How To Contact the International Space Station via Radio

[@HamRadioDX]

More COOL Ham Radio in Space videos 👉 kzbin.info/aero/PLSuX83ay4OuiVltcijIoorroPzRjaDwPJ

[@rosariodagosto6484]

WHAT FREQUENCY DID YOU USE 😊😊😊

[@HamRadioDX]

@@rosariodagosto6484FREQUENCY IN THE DESCRIPTION

[@MonochromaticLightsource]

I used a Baofeng UV5RIII to listen to a conversation earlier last year, between an earth based ham, whom I couldn't hear speaking, but the replies from the Astronaut on the ISS came through very clearly. Crackly at first, and then very clear for about ten minutes. They ended their conversation before the transmissions degraded. The radio cost just over £20.00 off Ebay.

[@HamRadioDX]

Yeah it’s amazing what you can do with so little!

[@godarklight]

My very first 2/70cm contact was with the ISS repeater because of where I live. It's fun but it moves fast, even with a direct overhead pass.

[@DD5LP]

The opengd77 firmeare on a compatible HT gives you satellite features including tracking and auto frequency change for Doppler. 73 Ed

[@HamRadioDX]

Nice!

[@RingwayManchester]

Great video rog

[@HamRadioDX]

Thanks mate!

[@DonzLockz]

That's really cool Hayden. It seemed too easy but you have to be quick!😮 Dang, it's literally as fast as a rocket!🚀😂

[@HamRadioDX]

Very quick! Total pass time was maybe 9 minutes, and half of that I couldn’t see the ISS behind the house.

[@justcompton]

Awesome demonstration Hayden. Thank you for sharing the shift issue with us and how to deal with it manually.

[@HamRadioDX]

No problems glad you enjoyed the video. My next goal is to do it all automatically! 👍

[@turtlekoff1]

Have the same arrow antenna set up with my IC 9700 ! Have actually made contact with an astronaut on board and that was awesome ! Thanks for the video Hayden !

[@HamRadioDX]

That’s awesome! I still haven’t ticked off my bucket list an astronaut contact yet

[@turtlekoff1]

@@HamRadioDX I actually was on my IC 705 and the discone in my attic with 5W. The QSO is short... all you will get from the astronaut is your call and a "welcome aboard the international space station" was just amazing. de N4WRW in Vero Beach, FL

[@donnakano3697]

Thanks! It was fun watching you “chase” the ISS across the sky using your hand held beam. It shows you can get into the satellite using fairly basic equipment. Curious if you were also chasing the uplink frequency as well as the downlink. Haven’t tried satellite work since the fairly early days of OSCAR, but I used to work at PEACESAT which used a couple of geosynchronous satellites (ATS 1 & 3) and modified ham gear to talk around the Pacific area. We used circularly polarized beams at 149.22/136.6MHz back in the 70s.

[@HamRadioDX]

I left the uplink on one frequency and didn’t correct for Doppler, as it isn’t as pronounced on 2m. Perhaps when it got low down on the horizon I could’ve shifted on TX. 👍

[@moozoowizard]

Been there done that. Full duplex is a must since you can hear yourself and know your getting in. I use two baofengs. In Perth most passes have nobody on. SO50 is better than ISS in my opinion. It moves across the sky alot slower. So i can call cq to myself for much longer... I have made one via ISS contact with someone in Geraldton.

[@HamRadioDX]

Yeah I should try SO50 next!

[@mobiltec]

Wish I would have had that antenna when I tried making contact with Col. Wheelocks on the ISS. He was going for a world record number of contacts on the ISS and he did it. I tried but such a huge jam up I never got in.

[@manyshnooks]

The APRS digipeater is good fun too, and can be set up for automated ops. I have a simple perl script that uses online empherisis info to CAT control for shift and a colinear, although if you just want to get a single packet out, you can just use the fundamental and wait until it is closest to you before blasting out your AFSK burst. I find a 15s delay between packets with channel activity detection ensures I'm not too disruptive. Have considered running a ground station as its hit and miss re reaching the ground stations on the east coast.

[@yetiradiovk4yt]

Yeah how good is the ISS repeater. I had two good passes yesterday and some contacts through it. Using a handheld with satellite mode to adjust for Doppler. And a comet crossed yagi. Only 5w but it’s enough.

[@HamRadioDX]

Awesome Ben, we should try for a contact via it soon

[@GraemeKoch]

Really cool antenna Hayden.👍

[@HamRadioDX]

Thanks Graeme

[@michaelmeyer2725]

I'd love to get an astronaut contact when I attempt to call. Here in the US it's hard to get a word in on that repeater at times.

[@sptvids]

Excellent video, I've just bought an Arrow and use it with my TYT. Have you thought of using your IC705? I used mine on receive only last night and you can visibly see the doppler shift on the waterfall. Just need to program the frequencies into it👌

[@michaelmeyer2725]

Just attempted a pass about 5 mins ago. I could hear my audio coming back down but it was definitely not powerful, but that I could hear my audio is better than I was getting just the other day. I want that QSO with....well, anyone! LOL

[@TomZ23]

That's cool. I've tried to reach it here in the Midwest (Chicago) of the USA and every time there's a pile-up. I'm never sure if I have made it.

[@michaelsimon8253]

So different from how US hams do it. I like how everyone gets a chance with it in Australia unlike all the lids yelling their calls and grids

[@HamRadioDX]

A few less hams here, it was a relatively quiet pass. But yeah everyone should get a fair go

[@HariramanMuthuraman]

Great job

[@ferdinandfrozenstein]

In VK, you have opportunity to chat a bit, in EU we have always a big pile of stations, I cannot imagine reaching ISS with an HT with a whip, in order to compete successfully, I need a yagi and QRO. With QRP, it's a good luck when I break through. Using a whip, I have only once passed an APRS packet there, otherwise always with a beam... GL and 73s.

[@Dave2108]

that was ell cool. its also funny you spoke to a guy in your area via the ISS but cant reach him simplex. I might give it a go at some point

[@HamRadioDX]

I gave him a call on the phone afterwards - it happens he was playing with a new tracker and listening on the ISS at the same time 😂

[@Don008Ramon]

Very cool

[@N6BFGAmateurRadio]

I've really enjoyed making contacts through the repeater and even made contact with NA1SS twice! It was pretty cool to get a autographed picture in the mail. Nabbed a nice audio recording too!

[@HamRadioDX]

That’s awesome, what frequency did you make contact with NA1SS on? Was it on the crossband repeater and they used the downlink?

[@N6BFGAmateurRadio]

@@HamRadioDXExactly! Both contacts were made on the repeater. They just got on the downlink.

[@hensley560]

Next get on Greencube IO-117. You can pbly reach into NA from there...

[@g4lmn-ron401]

ISS repeater is a LOT quieter over VK than Europe!

[@HamRadioDX]

It was a Friday around 6pm. Usually it’s pretty active!

[@tech160s]

Yeah, I have put out calls before and not heard anyone except my own voice.

[@mr_hassib12]

I also want to talk with iss can you tell me how? Which devices i need?

[@ddouglas3687]

Fascinating! How many watts are you pushing with the ht? Id love to chat with an astronaut someday.😂👍

[@HamRadioDX]

Only 5W. Yes my next goal is an astronaut contact

[@CybersecurityIR]

Hi, please guide me🙏🏻🙏🏻🌹🙏🏻🙏🏻 What is PL? Because I can't find it in my walkie talkie, which is Baofeng UV9R Plus And what is Doppler? I guessed that PL is the same as R-CTCS(revive) or T-CTCS(for transfer), but I don't know what Doppler is and which is the option in my Baofeng walkie talkie. I am from Iran and I want to communicate with the International Space Station. And I had another question, When I want to send my voice to start communication with ISS What dialogue should I say? I saw that you repeated this dialogue several times to start the connection: Mk3 vk3 whiskey whiskey whiskey of the hotel hotel k7 5757 But I did not understand the meaning of these words, please explain.

[@JayraldMaque]

What is the frequency sir?😊😊

[@lampshadesneeded]

Better to take out the diplexer and use 2 radios. 1 to receive in headphones and the other to tx. Then you can hear yourself for better aiming.

[@HamRadioDX]

The TH-D72 is a full duplex radio with this ability. For the video I didn't do this otherwise you wouldn't of heard the other end.

[@thespectator2976]

I would love to learn this but its hard for me. i have an anytone 878 plus or what ever, never got it to work. lol

[@HamRadioDX]

Just dial in 437.800 and have a listen - you might be surprised what you can hear it on!

[@barrybogart5436]

Very interesting demo. I have earlier versions of he same gear so have some questions. My original D7 also has 2 separate transmitters and receivers, right? And my Arrow antenna did not come with a diplexer, but is it possible to upgrade it so I can use a single feedline? Sorry for my ignorance, but I have not used these for sats in a very long time. But I have done APRS real time messaging with them. 72, VE7VIE

[@HamRadioDX]

Not sure about the original D7 as I don't own one. Yes you can buy a diplexer from Arrow, they sell it so you can install under the grip.

[@jim-m5f]

Ive been a Ham for a year and i pretty much only do satellite ! once you get into it there is no comming back !! 73 VE2XXQ FN46rx

[@tlcgolden]

Between passes can you use this antenna to work local stations instead of bundling it up and storing it. Anyone use this antenna to talk to distant repeaters and base stations.

[@HamRadioDX]

I used it on a recent SOTA activation (only a few videos ago). Perfect for this

[@pluto9000]

Could you talk to New Zealand from Australia via the ISS repeater? (Say it was about half way between)

[@aarongriffin81]

Yes, NZ is well within the footprint of almost every LEO satellite and SE Australia. The pass in this video would allow Sydney to contact all of NZ easily. Look at the red ring around the satellite in the video and that shows line of sight from the satellites perspective. Anything within that is possible to contact the repeater but the fringes are weaker signals.

[@HamRadioDX]

Yep!

[@pluto9000]

Anyone know why it uses 2m for receiving and 70cm for transmitting?

[@LeeMcc_KI5YPR]

Full duplex. It either takes 2 radios, or a full duplex radio like Hayden's D72. So the ground station and ISS can talk at the time time on FM.

[@HamRadioDX]

As Lee said, the Kenwood TM-D710GA they have onboard is a “space modified” - whatever that means - version of the radio. It is full duplex and they can activate the crossband repeater with the touch of a button.

[@pluto9000]

@@LeeMcc_KI5YPR They can't talk and listen if the frequencies are for example 438.075 MHz and 433.075 MHz ? Or can radio only do two frequencies that are different bands?🤔 I'm a newbie so please forgive my ignorance.

[@LeeMcc_KI5YPR]

@pluto9000 It is difficult for a receiver to filter out a high power (loud) signal from the transmitter and still hear a weak receive signal, when the frequencies are so close. Repeaters can, but the filters are expensive and inconvenient to carry around. Spreading the frequencies to 2 common bands simplifies the filters.

[@n6cid]

No ham can ever be accused of not talking too much....

[@OriginalEvil]

Sit on your roof.

[@michaeld9141]

Nice KZbin video. Vk2hfa Sydney.

[@HamRadioDX]

Thanks for the contact Michael! Was good to work you

[@BobPlank_KK4DIV]

Awesome! I use the same radio with a log periodic I built modeled from the Elk Antenna. Sounds like it's quieter in the ISS over there for you. It seems it's always very busy over here, hard to get in and the QSOs go fast. I have to record the pass and sort it out later for logging. Great job and 73. de KK4DIV

[@HamRadioDX]

Thanks mate! Yes it was very quiet that day, usually a lot more on it.

[@ralphbailey736]

Thanks for the demonstration ! Great job ! N7ZXG

[@HamRadioDX]

No problem 👍 and thanks