Amateur Radio on the International Space Station

This is the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) presentation by Mark Steiner, K3MS. I recorded and edited this video for HOSARC my amateur radio club. The talk was given at the Hall of Science Amateur Radio Club general meeting in October of 2011. Mark touched on many different aspects of amateur radio on the ISS, including satellite launches, equipment on board the ISS, and ground stations. What did come out during the Q&A section of the talk was that if you would like to get some your own technology into space, design an easy system to change the Kenwood radio from school transmit mode to repeater mode easily via computer control. Seems the current process for changing the radio includes many more steps than busy astronauts have time for. If you can make it happen quickly, easily, and reliably, you could have your own tech in space! It is a high bar, but how many gear-heads do you know with systems they have designed in space. Please check out the video and leave comments. Full disclosure, the video does have pre & post-roll commercials. All money generated by these commercials will be donated entirety to the club. I hope you enjoy the video.

Ham Radio has been "Slashdotted"

Slashdot is a website I have been reading for years and I was very happy to see it running a story of the NPR report on the changing population of amateur radio operators. This brings together two of my favorite things, nerdom and news. After seeing report after report over the years about the future disappearance of amateur radio, comparing our hobby to a finite product like VHS or 8 track tape, it is so refreshing to see a report about the progress we are making in building our numbers. It is very easy to gloss over the "antiquated hobby" of amateur radio. But when you learn that people are using Morse code and digital modes on their own transceivers built into Altoids cases transmitting across the globe on just 5 watts of power, or working with the military on open source Software defined radio platforms, the argument of amateur radio as a dying hobby does not hold water. This hobby of ours has so much to offer people from all walks of life. Just last month we added a few more people to the ranks of the Hall of Science Amateur Radio Club or HoSARC. I have a feeling we will look back on these days as the start of a new era of amateur radio. I can not wait to see what is next for our hobby.

Amateur Radio emergency comunications in action!

I was listening to a few hams using the LIMAC repeater for an interesting talk on Physics. Just as they were about to sign and clear there was an emergency break-in call. It was Raymond Larsen, N2ZEM asking for someone to place a Suffolk Police 911 call as he had just witnessed an auto accident in which a woman was injured. It was the first time I had heard something like this and the receiving operator (KC2QIQ I believe) snapped into action and handled the call like a pro. It is one those moments that really makes you proud to be a part of such a civic-minded hobby. Even if you are just monitoring.