NEWINGTON, CT, June 7, 2006--The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) equipment will be on the air in crossband repeater mode during ARRL Field Day Saturday and Sunday, June 24-25, but pass times for North America are iffy. Crew members Jeff Williams, KD5TVQ, and Pavel Vinogradov, RV3BS, may work some stations personally, but they're already booked pretty heavily during FD weekend.
"We have heard from the ISS crew that they are willing and planning to put the Kenwood radio in crossband repeater mode for Field Day," says NASA ISS Ham Radio Project Engineer Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO. "They will try to participate as time permits but the pass times for North America are not favorable." He's holding off on releasing a schedule of potential pass times until after a planned ISS orbital "reboost" takes place June 9.
Ransom also says the crew may be very busy Field Day
weekend since a Russian Progress supply rocket is scheduled to arrive at the
ISS Monday, June 26, and much of the crew's time could be devoted to preparing
for its arrival. He says the crew's sleep schedule may keep Williams and
Vinogradov away from the radio during several possible passes. The crew's
normal sleep schedule is 1930 until 0730 UTC, but it could be shifted to work
around the Progress docking.
Ransom says the ARISS Phase 2 station will be configured in crossband repeater mode--437.800 MHz up/145.800 MHz down, but it's being requested that only low-power (QRP) Earth stations access the system. "The definition of a QRP station for this activation will be the same criteria that AMSAT is using for its QRP operations on ECHO (AO-51) for Field Day," Ransom explains. One of AO-51's FM transponders (145.880 MHz up/436.150 MHz down, no CTCSS tone needed) will be QRP only during the Field Day period.
A low-power (QRP) station may run no more than 10 W to a vertical or handheld antenna. Some examples:
Ransom says station configurations that would not qualify as low-power (QRP) operation would include those using any type of high-gain beam antenna (KLM, M2, Cushcraft etc) or any station running more than 10 W into any type of antenna.
The crossband repeater should be activated Thursday, June
22 late in the crew day, so earthbound operators will have a chance to practice
with their QRP setups and learn how best to deal with the Doppler
on the uplink, which can be considerable. The crossband repeater will be
deactivated June 26 to accommodate the scheduled docking of the Progress cargo
supply ship.
 Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, RV3BS (left), and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams, KD5TVQ. [NASA Photo] |
If Williams or Vinogradov do find time to get on the air, Ransom says, they also will use the crossband repeater mode. Williams will give a report of "NA1SS, 1 Alpha ISS," while Vinogradov will give a report of "RS0ISS, 1 Alpha ISS."
Contacts through the ISS crossband repeater count as a satellite contact for Field Day bonus points, but contacts with the crew do not count for Field Day bonus points.
Ransom says Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, has indicated that PCSat2--which is mounted on the outside of the ISS--will be in packet mode and operating on 145.825 MHz simplex during Field Day weekend.
During FD 2005, the ISS Expedition 11 crew of John Phillips,
KE5DRY, and Sergei Krikalev, U5MIR, thrilled a number of ARRL Field Day 2005
operators by handing out contacts from space. Phillips managed about two dozen
Field Day contacts over North America during last year's event.
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