Amateur Radio International Space Station (ARISS)


School Application Form 
for an organized radio contact with the 
International Space Station 




Introduction:

Congratulations on taking the first step toward a rewarding experience for your 
school. The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program 
requires that each school submit an application so that your school can be 
scheduled.  Please fill in the below requested data as best as possible. Be 
assured that the ARISS partners and ARISS School Committee will hold the data 
you supply in confidence. While data such as the home phone number of the school 
principal may seem private, past experience has shown that when the ARISS 
planners need to contact anyone from the school, the more names and phone 
numbers, the better. In the fast-paced world of ARISS, radio contact 
opportunities or NASA or ISS scheduling changes may occur with only a few days 
notice and the need to make contact with someone from the school becomes very 
important. It is anticipated that most of the radio contacts will be with the 
International Space Station; however, if a shuttle mission with ham radio on 
board is planned, then your contact may occur with the shuttle.



 The procedure is explained in the following rules.

Rules:

1. Check if your amateur radio school station is sufficiently equipped to enable 
a successful contact (i.e., general technical level, transceiver + power, 
steerable antenna, tracking programs, etc.). Please take into account the 
expected level of deployment of the amateur radio equipment operated onboard 
ISS (e.g., in the beginning only weak signals can be expected).
 
2. Carefully fill out the attached application form.  Please make sure to 
include the school's educational proposal.

3. Your completely filled out application should be returned to the nearest 
coordinating ARISS region.  Here are the email addresses:

ARISS-Canada:   TBD
ARISS-Europe:  jh.hahn@gmx.net (J. Hahn, DL3LUM / PA1MUC)
ARISS-Japan:  TBD
ARISS-Russia:  TBD
ARISS-USA:  ARISS@arrl.org

4. A receipt will be sent to the applicant, confirming that the application form 
had been received. This receipt will point out if the application form was 
accepted for further submission or not. 

5. Communication with ARISS is to be done by e-mail to facilitate exchange of 
information.

6. The application will be registered and put in a queue.

7. Each ARISS region will coordinate contacts within that region.  If the 
application was sent to the wrong ARISS region, it will be forwarded to the 
appropriate one.

8. When a slot has been assigned to a school, the responsible person of this 
school will be informed by ARISS immediately.

9. The school station shall then be prepared for the contact (i.e. check the 
whole station, download the most recent Kepler elements, arrange for licensed 
operators, inform regional press, keep contact with the ARISS school 
coordinator). Please make sure that the station can be contacted by phone 
during the QSO! 

10. When the contact has been made, ARISS expects to receive a report about this 
event within 2 weeks. The report will possibly be used for publication in a 
broader forum.


Disclaimer:  ARISS can not be held liable in case a scheduled radio contact is 
not performed.  All ARISS work is done by volunteers working in conjunction with 
the various space agencies and space operation constraints may force last minute 
cancellation.

Please enter your country code and city code as part of the telephone number for 
any voice, fax, or cellular phone.

1. Date of application: 

2. SCHOOL
   Name: 
   Address: 
   City: 
   State, Province, Territory, mail district:
   Zip or Postal Code: 
   Country: 
   Phone #:
   Fax #: 
   Email Address:
   School Website Address:
   Normal school hours:
   Brief description of the school and the amateur radio school club (if there 
   is one):

3. Principal
   Name:
   School phone #:
   School Fax #:
   School email address:
   Pager #:
   Home phone #
   Home Fax #:
   Cellular phone #:
   Home email address:
   Home address:
   Home City:
   Home State, Province, Territory, mail district:
   Home Zip or Postal Code:
   Home Country:
   
4. Coordinating Teacher:
   Name:
   Grade Level/Subject Taught:
   School phone #:
   School Fax #:
   School email address:
   Pager #:
   Home phone #:
   Home Fax #:
   Cellular phone #:
   Home email address:
   Home address:
   Home City:
   Home State, Province, Territory, mail district:
   Home Zip or Postal Code:
   Home Country:
   

5. Has the school previously been selected for a shuttle, Mir, or ISS contact?:
 (YES or NO):    If YES, which mission?  STS:   or Astronaut on Mir or ISS:
                 Date of contact:

   Did the school have a complete contact: If No, please explain why not:
	

6. RADIO CONTACT COORDINATOR 
(To be filled out by an Amateur Radio operator) 
   Name: 
   Call Sign: 
   Home address: 
   Home City: 
   Home State, Province, Territory, mail district:
   Home Zip or Postal Code: 
   Home Country: 
   Work Phone #: 
   Home Phone #: 
   Pager #:
   Cellular phone #:
   Home Fax #: 
   Home email Address: 
   Work Phone #:
   Work Fax #:
   Work email address:
   Experienced With Satellite Operations? (YES or NO): 
 
 
DATA ABOUT SITE OF RADIO CONTACT

7. Site of Radio Contact location information:
   Latitude [Use decimal format] (South is negative): 
   Longitude [Use decimal format] (West is negative): 
   Elevation [Use meters above mean sea-level]: 
   Address:
   City:
   State, Province, Territory, mail district:
   Country:

8. Radio Coordinator During Contact:
   Name: 
   Call Sign: 
   Home address: 
   Home City: 
   Home State, Province, Territory, mail district:
   Home Zip or Postal Code: 
   Home Country: 
   Work Phone #: 
   Home Phone #: 
   Pager #:
   Cellular phone #:
   Home Fax #: 
   Home email Address: 
   Work Phone #:
   Work Fax #:
   Work email address:
   Experienced With Satellite Operations? (YES or NO): 


9. Call Sign at contact site: 

10. Contact site Phone #: 

11. Contact site cellular phone #:

12. Contact site Fax #: 

13. Hours before or after UTC:
Contact site Time Zone: 
Does your area go to Daylight Savings Time?  (YES or NO):
 
 
14. Language requested: English is the language that is normally used on ISS.  
It is possible that other languages may be used. If another language is 
requested, please indicate the desired language: 

15. Are Weekends, Holidays or Nights A Problem For Your Contact?: (YES/NO) 
    To aid the contact planners, please provide dates for major holidays, school
    year, or other known problem dates.  As it might be some time before your
    school is selected and the actual dates may change please be as descriptive
    as possible, i.e. school starts the third week of August, holiday is the
    fourth Thursday of the month, etc.

16. ASSISTING LOCAL AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
(To be filled out by the Amateur Radio club) 
    Name Of Amateur Radio Club: 
    Club Contact Person: 
    Contact Person's Call Sign: 
    Contact Person's home phone #:
    Contact Person's work phone #:
    Contact Person's pager #:
    Contact Person's email address:
    Is the club experienced With Satellite Operations? (YES or NO):
    National amateur radio organization (if club is a member of a national
    organization such as the ARRL):


17. STATION AND EQUIPMENT DATA
(To be used during the ARISS Amateur Radio contact) 
It is suggested that 2 complete radio stations be set up.  It is also suggested 
that redundant power sources be provided, i.e. separate ac circuits, battery 
back-up, or Uninterruptible power supply.

Radio Station #1
   Transceiver To Be Used (Manufacturer/Model): 
   Does it have Memories? (YES or NO): 
   Output Power (Watts): 
   Frequency Range (MHz): 
   Station Equipped With an RX Preamplifier? (YES or NO): 
   If YES, Manufacturer and Model of Preamplifier: 
   Station Equipped with a TX Amplifier? (YES or NO): 
   If YES, Manufacturer and Model of Amplifier:
   If YES, Maximum Output Power of TX Amplifier (Watts): 
   Is the Radio capable of a Non-Standard Split? (YES or NO): 
   Antenna Type (VERTICAL, SATELLITE (AZ/EL?), OTHER) [specify]: 
   If commercially built, manufacturer and model:
   Antenna Gain (dbd or dbi): 
   Number of Elements: 
   Polarization (HORIZONTAL, CIRCULAR, or VERTICAL) 
   Antenna Equipped With a Rotator? (NONE, AZIMUTH ONLY, or AZ/EL): 
   Satellite Tracking Program Available? (YES or NO): 
   If YES, Name of Tracking Program: 
   Do you have Automatic Antenna Control? (YES or NO): 
   VHF Packet Capability? (YES or NO): 
   VHF SSTV Capability? (YES or NO): 
   Do you have phone patch capabilities?:

Radio Station #2
   Transceiver To Be Used (Make/Model): 
   Does it have Memories? (YES or NO): 
   Output Power (Watts): 
   Frequency Range (MHz): 
   Station Equipped With an RX Preamplifier? (YES or NO): 
   If YES, Manufacturer and Model Of Preamplifier: 
   Station Equipped with a TX Amplifier? (YES or NO): 
   If YES, Maximum Output Power of TX Amplifier (Watts): 
   Is The Radio Capable of a Non-Standard Split? (YES or NO): 
   Antenna Type (VERTICAL, SATELLITE (AZ/EL?), OTHER) [specify]: 
   If commercially built, manufacturer and model:
   Antenna Gain (dbd or dbi): 
   Number of Elements: 
   Polarization (HORIZONTAL, CIRCULAR, or VERTICAL) 
   Antenna Equipped With a Rotator? (NONE, AZIMUTH ONLY, or AZ/EL): 
   Satellite Tracking Program Available? (YES or NO): 
   If YES, Name of Tracking Program: 
   Do you have Automatic Antenna Control? (YES or NO): 
   VHF Packet Capability? (YES or NO): 
   VHF SSTV Capability? (YES or NO): 
   Do you have phone patch capabilities?:

18. Please note any antenna obscuration data (modify to meet location's specific 
needs):
Azimuth degrees        Elevation degrees
0 (North)
45
90  (East)
135
180 (South)
225
270 (West)
315
360 (North)

For example:
Azimuth degrees        Elevation degrees
0 to 50                 0
50 to 90                15
90 to 100               30
100 to 140              5
140 to 280              10
280 to 360              5

19. Do you plan to do a live re-transmission or webcast?  If a live re-
transmission, how and on what frequency and mode?  If a webcast, what is the 
website address?

20.  Have you checked with your national amateur radio regulatory authority to 
determine if the non-licensed participating persons (i.e. students) are allowed 
to exchange messages (third party) with the astronauts on board ISS by means of 
your amateur radio station?  To aid the planners, please indicate which 
countries have agreements with your country.  If you are unsure on how to answer 
this question, please check with amateur the radio team that will be assisting 
the school.

21. Attach the school's educational proposal to this application before 
submitting.

The educational proposal should include answers to these questions: 
1) How will you: 
a) integrate this activity into the school curriculum and 
b) involve as many grade levels as you can, participating through essay 
contests, poster drawing, letter writing, and so on? 
2) How will you get as much media coverage as possible? 




ARISSapp.txt 
Prepared by AJ9N, DL3LUM, 15 February, 2001
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