Trials & Errors #72: Greetings from Outer Space!

This is the companion forum discussion for the "Trials and Errors -- Ham Life with an Amateur" column from Dave Jensen, W7DGJ. Please join in as we discuss space communications and perhaps even your own personal experiences with satellite or ISS communications. A bit of history shared in this column, located at this link. Thank you, Dave W7DGJ

 

Very interesting article. Thanks

 

Thanks Patti. I remember YOU in these pages. Incidentally, after writing this article I received an email from Richard Garriott, who told me that everything I stated was indeed accurate. It's great to know that people of that stature are actually reading my work. Thanks for your comment, Patti! Dave

 

Here's an email received from Richard Garriott after he spotted my column. It's interesting to see the cassette with his mother's voice on it, the one smuggled on board SkyLab and which Owen used to prank the mission control guys. Dave, W7DGJ

"Dave, your article was all accurate!!
Just for fun… Here's how it was done!
Dad took a two sided cassette tape.
One side had mom commenting on wildfires in California, the other side she notices a hurricane in the gulf. When one of these occurred, dad informed a partner in crime at Mission Control with “Bob, I’ve got something special for you on the next orbit.” Then he played this tape, and Bob could play along.
They never told anyone how it was done for decades!
I did the same thing with my mother’s voice on a PPT template, so she could speak on command!
Richard

 

In case anyone is curious about what was used for my station side of the ISS QSO contact with Spaceman Garriott........FT-897D Yaesu and 2 Cushcraft beams pointed towards the Gulf of America, ASL-670 LPA and the 11 element yagi.

It is the fastest QSO I've ever had with the other party moving at approximately 20,000 MPH relative to the earth.

 

Thanks Sam!

 

I spoke with Astronaut Kjell Lindgren (K05MOS) on 7/24/2022. However, there is much more to this story. Over the previous couple of years, I repeatedly attempted to contact the ISS crew, but I always missed my window of opportunity. I was either busy at work when the astronauts were active on the air, or my signal was overpowered by the expert satellite operators. Not that day! I was doing chores around the house and my radio was powered up and scanning in the background. It was evening here in Michigan and I just stepped out of the shower when I heard NA1SS calling. I dropped my towel and quickly ran to the radio. I was dripping wet and buck naked when I finally succeeded in making contact. That astronaut had no idea. Thankfully it wasn’t a video chat, since that would have been somewhat awkward. Hi Hi.

W7BAZ/Naked

 

In many ways ' TIMING IS EVERYTHING ' . There's always a trick(s) to beating a pileup.....
I suppose that "THROWING IN THE TOWEL" can be added to the list for shock and awe campaigns.
Congrats on your contact.

 

Thanks Brad - great story, and proof that timing is everything, as Sam said. Reminded me of jumping out of the shower one time to take an unexpected call from a hiring manager. Got the job -- interviewed buck naked. Dave, W7DGJ

 

Hi!

I did not have the pleasure of working either Garriott in space, but have worked a few astronauts - and one cosmonaut - on the ISS over the past 20 years. Some of those QSL cards have been autographed by the astronauts (Bill McArthur for QSOs in 2005 & 2006, Doug Wheelock for QSOs in 2010). I have worked them from home, and away from home - even from the ARRL Centennial Convention in Hartford CT, in 2014:



The most memorable of my ISS QSOs would have to be the most recent QSO, on Sunday 29 June 2025 during the last ARRL Field Day. Two NASA astronauts - Jonny Kim (KJ5HLP) and Nichole Ayers (KJ5GWI) - were reported to be interested in working the radio during Field Day. I didn't hear Jonny on (he was active on other passes), but I did hear Nichole on a pass around 9am PDT (1600 UTC) as the ISS went down the US west coast and off to Mexico and Central America. I heard a few QSOs with stations in Canada & the USA as this pass started, then I had my opportunity to get through and make a contact. After my contact, several other stations in the USA and Mexico made contacts, before the ISS went over the horizon.

My station was simple - an Icom ID-5100 dual-band mobile radio on a trash bin, and an Elk Antennas dual-band log periodic antenna, in front of my house:




Since the ISS crews were using the cross-band repeater, my ID-5100 could work "full-duplex" - hearing the downlink, even while transmitting on the uplink. This ensured I would know if I made it through the busy repeater.

I made a video of this pass:



All of the audio, including my voice, was on the cross-band repeater's downlink. My contact is at the 1:48 mark in my video.

After Field Day, I sent away for another NA1SS QSL card, and also ordered patches for the ISS expeditions Nichole was a part of (72 and 73), along with the Crew-10 mission patch:




In late August 2025, Jonny Kim posted a video with some of the ISS activity during Field Day.



My contact with Nichole is at the 1:14 mark in Jonny's video. I was able to make a nice screengrab from Jonny's video, with the captioning for Nichole's reply to my call:




It is always fun to hear ISS crews on the radio, whether they are making random contacts with us hams on the ground, or the scheduled contacts with schools and other groups.

73!

 

Hi Patrick. Great videos! I wish that I had an opportunity to record my ISS contact. I don't remember what I said because I was so excited and nervous. Hi Hi!

Anyway, I hope all is well. I haven't worked sats in a long time because my attention have shifted to HF lately. Maybe I'll scan the passes later today. Take care and 73.

W7BAZ

 

Hey Brad, love the QSL card you got from the ISS a couple of years ago. Nice! Dave, W7DGJ

 

Just to confirm it doesn't take much of a station or operation, here's the story of my first ISS QSO March 22 2006 and the circumstances were not routine.

I am a bit of a scanning nerd; Public Service, Marine, Airband, Railroad, Amateur, etc. Back then while mobile mostly used just a Yaesu VX-5R HT with a small mag-mount whip on the trunk.

Just for fun one of the many channel pairs I had programmed was for the ISS. but never really expected it to be used for a voice QSO .

However, one afternoon while in motion driving through town down US41 the squelch broke ... full quieting clear as a bell it was NA1SS calling CQ!

Unplanned! Totally random!

Not even slowing down I quickly just grabbed the HT and breathlessly replied.

Bingo! Immediately he came right back! We exchanged signal reports and names.

It was Bill aka KC5ACR operating. As the AI reports, "During his time aboard the International Space Station (ISS), he was exceptionally active on ham radio, logging more than 1,800 contacts and becoming the first person to earn the ARRL Worked All States award from space. "

Not too long after that QSO I received this nice QSL,

 

Not only did he achieve WAS from the ISS, Bill McArthur also achieved honorary versions of WAC and DXCC awards. Bill mentioned this in a letter he sent down from the ISS in the last couple weeks of ISS Expedition 12. All of these awards are considered "honorary" awards, as Bill's operating location was always on the move, but still great accomplishments since operators had to get on from all of those locations to work Bill for those awards.

Bill was the first ISS crewmember I worked. I made 3 QSOs with him, first in December 2005 using an Icom IC-T7H HT and a telescoping whip antenna from outside my office in central Phoenix.




My other 2 QSOs, in March 2006, were made with the same IC-T7H, but with an Arrow Antennas dual-band Yagi.

I had the pleasure of meeting Bill later in 2006, when he spoke at an AMSAT symposium in San Francisco. He was happy to meet anyone who came up to him, and he stood for a picture with me.




Bill also autographed my QSL cards.




I remember that in the last days of Bill McArthur's ISS tour, there was an effort to have him make a contact from the ISS through the AO-51 satellite. Unfortunately, that was not successful, although he was heard through AO-51 during one of the attempts.

73!

 

View attachment 1439772

I remember that in the last days of Bill McArthur's ISS tour, there was an effort to have him make a contact from the ISS through the AO-51 satellite. Unfortunately, that was not successful, although he was heard through AO-51 during one of the attempts.

73![/QUOTE]

Thanks Pat . . . another great post with ISS ham history! Dave, W7DGJ