Howdy Ron. I'll keep everyone posted. I recently aquired a Swan 500c, but don't have it on the air yet. I need to get an antenna tuner for it. Hopefully once I do I can get a QSO with y'all on here.
Tony, I'm not sure if ISS trumps a contact from a king or not. That's a really cool QSO to make! I'll keep y'all updated on my progress.
Philip, here are the frequencies I have. This includes voice and packet frequencies.
The following frequencies are currently used for Amateur Radio ISS contacts (QSOs): Voice and SSTV Downlink: 145.80 (Worldwide) Voice Uplink: 144.49 for ITU Regions 2 and 3 (The Americas, and the Pacific and Southern Asia) Voice Uplink: 145.20 for ITU Region 1 (Europe, Russia and Africa) VHF Packet Uplink and Downlink: 145.825 (Worldwide) UHF Packet Uplink and Downlink: 437.550 UHF/VHF Repeater Uplink: 437.80 UHF/VHF Repeater Downlink: 145.80
My current rigs are a Yaesu 2400H 2 m with a homemade vertical dipole, Heathkit HW101 and a Swan 500c with a fan dipole (it's not on the air yet), Baofeng uv5 and uv8, both 2m/70cm. Those are what I'm going to try the contact with.
Howdy Mark! Yes ,there are amplifiers to increase the signal. My goal is to attempt to make the contact with as low power as I can with cheap inexpensive equipment. If it works then I can take the gear camping on future attempts and not be paranoid about breaking stuff. Lol
You should give it a go. I'm still a new ham myself. Just received my tech rating last September and my general rating earlier this year. I had wanted to do it for years, but didn't pull the trigger till I found out there are astronomy nets on the bands.
They have digital, but also act like a standard repeater. Many of the astronauts are hams and have equipment to talk to us ordinary folk.
Nothing wrong with old gear.
Both of my hf rigs are old tube radios. I'm still new at ham radio so I haven't tried meteor scatter yet. I don't remember the frequencies, but the radios can be used to pick up meteors during a shower. I had forgotten about this during the Persieds so didn't do it. It works with an AM radio too. Just put it on an unused frequency.
Those are awesome! Wish I would have been a ham when the shuttles were still flying. Thanks for posting those. I wonder if ISS sends cards out?
That's sounds like a cool piece of history coming from a bomber! A friend of mine has an old radio that was used by the OSS in WW2. His dad (a silent key) had restored it. I drool over that radio every time I see it! Hahahaha
Yes, KN4FTY is my radio call sign.
Is Morse still required there? They did away with the Morse requirements here. I still went on and learned it just because it was a challenge.
Yes, I'm told it is a challenge because of the number of people that attempt it. That's why the contacts tend to only be call confirmation since they are trying to get as many folks thru as possible.
Cool contact! I haven't had Japan yet. My best so far was Italy
Thanks everyone! I really didn't expect to get so many responses. I will definitely keep everyone posted as things progress.
73 to all,
Rob