|
Winter 2005 Issue |
|
|
Patience Pays Off Thanks to NASA, there have been more than 150 educational-related amateur radio contacts with the International Space Station and the space shuttles. Each of them has been inspirational for the participants. In this article W5IU recounts one of the more recent ones, which took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as a way of encouraging other educational groups to also participate in the ARISS program. By Keith Pugh,* W5IU |
 Students in queue waiting their turn to speak with ISS commander Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW, during an ARISS event at the Tulsa (Oklahoma) Air and Space Museum. (All photos courtesy N6CL) |
|
After a two-year wait and one “false start,” a successful ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) contact was made between the students of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum (TASM) Space Camps and the astronaut and cosmonaut on board the International Space Station. The contact took place at 9:12 AM on 22 December 2004 from TASM. Nine students asked two questions each and received full replies from ISS Commander Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW, on board the ISS. Katheryn Pennington, the museum’s executive director, asked an additional question, and Season’s Greetings were passed on to the ISS crew during the nine-minute QSO. The nine students who participated were William Bloomfield from Thoreau Demonstration Academy, Tulsa; Wyatt Bonicelli, from Pratt Elementary, Sand Springs; Ryan Darrow, from Holland Hall, Tulsa; Chelsie Downie, from Emerson Elementary, Tulsa; Lawrence Ross, from Victory Christian, Tulsa; Chase Karnstadt, from Austin, Texas; Robert Nolan, from Foster Middle School, Tulsa; Lauren Olten, from North Intermediate High School, Broken Arrow; and Kyler Swearingen, from Marquette Private School, Tulsa. Observing the contact were four students and their advisor from Hamilton Middle School: Shanekah Jones, Leo Alexander, Quiara Scott, Shayla Bethel, and Ms. Rita Balleu. Preparations for the ARISS QSO started with an application made to the ARISS Program via the ARRL more than two years ago. The contact initially was scheduled for June 2004. Unfortunately, a high-priority “Space Walk (EVA)” came up at almost the last minute and caused a re-scheduling for the week of 20 December. Final preparations resumed in November 2004, leading up to the contact. No equipment was available at TASM to support the contact at the museum, so the Tulsa Repeater Organization (TRO) and others provided equipment for the contact.
Two representatives of TRO who were
instrumental in arranging the details of the contact were its president,
Mark Conklin, N7XYO, and Bill Griffin, NI5X. Also working to make the
contact a success were TRO members Ed Compos, K5CRQ, and Harry Mueller,
KC5TRB. TRO’s website is <http://www.TulsaHamRadio. com>. In addition, I
served as ARISS’s required mentor for the contact. For the QSO, Bill
served as the control operator, while I made sure that the radios
functioned properly. Click here to return to Winter 2005 highlights Click here to subscribe to VHF _________________ © Copyright 2005, CQ Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced or republished, including posting to a website, in part or in whole, by any means, without the express written permission of the publisher, CQ Communications, Inc. Hyperlinks to this page are permitted.
|
|