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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.

13 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!
    1. Re:no kidding by JustinOpinion · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

      Yes, it is truly disappointing when youngsters act responsibly.

      I understand how the story would be more romantic if they contacted the ISS out of the blue (imagine how surprised those aboard the station would be!). But the fact of the matter is that living in space is precarious at the best of times. Unexpected events, especially those that tie up communication channels, are unsafe and not welcome. Thus the students did the right thing by clearing permission first, and they should be applauded for that.

      Also, the students probably wanted their signal to actually be answered, rather than ignored or (even more likely) simply not noticed!

    2. Re:no kidding by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

      Yes, it is truly disappointing when youngsters act responsibly.

      I am much older then them but I still wouldn't call them youngsters. From TFA:

      Operation First Contact is the graduating project for 34-year-olds Gino Cunti and Paul Je of Toronto, Patrick Neelin, 25, of Welland, Ont., and Kevin Luong, 21, of Mississauga, Ont.

      They are all legal age!

    3. Re:no kidding by zappepcs · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah, I read that part too and I'm trying to figure out what kind of radio they had to build that was 'way over their heads' kind of technology? Freq-hopping with 1024 bit encryption digital radio? If ham operators normally talk with the ISS and their story sounded like it was HAM radio they used, why was it such a feat? Is there something special we need to know about students in Canada? Did anyone find a link to technical details of the radio system they built?

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    4. Re:no kidding by camperdave · · Score: 5, Funny

      But... They're art majors.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  2. Still it's awesome. by Dyinobal · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

    I imagine one could get in a lot of trouble prank calling the ISS. Though it it some what difficult to come up with space themed prank calls akin to "Is your refrigerator running". Still though, they got a good grade in the class I'm sure and likely had a lot of fun doing it. I'd say that's a grand accomplishment even if they did have permission to do it.

  3. 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.

    2. Re:Not a first by Lumpy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I tried to get some kids interested in ham radio.

      Problem was, when I started teaching theory and rules I lost half the class when they found out you could not swear or use profanity.

      Tell them they have to self censor themselves and they lose interest.

      saying SHIT is more important than knowledge to them.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  4. I'm sorry to say... by Muad'Dave · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yawn. While not just anyone can do what they've done, I'm saddened by the fact that an Amateur Radio hobbyist making a simple FM transceiver is considered news-worthy by the masses. What happened to the spirit of 'Experimentation and Advancement of The Radio Art'? Have we as a species lost our curiosity and drive to learn about and then do new things? I guess the TV has won. 8-(

    --
    Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
    1. 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.