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Students Call Space Station With Home-Built Radio

Posted by timothy on from the prince-albert-in-a-tin-can dept.

Pizzutz writes "Four Toronto college students have accomplished a technological feat that their teachers are calling a first. The Humber College seniors made contact with the International Space Station Monday with a radio system they designed and built themselves. School officials say that, to their knowledge, that's never been accomplished by students at the college level." Somewhat disappointingly, the students actually did have permission to make contact.

8 of 330 comments (clear)

  1. no kidding by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 5, Informative

    Somewhat disappointingly, the students actually did have permission to make contact.

    No kidding. But this does open the door to prank calls to the ISS. I can't wait for some of those to get posted to YouTube. Or shown on NASA TV.

    --
    This guy's the limit!
  2. Not a first by scsirob · · Score: 5, Informative

    HAM radio amateurs including students have been in contact with ISS many times over, using voice and digital connections (Packet Radio)

    Many of the astronauts on board are HAM radio operators and make frequent contact with schools, institutions and individual amateurs. On the ground, many of these individual amateurs have designed built their own rig.

    --
    To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
    1. Re:Not a first by CRCulver · · Score: 5, Informative

      Indeed, it's sad how little knowledge there is of amateur radio among nerds these days. Part of that is the medium itself, where you're often essentially talking with bored middle-aged men about nothing (international regulations arguably forbidding interesting discussions). However, there's no better way to gain an understanding of electronics than through studying for an amateur radio license. If you start with a guide like the ARRL intro , electronic gadgets become a lot less mysterious and it gets better as you proceed up the license classes. You can diagnose television or mobile phone problems, repair simple devices, or build your own for cheap like audio amplifiers. I haven't used amateur radio in over a decade now, but I'm still really happy that I got into it.

  3. Unlicensed Broadcasts by AKAImBatman · · Score: 4, Informative

    Somewhat disappointingly, the students actually did have permission to make contact.

    You shouldn't be encouraging readers to attempt broadcasts without permission. Unlicensed broadcasts with power sufficient to reach the International Space Station can be a safety hazard; potentially interfering with or jamming legitimate transmissions. At the very least, one might distract the ISS crew during an important maneuver/space walk when the entire crew needs to be focused.

    (Think of it a bit like having the phone ring when you're in the middle of moving heavy furniture. Not exactly opportune.)

    These kids did the right thing by having official permission to make the broadcast. Especially because it meant that there was an astronaut available to speak with them. If it was an unlicensed transmission without prior approval, they would have gotten "hung up" on. ;-)

    --
    Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
  4. Re:I'm sorry to say... by mikewren420 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Indeed... I was able to contact the ISS twice using low power (10 watts) and a simple vertical antenna. This is hardly newsworthy, as any Amateur Radio operator with a 2 meter radio (they start at $100) and a small vertical antenna can make contact, with a little luck.

    Audio from my contact and others, as well as digital stills received from the ISS are at my website: http://mikewren.com/iss-21oct08

  5. Re:NB... Designed and Built Their Radio by codesmith.ca · · Score: 5, Informative

    Oops, my bad. They didn't design or build the transceiver. But....

    1) They did mod and deploy an antenna with homebrew tracker to keep alignment to the ISS

    2) They're first year students. Not at the end of the program, the very beginning.

    So, my praise still stands. Good work guys!

  6. Bad article by vitaflo · · Score: 5, Informative

    These kids did not build their own radio. The bought an Icom Ic-V8000 radio and a Yaesu G-5500 rotator and built their own antenna. One of the kids got a ham license and they were able to get some time with the IIS.

    http://www.operationfirstcontact.com/blog/episode16.htm

    The only thing they did was build an antenna basically. I'm happy for them (we could use more kids getting into Ham radio) but this story is sensationalizes on something that many people have done before.

  7. Re:Read TFA by awehttam · · Score: 4, Informative
    Sounds more like they built a station, not the radio.

    http://www.operationfirstcontact.com/blog/episode16.htm

    Today, Mr. Rector, Paul, and I went out to Radioworld and purchased a transceiver. After much research, we decided to go with the ICOM Ic-V8000. For the cost, it has exactly what we need. On Friday, we're going to be integrating it into our setup, and doing all the necessary testing.

    The story is pretty hyped up but good on them anyway.