ARISS, NASA, and ESA Continue to Probe Amateur Radio Problems on ISS 03/03/2021
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (
ARISS) International Chair Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, reports that the ARISS team has been working closely with NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) to identify what may have caused what ARISS is calling a “radio anomaly” on January 27. The net result has been an inability to use the NA1SS ham station gear in the ISS Columbus module. For the time being, ARISS school and group contacts with crew members have been conducted using the ham station in the ISS Service Module. The radio issues came in the wake of a January 27 spacewalk during which astronauts installed new cables (essentially feed lines) to support the commissioning of the Bartolomeo attached payload capability mounted on the Columbus module. The job involved re-routing the cabling of the ARISS antenna to the ARISS radio system onboard Columbus.
ARRL Interview Explains Background of Ham Radio in Space Film Short 02/25/2021
Josh Tanner, the Australian filmmaker who produced the thriller
Decommissioned by Perception Pictures, has explained how he came up with the idea to develop the movie short. In the approximately 6-minute film, SuitSat returns in the future to haunt International Space Station commander “Diaz,” played by Joey Vieira, who spots SuitSat, the surplus Russian
Orlan spacesuit that was turned into an amateur radio satellite several years ago by Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (
An exclusive ARRL
video interview premiering on Saturday, February 27, brings together Tanner, who directed the sci-fi horror film about an eerie ham-radio-in-space reencounter, and ARISS-International Chair Frank Bauer, KA3HDO. In the interview, conducted by ARRL volunteer Josh Nass, KI6NAZ, of the popular YouTube channel
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.