You know you want to try and contact someone on the International Space Station, just one time.
Well this is how you do it.
Find out when the Space Station will orbit over South Carolina, to do that we go to this link and it will give us the dates and times.
Next we have to know the frequencies the Space Station is operating on. To find out that we go to this link.
Be careful to find the correct group for North America, this is what you are looking for…
FM VOICE for ITU Region 2&3: North and South America-Caribbean-Greenland-Australia-South Asia
Downlink 145.800 (Listen)
Uplink 144.490 (Transmit)
Next you setup your VHF radio to receive on one frequency (145.800) and transmit on a different frequency(144.490), this is the tricky part because so many radios are different. Some of us here in the club know about a few of the radios but we might not know about the one you have. Here is an example.
And lastly you want to watch the actual track of the ISS right here…
When you are inside the circle transmit your callsign, un-key and listen for a little bit, then repeat.
For the Kenwood V71 VHF/UHF radio you would read the manual and on page 33 it tells you how to program this radio for an ODD-SPLIT REPEATER. This is what you want. The Space Station is not a “repeater” it is simplex but from the VHF radio’s point of view it is.
We might not be able to get your radio programmed before the Sunday night 9/23 7:50pm pass but this is not the only time the ISS will fly overhead so don’t worry. The ISS fly’s over South Carolina usually 3 or 4 time each year just so you know.
If you have questions on how to program your radio you can join the clubs 2 meter nets on either Sunday or Wednesday night and ask for help. We will try to get someone that is familiar with your radio to help.
Some great reading can be found here:
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS)
Enjoy