper kettle'. Invented by the Kolster Radio company. The copper kettle was part of early experiments for VHF wireless links, which finally happened commercially in the 1950's. The company went bankrupt before 1930 and the Copper Kettle was sold as scrap. Grote Reber(ex W9GHZ) built his dish in the late 1930's and, unfortunately, is usually said to be the first to use 'radio dishes'. The true advent of radio dishes happened with satellite tracking in the late 1950's. Ewen-Knight was among if not the first to make a viable business out of radio dishes, mostly for government. Ewen was a famous radio astronomer that discovered the 21cm hydrogen line using a horn attached to the Harvard physics building. No dish yet. I am finishing a book on innovation and thought this tidbit might be of interest. 73 Chip W1YW
Very interesting! Post war, 1947, Jodrell Bank installed a 66m parabolic dish "Transit Telescope", aimed at zenith. Might deserve a mention?
"A team of eccentric Australian scientists, led by Cliff Buxton (Sam Neill), unexpectedly finds themselves pivotal in history..." Why are we always called 'eccentric'??? Everyone's got a tie and white shirt...looks like Dilbert. Beware Scott, hungry writers may be scoping you for a movie theme.... I guess if you don't use TikTok these days you are fair game for said moniker;-( Anyway, I never heard of this movie. Any good? There's not a lot of 'radio dish' humor out there...
I found "The Dish" to be worthwhile entertainment. Still has a 96% rating on the Rotten-Tomatometer! The "eccentric" label IMO is less about scientists and more about contrasts between rowdy rural Aussie's and stone-faced serious NASA Yanks. Light-hearted comedy makes it more watchable, added to some fanciful stress situations, and a "feel good" ending, especially for the home team. Like many docudramas, it plays fast & loose on facts, especially about the timing and extent of the Parkes Observatory contribution, but gets some essentials correct - Australian stations provided a pivotal element of coverage for communications with Apollo 11. Here is a more fact-based historical newsreel take on the same event, I agree, "Adventures of @VE7TIL" spun into at least a short film. Finding a long presumed lost satellite(s), provoking NASA to renew efforts again, resurrecting "lost" decoding! Quite a tale. For anyone interested in a deeper dive technically, don't miss the link in the OP for Scotts blog, repeated here -> Riddles in the Sky
