NASA Ames Research Center
Amateur Radio Club

NA6MF
http://hamradio.arc.nasa.gov

Simplex: 145.585 MHz      Repeater: 145.250 MHz, minus offset, tone 123.0

What is AARC?	|	Getting a License	|	Links	|	Net Control Script	|	References
Shuttle Re-Transmission	|	NASA TV	|	Digital Communications	|	Events	|	DARTCOM

Last Update: October 27, 2009

Don’t use your walkie-talkie while driving on Ames property

Re-transmission of NASA-TV during STS Mission
Download 1mb PDF flyer on NASA-TV re-transmissions

Audio on 145.585 MHz:

Ames Amateur Radio Club (AARC) re-transmits audio portion on 145.585 MHz (simplex). Click here for more info on audio re-transmission.

Video on Amateur Television: (ATV re-transmissions may be occasional)

AARC re-transmits NASA-TV on the K6BEN video repeater. Click here for more info on ATV re-transmission of NASA-TV.

Receiving K6BEN in south San Francisco bay area

K6BEN video repeater is on 421.25 MHz, same frequency as cable channel 57. To receive K6BEN, set your TV set to cable channel 57, connect a UHF antenna (vertically polarized) aimed at Mt. Hamilton (east SJ foothills). Recommended antenna is a UHF (70 cm) yagi antenna.

NASA Schedules and News Links

STS Media Resources: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/news/index.html
     (links to execute packages, TV schedules, mission summary, press kit, events schedule, MMT briefings, etc.)
NASA-TV schedule (in PDF or XLS), see http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/mission_schedule.html
Daily schedule at http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Schedule.html
Launch schedules at http://www.nasa.gov/missions/highlights/schedule.html
NASA Breaking News http://www.nasa.gov/rss/breaking_news.rss
NASA News Releases http://www.nasa.gov/news/releases/latest/index.html
NASA News Events http://www.nasa.gov/news/index.html

ELV Countdown Portal from KSC
http://countdown.ksc.nasa.gov/elv/

AARC Continuing Meetings

The club is continuing a series of technical presentations on amateur radio. This is not only for people who already have a ham license, but for those who might be considering getting into amateur radio. There are many applications of ham radio that are not only interesting and useful, but which are also essential in emergencies on land and at sea. The first presentation was an overview of using high frequency (HF) radio on sailboats for voice and email communications. Future technical presentations may include presentations on bouncing signals off meteor showers (“meteor scatter”), digital communications, and how to get your amateur license.

Previous AARC News Bulletins

AARC at Yuri’s Night

Presentations at Previous AARC Meetings:

Accelerated Basic Emergency Management Courses May 18, 2006

D-STAR Digital Communications Protocol November 17, 2005

Katrina DARTCOM Deployment October 20, 2005

Digital HF Communication (PSK31), August 18, 2005

Amateur Satellites, July 21, 2005

Amateur Television, June 16, 2005

HF Radio at Sea, May 19, 2005

International Space Station Amateur Radio Communications

ISS has an onboard amateur radio station though ISS crews do not have much free time for ham radio activities. Most radio traffic is APRS. You can contact or listen to ISS crews using amateur radio 2 meter frequencies, and handhelds should have good signal quality.

Frequencies:

145.800: Worldwide downlink for voice and packet
145.800: Worldwide SSTV downlink
145.200: Region 1 voice uplink (Europe, Central Asia and Africa)
144.490: Region 2 and 3 voice uplink (The Americas, and the Pacific)
145.825: Worldwide packet uplink/downlink
437.800: Worldwide uplink for cross band voice repeater

FM with PL voice repeater (worldwide): downlink 145.800, uplink 1269.650
FM with PL voice repeater (worldwide): downlink 437.800, uplink 145.990 with PL 67.0

ISS Callsigns:

Russian callsigns RSOISS, RZ3DZR
U.S.A. callsign NA1SS
German callsign DP0ISS
Packet station mailbox callsign RS0ISS-11
Packet station keyboard callsign RS0ISS-3
Packet Digipeater ARISS

ISS Repeater, 145.800 downlink
(437.800 was listed as uplink but crews use other ham frequencies when talking with school kids):

Occasionally, the amateur radio gear onboard would be configured as a repeater. Click here for more info.

ISS Websites:

ISS Reference for Ham Radio, http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/reference/radio/index.html

ARISS webpage: http://www.rac.ca/ariss

AMSAT webpage on ISS, http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/ariss/

A collection of SSTV images transmitted by ISS crews received by hams around the world at http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/SSTV

Orbital Elements for ISS and Shuttle at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/elements/index.html

AMSAT Pass Prediction Calculator includes ISS. Go to the webpage at http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/predict/ and select a satellite and provide your latitude, longitude and elevation.

ARISS School Application Form for organized radio contact with ISS, http://www.arrl.org/ARISS/ariss-ap.html

Current station location Orbital Tracking page at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/

Sighting opportunities at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/index.html

Heavens-Above website provides ISS, Shuttle, flares from Iridium satellites, and other spaceflight and astronomical information at http://heavens-above.com

Simple Satellite Tracking (enter your ZIP code for sighting opportunities) at http://spaceweather.com/flybys/

ISS fan club at http://www.issfanclub.com

Purpose:

The Ames Amateur Radio Club (AARC) provides a matrix of related services, technologies, people, skills, equipment, opportunities, and resources to those interested in, or desiring to benefit from, radio based communications technologies for educational, public service, emergency communications, and recreational purposes. Members of the club are available to guide newcomers, and enjoy sharing their knowledge about amateur radio. For more information, click here.

Club members also support a wide variety of HF, VHF, and UHF communications modes for educational and recreational purposes as well as provide voluntary public service and emergency communications support to Ames, Santa Clara County, and special events occurring on the Moffett Field complex.

The AARC is coordinated with the Silicon Valley Emergency Communications System (SVECS at http://www.svecs.net), an ARES/RACES association. AARC cooperates with other ARES organizations in the Santa Clara County, http://www.scc-ares-races.org

The club station, NA6MF, is affiliated with the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) http://www.arrl.com.

Weekly Nets:

AARC conducts a weekly Amateur Radio Net that occurs every Tuesday at Noon on 145.585 MHz (simplex). See the Net Control Script (click here).

General Club Meetings:

The club meets at 12:00 noon on the third Thursday of each month in the Ames Amateur Radio Club “shack.” Visitors, even those without licenses, are always welcome. Visitor passes are required for non-badged attendees from outside Ames. See typical meeting agenda (click here).

Official US Time and Naval Observatory Master Clock

USNO Clock Times (UTC, EDT, CDT, MDT, PDT)
Standard Time Zone Conversions	Time Service Department, USNO
UTC Time from time.gov	Pacific Time from time.gov

Radio Astronomy

Jupiter can be heard on a shortwave around 18-22 MHz. Use a loop antenna over a ground plane reflector. Solar flares can be heard on a VLF reciever at 27 KHz. A good book to get is Radio Astronomy for the Amateur by David Heiserman and the Amatuer Radio Astronomers Handbook by John Jotter Shields.

More on Radio Astronomy and Space Science

For more information on the AARC, contact:

Mark Allard, KD6CWM, at (650) 604-6145 or email mark.r.allard@nasa.gov

AARC Webpage Editor: Michael Wright, K6MFW, at (650) 604-6262 or email michael.f.wright@nasa.gov

Mailing address:

Ames Amateur Radio Club
P.O. Box 73
Moffett Field, CA 94035-0073

The AARC is a member of the NASA Exchange Council (http://exchange.arc.nasa.gov)

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