SPARCS Ham Radio Emergency Communication

ARISS 25th Ham Radio In Space Anniversary this week!

This is the week that Owen Garriott W5LFL made history 25 years ago by being the first Ham Operator to talk to hams from space.  This happened on the Space Shuttle Columbia with flight STS-9 in 1983.  Many of us who were licensed at the time can easily remember how exciting it was to monitor the first contacts from Columbia. These events have been so successful that they continue today as show by our own AB5JO Joe here in the Valley with his two-meter voice contact with the Space Station just a few weeks ago. 

Last month Owen Garriott’s son Richard W5KWQ became the very first second-generation ham operator to travel in space and talk to other hams on the ground.  —— To celebrate the 25 year anniversary ARISS has planned a set of special events for December and part of January.  Special Certificates are available for those who communicate with the Space Station in orbit either two-way direct with the ISS Crew, the digipeater or cross-band repeater or one-way reception of slow-scan TV or voice downlink. Several surprises are planned over the month long celebration and are soon to be announced so stay tuned to www.arrl.org.  Those who are running packet stations might want to tune to 145.825 MHz to monitor the situation beginning December 7 as they will be testing 9600 baud, and on December 14 they’ll switch to 1200 baud for the next five days from the 14th to the 19th. These operations will also be coordinated with PC-Sat in “full sun” starting December 9th so that double hop opportunities can be supported. Also during this time and especially on the weekends there is a huge chance for slow-scan TV transmissions from the space station.  For more information head to www.arrl.org.