(Some of the comments contained here are dated. I have not kept up with the ham-radio activity on the International Space Station, but I do read of ham-radio contacts from the ISS from time to time. I include this older material for those people not in the hobby who do not realize that ham radio is about more than just talking to people here on earth, whether it be across town or across the world.)

I have been making voice and packet-radio contacts with our NASA space shuttles for several years, and I have contacted Dr. Norm Thagard and Dr. Shannon Lucid during their sojourns aboard the Russian MIR Space Station. Recently, I made a voice contact with Valeri, one of the new Russian Cosmonauts aboard MIR. But it was Shannon Lucid, the Astronaut, who gave me the impetus to write this piece.

You might think that it requires a lot of technical skill and expensive equipment to talk to the Space Shuttle or the MIR Space Station. Not really. My antenna is called an "Eggbeater." It is two coils of wire crossed to resemble an eggbeater - and a little box that connects to the coaxial line that brings the signals into my radio. It cost about $150 and will mount on a chimney or on any small pole. My radio is an old 2 meter ham-radio mobile radio on the 144 to 146 MHz band. It is now worth about $100 on the used market. I also use a 150 watt linear amplifier that cost less than $300.00, although I made many space contacts without it.

A space vehicle comes over any particular part of the world only a few times a day. So, you need a tracking program on your computer to predict and graphically show the "passes." The program I use most of the time is STSORBIT Plus, which was programmed by an aeronautical space consultant. It is first class and has a map just like the world map you see in shots of the NASA control room. It is shareware and the author asks only for a modest contribution. Since accurate time is important, I use a module within Earth Time by Starfish Software, to synchronize the clock in my computer to a standard from the Internet. I sync to a clock at the NASA Web site. A "pass" of a space vehicle usually lasts about 10-12 minutes. The strength of the signal depends upon how high above the horizon (in relation to your location) the space vehicle is. If they are 2 degrees, they are just barely above your horizon, but often can be heard. If they are 90 degrees, they are directly overhead. Run outside and wave!

So, you run a page of predictions and tune your radio to 145.550 MHz and wait. The MIR Space Station transmits and receives on this frequency. The Space Shuttle normally transmits on this frequency and receives on other frequencies (split transmission). During flights when the Space Shuttle and MIR will be docking, the Space Shuttle usually transmits on 145.840 MHz and receives on a couple of other frequencies. Split transmissions help reduce interference, because only the space vehicle is transmitting on the "downlink" frequency.

Recently, the MIR space station has been heard on 145.800 MHz - both on voice and on packet. It is not clear whether they have abandoned 145.550 in favor of 145.800, or whether they still use both frequencies. Hams can transmit up to MIR on 145.200 MHz and receive from MIR on 145.800 MHz. Also, there is now a "repeater" station on board MIR. A repeater takes a signal it hears and rebroadcasts it (repeats it) on another frequency. Cell phone towers are examples of repeaters. You can listen to the Downlink from the MIR repeater on 437.950 MHz. What you will hear are hams all over the North American continent talking to each other via the MIR repeater. Since the MIR radio signal "paints" a very large circle on the earth, hams in Texas can talk with hams in Iowa via the repeater, for example.

If you don't have a ham license, you can still listen to the MIR Space Station and to the NASA Space Shuttle ham transmissions on any decent scanner. Just plug in 145.550 MHz, 145.800 MHz, and 437.950 MHz and leave it on. Even without a tracking program, you will eventually hear voices from space. I have heard them on a handheld Radio Shack or Bearcat scanner. On the day this was written, I heard American Astronaut John Blaha talking from the MIR Space Station to a ham radio station in Houston. I think he was talking with his wife, so none of us broke in and tried to call him. And I heard this clear as a bell on the ham radio mobile set in my truck, riding around North Texas!

Another ham repeater in space is located on the AO-27 satellite, but operates only during daylight hours. You can listen for it on 436.800 MHz. If you have a Ham license, the uplink is 145.850 MHz.

Both the MIR Space Station and the Space Shuttle make FM voice transmissions, but they can also send "packet" signals. Packet radio consists of bursts (packets) of digital information which can be decoded by relatively inexpensive decoders ( a TNC) and software. The Russians run a celestial bulletin board (A BBS in the sky, no less) when they are in the packet mode. You can also decode signals from many amateur-radio satellites that are in orbit. If you are a licensed operator, you can also transmit to some of these satellites. Some send weather info, some pictures of earth, some are BBSs, and so on.

Several companies make packet decoder boxes (TNCs), such as Kantronics, and MFJ.

But after trying a little bit of everything in the heavens on the ham bands, I concentrate on listening for, and trying to talk with those on the MIR Space Station, the Space Shuttles, and via the repeater on AO-27. The MIR and AO-27 are up there 7 days a week, all year long. As you know, the Space Shuttle only goes up now and then (when all the leaks are fixed). And not all Space Shuttle flights have ham radio gear on board.

Now, back to Shannon Lucid, Ph.D. in space. I talked briefly with her on two or three occasions when she was on board MIR, but I often recorded her transmissions and played them for others. Shannon was remarkably well-adjusted and calm during her prolonged - record setting - stay in space. She did not have a ham-radio license, but was allowed to use the Russian gear as a guest operator. She spent a lot of time talking with Ellen, one of her fellow Astronauts in Houston. The conversations ranged from the majesty of the sight of the polar ice caps to how Shannon's grass in Houston would survive the hot weather. As time wore on, the grass came in for more and more attention.

Shannon chatted about her grown children, about upcoming birthdays, about getting gifts for them in her absence. One precious conversation was devoted to her requests for a "care" package to be sent up on a space flight to MIR. She asked that the folks in Houston get a jar of Mayonnaise in a plastic jar for Yuri and Yuri, who were the two Russians on board at that time. She wanted potato chips and other "junk" food and some books. Day after day, those of us who listened became sort of Shannon's extended family. We wished we could run out and get some M&Ms and get them in the next "care" package to MIR. We wished that we could run by her house and water her lawn and tell her not to worry about it surviving.

While she was in orbit in MIR, Shannon was featured on many TV news shows with video clips of her on board MIR. But those of us who haunted 145.550 MHz (I told you I listen even in my truck), felt rather smug. "Oh, yeah, that's old news. I played that at the office yesterday afternoon." You can probably sense that I felt more than a passing kinship with Shannon, even though we had spoken briefly only three times. She is 53-years-old. I am quite a bit older. I am a pilot - who volunteered for the "citizen in space" mission which met the tragic end on January 28 - my birthday! Some day I hope to meet her. But I digress. We were talking about you monitoring space communications.

The current American Astronaut in residence on MIR has a ham radio call. You will hear him or Valeri, who uses the callsign R0MIR (R zero MIR). Valeri's English is good. A few days ago, he came on the radio sounding like an airline captain. "We are now flying over the Great Lakes!" I looked at my tracking screen and it showed the MIR icon right over the Great Lakes. He knew exactly where he was. This is not joke. Sometimes Shannon would not know exactly where she was and could tell only by looking out the window. Part of this was due to the fact that she was not sitting in front of the instruments on MIR (it is like a condo with several wings). But if you get the ham satellite tracking program, synchronize your computer clock to NASA or WWV, and get a ham license, you can say to John or Valeri "You are right now 119 km West of Tulsa." And be exactly right! It's almost weird.

I mentioned getting a ham license. It is a piece of cake these days. To get a Technician Class license, which will allow you to send and receive on 145.xxx MHz (and other VHF and UHF ham frequencies), you can take a test which is based exactly upon readily-available study guides. You do not have to learn the morse code for this class of license. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) no longer gives the exams - hams do it under strictly-controlled circumstances. Contact any ham or look in the phone book under Amateur Radio ---------. You may find the number of a local ham-radio club, many of whom conduct classes to prepare you to take the exam.

The International Space Station (ISS) usually has at least one ham-radio operator on board. In the recent past (2004 -05), the voice contacts have been mostly with schools. You can listen to the "downlink" audio on 145.80 with most scanners and of course ham-radio VHF equipment. In the past, I heard the MIR and space shuttle on a handheld Radio Shack scanner, for example.

For general ham space information, check out:

AMSAT - Amateur Satellite Corporation

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Richard Rhodes

rev 2/28/2005