International Space Station

Welcome to my page about the ISS. One of my favorite things about ham radio is being able to make contacts via satellites. This is usually accomplished via voice, morse code or packet radio. I enjoy all modes with the preference to voice. I have made contact with the ISS via packet and hope to get them on voice in the near future. I have in the past make contact with the MIR space station and the Space Shuttle. Here is a scan of my MIR QSL. I hope to have the Shuttle QSL up soon. The image to the right is the current location of the ISS. This page reloads every minute to update the image. Check out my software section for information regarding Predict and gsat satellite tracking software.

I use a Yaesu FT-847 'Earth Station' as the primary transceiver for satellite work. It is computer controlled with gsat which is a graphical client for Predict. The FT-847 drives a Diawa LA-2180H, 180W amplifier. I'll soon be replacing it with an AM-6155, 300W+ amp and an ARR preamp. This goes out to the tower to a Cushcraft 13B2 turned by a Yaesu G-800DXA rotator. Eventually, I am going to set up a smaller tower with computer controlled Azimuth-Elevation control for more precise aiming. However, you don't have to spend a lot of money to make a QSO. There have been people who have done it on as little as a HT. I made my Shuttle QSO with a HT and 35W external amp to a 3 el beam. If you want to give it a try you need to configure your radio to operate split. For voice the uplink freq is 144.490 MHz and the downlink is 145.800 MHz. If you want to try packet the uplink is 145.990 MHz and the downlink is 145.800 MHz.

If you are interested in the ISS you should check out the ISS Fan Club. I am member #48. If you are interested in what kind of ham radio equipment is in use on the ISS download this informative pdf. I also have a few recent pictures of the astronauts using the new radio equipment on the ISS. Click here for Michael Foale and here for Alexander "Sasha" Kaleri