In ham radio news recently is the ability for some of us to talk to an astronaut. That brought to mind a question one tech savvy friend asked me about ham radio. Why not just use a cell phone? One answer. Think about this. What would your chances being of just calling up NASA and asking to talk to an Astronaut? Zippo, right? Now think about this. The International Space Station has a ham radio on board. And quite a few of the Astronauts are licensed ham radio operators. And I have read that they do take an active part in the hobby just like the rest of us mere mortals in their spare time.
Granted, you would have to break a pileup (many hams trying to make the same contact), but the reality is that SOMEONE will get through. So you have a chance. A better chance is to use the International Space Station’s repeater. A recent article says that the repeater is back on line. The article also had some good resources to track and use the repeater. You can easily find additional resources for this fantastic repeater by running a Google search like this one .
You will need a radio capable of dual bands. And you will have to find out when and where the International Space Station will be flying across your patch of sky. The resources above can help you with that. So what’s the big deal about using the repeater on the International Space Station instead of a ground based repeater? Height! In general, the higher an antenna, the better it works. OK – that was from a no-code ham… but you get the picture! Think of the coverage of this repeater!
So maybe try something new with your ham radio this week! Who knows – you may make the contact of a lifetime…
Stay radio active!
Jon Kreski, AB9NN
Owner
http://www.HamRadioResources.com
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