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Kendall Amateur Radio Society |
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KB5TX |
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Space |
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Kendall Amateur Radio Society |
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KB5TX |
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Space |
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Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) |
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It has been over 22 years since September 8, 2022--On September 8, 2000, 22 years ago, the Space Shuttle Atlantis launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, starting the STS-106 Space Shuttle mission. On-board this mission was the ARISS Ericsson radio, a packet module/power supply and other hardware that became the first operational radio system on the ISS (International Space Station.) Two months later, on November 13, 2000, the Expedition-1 crew installed this hardware system in the Zarya FGB (Functional Cargo Block from the Russian abbreviation) module and operated it for the first time. Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, ARISS International Chair. |
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Since then, Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) inspires students, worldwide, to pursue interests and careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) through amateur radio communications opportunities with the International Space Station (ISS) on-orbit crew. Students learn about life on board the ISS and explore Earth from space through science and math activities. ARISS provides opportunities for the school community (students, teachers, families and community members) to become more aware of the substantial benefits of human spaceflight and the exploration and discovery that occur on spaceflight journeys. Students have the opportunity to learn about space technologies and the technologies involved with space communications through exploration of amateur radio. |
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Amateur Radio organizations, and space agencies in the USA, Russia, Canada, Japan and Europe sponsor this educational opportunity by providing the equipment and operational support to enable direct communication between crew on the ISS and students around the world via Amateur Radio. Hundreds of Amateur Radio operators around the world work behind the scenes to make these educational experiences possible. Amateur Radio is a popular hobby and a service in which licensed participants operate communications equipment with a deep appreciation of the radio art. |
Goals of the ARISS Program |
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Radio Contacts with the ISS |
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Astronaut Sunita Williams, KD5PLB, talking to students from the ISS ham radio station. |
Scheduled ARISS Amateur Radio contacts with the ISS are conducted either
by direct contact, or by telebridge contact. The method used will depend
on the radio station equipment and experienced radio amateur volunteers
available to support the contact as well as technical issues related to
the orbit of the ISS over the contact location.
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Simultaneous Operations of APRS and Voice Repeater now a Reality on ISS |
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August 12, 2022ARISS announced that starting August 11, simultaneous
operations of the ARISS Voice Repeater and digital APRS communications
on the International Space Station (ISS) is now a reality. Current
ARISS operations include voice repeater transmissions with the JVC
Kenwood D710GA in the Columbus module and APRS packet operation from an
identical radio in the Service Module (Zvezda). Packet operations are
on 145.825 mHz. |
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How to contact the ISS |
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Visit the "Beginners" sections of the AMSAT-NA or AMSAT-UK websites for information on getting started with all modes of amateur radio satellite operation. Here you will find a 9-part tutorial: · Part 1 Getting Started · Part 2 Antenna Considerations · Part 3 More on Antennas · Part 4 Tracking · Part 5 Transponders · Part 6 History of AMSAT · Part 7 Satellites · Part 8 More on Satellites · Part 9 Even more on Satellites. But in general: Start with orbit prediction software. Commercial and public domain software is available to help track when the ISS will be in range of your station, and where to point your antenna. Various online programs allow you to follow the path of satellites, including the ISS. You'll find one such pass prediction tool on the AMSAT website. Use the drop-down menu to select the "ISS" as the satellite you want to track and enter your longitude and latitude information. Click on the link provided on that page to view the current location of the ISS. You'll find this and other tools for satellite tracking on the AMSAT website at www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/. While some ISS crew members make random, unscheduled, amateur radio voice contacts with earth-bound radio amateurs. They also make radio contact during their breaks, pre-sleep time and before and after mealtimes. Astronauts have contacted thousands of hams around the world. The work schedules of the ISS crew dictate when they can operate the radios. The crew's usual waking period is 0730 - 1930 UTC. The most common times to find a crew member making casual periods are about one hour after waking and before sleeping, when they have personal time. They're usually free most of the weekend, as well. So use the path prediction software to determine what time the path might be in line-of-sight of your location. Then you need to compare this with the Space Shuttle work periods and expected free time before and after. A typical ground station for contacting the ISS station includes a 2-meter FM transceiver and 25-100 watts of output power. A circularly polarized crossed-Yagi antenna capable of being pointed in both azimuth (North-South-East-West) and elevation (degrees above the horizon) is desirable. But successful contacts have even been made with vertical and ground plane antennas. |
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Current status of ISS ham radio stations as of November 03, 2022 |
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Columbus Module radios:
Most ARISS operations are split frequency. The downlink is the earth station's receiving frequency. The uplink is the earth station's transmitting frequency. Earth stations can listen to the downlink frequency and transmit on the uplink frequency when the ISS is in range and crew members are on the air. Please do not transmit on the ISS downlink frequency. |
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Call Signs in Use The following call signs are available for use on the ISS:
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Astronaut Reid Wiseman, KF5LKT makes personal contacts with hams during the US Field Day exercise in June 2014 |
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QSL Cards QSL cards are offered to confirm radio contacts with the ISS. Here's how to obtain one. |
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Radios, Modes and Antennas on the ISS
The ISS amateur radios are a Kenwood D710E and a Kenwood D710GA. The
Kenwood TM-D710E radio is located in the ISS Service Module (Zvezda),
supports 2 meter (144-146 MHz) and 70 cm (435-438 MHz) operation. This
radio provides a higher output power capability supporting FM and SSTV
operations. The higher power capability allows nearly horizon-to-horizon
signal reception using simple hand-held radios or scanners. A set of 5
default options, or Programmable Memories, are embedded in the D710E to
support ISS operations. |
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The new phase and equipment of ARISS on the ISS. Major pieces of the new equipment include the new JVC Kenwood D710GA transceiver and a new multi-voltage power supply developed by the ARISS team to interconnect the various ham radio, video and computer equipment with different power requirements. Some years back, the original 5watt Ericsson HT radios from the SAREX Space Shuttle era were replaced on the ISS with Kenwood donated D710 transceivers. More recently, after Kenwood, merged with JVC, newer more powerful versions of radios were again custom modified as D710GA and donated by Kenwood to meet evolving ARISS requirements in the ISS program.Initial operation of the new radio system is in FM cross band repeater mode using an uplink frequency of 145.99 MHz with an access tone of 67 Hz and a downlink frequency of 437.800 MHz. System activation was first observed at 01:02 UTC on September 2. Special operations will continue to be announced. A second IORS (Interoperable Radio System) undergoes flight certification and will be launched later for installation in the Russian Service module. This second system enables dual, simultaneous operations, (e.g. voice repeater and APRS packet), providing diverse opportunities for radio amateurs. It also provides on-orbit redundancy to ensure continuous operations in the event of an IORS component failure. Next-gen development efforts continue. For the IORS, parts are being procured and a total of ten systems are being fabricated to support flight, additional flight spares, ground testing and astronaut training. Follow-on next generation radio system elements include an L-band repeater uplink capability, currently in development, and a flight Raspberry-Pi, dubbed ARISS-Pi, that is just beginning the design phase. The ARISS-Pi promises operations autonomy and enhanced SSTV operations. |
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Packet Radio
There is one radio on the ISS that operates as a packet digipeater. The
Columbus D710GA can support those operation at about 10 watts and uses
NA1SS. It will respond to the alias "ARISS". |
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SSTV Operation
Slow Scan Television (SSTV) images can be transmitted from the
International Space Station. An SSTV system is an integral part of one
of the ARISS ham radio stations, NA1SS/ RS0ISS in the Service Module. It
transmits and receives JPEG still images. This system utilizes the
Kenwood D700 and D710 radios and the ARISS antennas mounted on the
Service Module. The SSTV equipment also includes Space Cam and MMSSTV
software, a radio/computer interface module and data cables. A Kenwood
VC-H1 is also used to provide near real-time automatically transmitted
images (usually earth views) once every 3 minutes, when active. |
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Antennas
A set of four antenna systems are deployed in the ISS Service Module
supporting amateur radio operations on multiple frequencies and allow
for simultaneous automatic and crew-tended operations. Having four
antennas also ensures that ham radio operations can continue aboard the
station should one or more of the antennas fail. Three of the four
antennas are identical, and each can support both transmit and receive
operations on 2-meter, 70-cm, L band and S band. They also support
reception for the station's Russian Glisser TV system, which is used
during spacewalks. The fourth antenna has a 2.5-meter (8 foot) long
vertical whip that can be used to support High Frequency (HF)
operations, particularly on 10 meters. Currently, one of the 3 VHF/UHF
antennas is disconnected, and the HF antenna has no radio hardware
available for use. |
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The ISS The following is a graphic of the major components of the International Space Station. These were transported to space component by component. STEM students should consider the hundreds of system engineering hours it took to insure that once in space, all components fit together. 73, Ken KD3VK |
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