Ham Radio Links to Earth for Lonely Space Station Astronauts
The first amateur radio transmission from space was in 1983 from astronaut Owen Garriott aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. He was a licensed ham who used his equipment in Houston to chat with his father in Oklahoma. by Samantha Masunaga, Los Angeles Times / December 23, 2020 NASA astronaut Nick Hague floats inside Europe s Columbus laboratory module during a HAM radio session using the International Space Station s call sign NA1SS in 2019. (NASA) TNS
(TNS) - The International Space Station cost more than $100 billion. A ham radio set can be had for a few hundred bucks.
SSTV Event to Help ARISS Mark 20 Years of Continuous Ham Radio Operation in Space 12/17/2020
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (
ARISS) will continue its year-long 20th anniversary celebration of continuous ham radio operation from the ISS this month, with a slow-scan television (SSTV) event over the holidays. The first ARISS school contact took place in December 2000, not long after the first ISS crew arrived on station a month earlier and had made test contacts. The commemorative late-December SSTV event will be held December 24 through December 31, although dates are subject to change. The frequency will be 145.800 MHz, using SSTV PD-120 mode. Over its 20 years, ARISS has supported nearly 1,400 scheduled ham radio contacts with schools, student groups, and other education organizations.