HAM IN SPAAAAAACE! ISS astronaut contacted by Gloucestershire bloke in garden shed Radio ham Adrian Lane was able to send his "73" (ham lingo for "best regards") to an American astronaut as the International Space Station passed over Gloucestershire. The amateur operator told The Telegraph of his communication with the International Space Station from his garden shed in the small market town of Coleford. …
And I am sure the husbands excuse for not going out and doing something in the "real" world would be the same as any Mmorpg/Xbox/Online gamer. "But honey, I don't need to go out, I am actually playing/talking/interacting with REAL people all around the world!"
"...actually playing/talking/interacting with REAL people all around the world!"
Ham radio A.I.:
10 SPEAK "599 QSL via buro CQ Contest"
20 GOTO 10
This two-line program has won several Ham radio contests over the past few years.
You can sign up for NASA email alerts when the station is going to pass over your location here at their Spot The Station site.
I have it, and get updates most days of appearances. Seen it a good few times, always amazes quite how fast and how bright it is, and indeed how large it appears even to the naked eye. This is of course when it isn't being obscured by the great British summertime, aka cloud and rain.
Postcard ware.
YEARS ago put Orbitron on Scout hut wall via video projector.
Mag mount car aerial on scout hut roof.
Mobile Radio was pinched from car too.,
Sure enough the radio woke up with chatter when the edge of footprint touched our city
http://www.stoff.pl/
Amateurs world wide doing this for years. People on ISS are often also Hams.
How is this news? It happens regularly. Maybe not in Gloucester, but in most other parts of the world.
Astronauts get to play radio in their free time as the relaxed, friendly communication with random people is great for their mental health.
Personally, I like it when they use the SSTV gear up there - there's nothing quite like receiving a picture directly from space!
v true.
This was a report about my good friend from school and occastional work colleague Matty from 8 (EIGHT) years ago, he's always doing this sort of shizzle.
( We often converse over cunning electronic projects - me being the student, he being the master)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/isle_of_man/6553281.stm
... my favourite part of the report they put on TV back then was that Matty was playing a CD of the band he was in (all members being friends I've played music with myself) in the background while he chatted... The Tholtan Builders (you haven't heard of them, probably) thus being the first Manx Band in spaaaace, sortof :)
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No need for a shack, just stand outside with a £40 handheld from eBay, 145.800 mhz FM is where you'll want to listen, they even have an AX.25 packet repeater on 145.825, hope the bloke sent more than just 73's, a callsign would be good! Still not a bad contact to have in your log book.
Around here amateur radio volunteers go to schools all the time to host a sked with (former) Space Shuttle or ISS. In 1993 I worked for Owen Garriott W5LFL the first ever to operate amateur radio from space (1983) and was shown the actual radio used which he kept in his office. The height of my career.
Don't be such a cockwomble (learned that here today!)
This is all cool stuff. Chap in ordinary place with simple kit contacts chap in extraordinary place speeding around planet with simple kit despite massive closing speed. Timing is everything.
I'm sure you did it a while ago, but every time there is a vulnerability with Flash, Exchange, etc. it is reported enthusiastically. Why aren't we happy with the first one?
This stuff is exciting, it's cool, it is to be applauded. The low budget of entry is interesting.
"at 18,500mph, or 0.2759 per cent" - You're missing two of them.
0.002759 per cent or 0.2759 hundredths per cent of the maximum velocity of a sheep in a vacuum would be a bit closer to the mark.
I know, it's tough sticking the decimal in the correct place. The teacher called it "Dimensional Analysis" as part of "New Math; which sounded like a real eye glazer when my class learned that trick way back when... in Fourth Grade. Unfortunately here in the states they're trying to make Elementary Mathematics even more obfuscated with "Common Core"; too often taught by those who have little understanding of Mathematics. (sigh)
Bloke in shed invents a device that extracts energy from a self contained region of subspace time and figures out how to use off the shelf parts to build an interstellar information transference device.
Wasn't there a series along these lines starring Richard Dean Anderson?
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