[amsat-bb] Re: hams on ISS

Thu Jan 31 09:38:51 PST 2013

Hello ..This is an issue that is no doubt way out of my pay grade. I loosely used the term "real hams" with regard to amateur operations on the ISS. We all know what the term implies, if you don't then that is another issue. I believe they are required to have a amateur ticket. That does not give them the "burning in the belly" to get WAS, VUCC etc etc. Yes they are short on time, so are all of us, and look at the time we "make" to do that radio thing. I had a short QSO many years ago with the ISS, still recall it vividly. I do not expect any changes, and have long given up on a QSO "up there". I do get a kick out of watching the ISS go over and watch my sat array track them. You can not teach "real ham", it is either there or it's not. 
73 Bob W7LRD 
Seattle 

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ted" <k7trkradio at charter.net> 
To: AJ9N at aol.com, ve3nxk at gmail.com, amsat-bb at amsat.org 
Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 11:02:50 PM 
Subject: [amsat-bb] hams on ISS 

Charlie, thanks for all your efforts on this... 

And of course, the priority should be the School program 

73, Ted 
K7TRK 

-----Original Message----- 
From: amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On 
Behalf Of AJ9N at aol.com 
Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 10:07 PM 
To: ve3nxk at gmail.com; amsat-bb at amsat.org 
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: hams on ISS 

Hi all 

As part of my volunteer duties with ARISS, I post the schedule of upcoming 
ARISS contacts on practically a daily basis. I post to the SAREX BB 
(_sarex at AMSAT.ORG_ (mailto:sarex at AMSAT.ORG) ). You can also check the 
schedule at _http://www.issfanclub.com/_ (http://www.issfanclub.com/) and 
at 
_http://ariss.rac.ca/_ (http://ariss.rac.ca/) (actually 
_http://ariss.rac.ca/upcoming.htm#NextContact_ 
(http://ariss.rac.ca/upcoming.htm#NextContact) and 
look for the link saying Tentative List of Upcoming School Contacts . You 
can also go directly to 
_http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf_ 
(http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/news/arissnews.rtf) . 

In spite of what some may think as to how up to date the schedule is, as 
soon as I get updates on the schedule and success of a contact, I usually 
have updates posted in less than a day. There are times when we get the 
locked down time from the ISS planners for a contact almost at the last 
minute so my heads up might be very short. Unfortunately we sometimes find 
out about the Russian contacts after the fact and thus I am unable to give 
everyone a heads up. Usually we at ARISS get the scheduled date and time 
about 10 to 14 days in advance but we warn all schools that we may get told 
with less than 36 hours. We have also been aborted with less than 10 
minutes to go before a contact. 

We are often asked about when the crew is going to make a general contact. 
We simply do not know. The crew is super busy and when they do get free 
time, they have many things they can do. We can suggest that they get on 
the radios; we can never demand. So ham radio may or may not be in their 
game plan for that day. By the way, all of the ARISS school contacts 
actually take place during a scheduled off time for the crewmember. That 
means they either gave up some free time or their day gets extended. 

73, 
Charlie AJ9N 
One of the ARISS mentors 

In a message dated 1/30/2013 7:30:56 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, 
ve3nxk at gmail.com writes: 

On 30/01/2013 9:30 PM, Personal wrote: 
> Remember they don't get paid to sit up there on the radio. Remember 
> too 
that 
> ham radio in manned space flight has changed since SAREX and Mir. 
> It's no longer the back up system it once was. They have iPods and 
> such 
aboard 
> now. There is Internet access and a telephone to speak with family. 

I don't generally get into these types of verbal banter, but this time I 
make an exception. Right now a Canadian, Chris Hadfield, is onboard and 
doing a great job with pictures and Twitter. I see today that he did a 
live feed to a school here in Ontario. The part that bugs me is there were 
a few ARISS Ham contact before 
Christmas that did not show up till the day of the contact. The Canadian 
RAC site 
had no mention of it on their site and still is stuck in November..... 

I read a lot of AMSAT/ARRL news letters and I have suddenly realized that 
the ham community is out of it altogether. It would appear that starting 
this year NASA themselves is looking after the contacts. I would have 
thought that the ham community would have been in an uproar over this, guess 
not. 

I know that the chances of hearing or contacting the ISS is like winning 
the lottery, but I think now it is long gone. I am disappointed that when 
an USA or Russian is onboad you may hear them once or twice. I doubt that 
you will ever hear Chris at the mic......... he seems to be caught up in 
social media. 

> I'm not sure what the definition of a real ham is but too many times 
> it 
seems 
>to be a person stuck in the past, bemoaning the things that used to be 

No I do not feel that way, I try all kinds of stuff when I have the time. 
Mind 
you I see the day when the radio will have an iPhone built in, and we will 
no longer need the the communication devices we have now. 

Long live the smell of the big tube Collins and Heathkit rigs 

Sent from my personal computer. 

-- 
Bill Booth VE3NXK 
Sundridge ON, Canada 
79.23.37 W x 45.46.18 N 
FN05ns 

Visit my weather WebCam at http://www.almaguin.com/wxcurrent/weather.html 

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