Send APRS Packets From the ISS Digipeater with the FT3D or FT2D

Finally got around to making this video, and it was really fun to do.
The ISS has an onboard APRS Digipeater that anyone with a licence can use to send packets from.
Today, the International space station had a great pass, so I got the FT3D with the Arrow 2 antenna, and filmed a small how to guide on digipeating packets off the ISS.
Freq used:145.825
Video on APRS for the FT3D:
• Setup APRS on the FT3D...
Video on Ham radio Satellites:
• The Ultimate Guide to ...
Track the ISS:
heavens-above.com/?lat=37.785...
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[@JasonHissong]

Thanks for your video! It helped me make my first digipeater contact with the ISS with my FT300D just using my station antenna.

[@travist6677]

Super thorough and helpful as usual, thank you!

[@markdoyle8713]

Great job I can’t wait to do this myself and if successful I will share my knowledge I learned from you with a new ham. Thanks for the inspirations and sharing you ups and downs.

[@we4080]

Thanks a lot for these videos. I'm getting the most out of my FT3D since I'm watching your videos. Very cool to sent messages to space and actually being received and answered by someone else in another country.

[@mikeyost7539]

Thanks for the great video instructions, Made my first Contact with Handheld FT2dr and Homebrew 4 element handheld yagi antenna.

[@SoaringSkies45]

I was able to bounce my packet off the digipeater tonight! February 4, 2023 at 19:09 with my FT3D and a signal stuff antenna. It has been my goal every since getting my license. I only had 10 minutes before the pass and your video has helped me set it up in record time, THANK YOU!! 73 N7DIB

[@Mike_Hoellwarth]

Awesome video. I tried this yesterday with no luck, didn't realize I had to change the digipath. Corrected now and waiting for a pass in a couple hours to try again.

[@aquatone327]

Just picked up an FT3DR today. Love it and thanks for the video!

[@ModernHam]

Awesome radio. Glad you liked the video!

[@johnlagreca6288]

Well executed, hats off! Thank you.

[@jshell3]

This is good stuff. Nicely done.

[@remingtonkevin65]

I just got a message from the ISS on my yaesu 3D! Thanks for uploading that video!

[@GadgetAddict]

Congrats 👍 I'm glad it worked out and you were heard. An interesting overview of the process 👍

[@ErikN1]

Thank you for sharing the setup and experience. Reaching the ISS digipeater is one of my goals but being as for north as I am I probably need a solid Yagi so make it. It's 17° above the horizon at best.

[@mjarger1]

Thank you for the video. I’ve been trying with my FT3D for 2 weeks now. I can receive but have not been able to get a packet in. Might be my homemade yagi. This video helped confirmed it’s nothing with my path or radio settings! Keep up the great content!

[@ScotKlein]

I have yet to try APRS via ISS but I have found that APRS in general on a HT (FT3) has a low reception rate as opposed to a mobile (FTM-400 in my case). It seems obvious, 5w vs 50w, but I think it depends how much traffic is out there to be heard over... Hope this helps.

[@WoyLad]

Too cool. When you got to the bottom of the dam, I knew exactly where you were. In the 80's, lake Reba was essentially abandoned, with a little park denotation, but no improvements. The lake was empty, and we used to 4-wheel through the old spillway into the lakebed. It was a cool place. Glad to see the place has grown up and you are there taking advantage of it. I am in Richmond here and there, I'll be sure to add the local repeaters and give you a call next time I am down. KE4NVR.

[@KY4K-10]

KY4K here.... in Lex. Great video. I just built a small tracker for the arrow antenna and I thought I would try to send a packet through the ISS..... of course found your video lol. Catch you later!

[@DustinPlunkett1]

This is really awesome, I have to get an FT3D and antenna now!

[@ModernHam]

Glad I could help! It's a good radio

[@thomashardy9994]

Thanks for the video. I’ll have to try this.

[@off-trailseeking3965]

Thanks much for doing a video specifically using the FT3dr ! It's confusing enough attempting to get all the settings correct, and if you miss one things don't work. Very frustrating! Just nice to have the same radio to compare settings with and set up.

[@ModernHam]

Glad it helped!

[@RonanCantwell]

Nicely done Sir! I've been trying the same here but no luck... yet.

[@craigbruenderman504]

Enjoyed the video. I'm a new ham in Louisville, KO4IWK.

[@N4EJM]

Nice video, never thought of putting Wide2-1 as the secondary address on the Digi Path. Need to share this with some fellow Hams. 73 de N4EJM

[@mattweger437]

Good job !

[@andrewhamop6665]

Great video, I have tried this but I need a better handheld antenna. My current setup is my HT with an 11 element yagi that I have put a makeshift handle on. It's really heavy, and to top it off I have LRM400 coax so I definitely need a lighter antenna and smaller coax. A little correction, as far as I know, the ISS takes received packets and directly forwards them to aprs.fi, I read this on the ARISS website. Great video, keep it up. I hope to hear you out there on field day, 73s from W8IJC!

[@watchmanmichael2023]

Awesome!😊👍

[@Cemental]

Thank you!

[@borderlandsroadkill1288]

Great Video, I just got my FT3D can you share some info about the antenna and adaptors you used?

[@jahangirhuseynov6679]

Great Video! Concise, informative and straight to the point! What antenna did you use on the video?

[@ve4mm]

Sent and received my 1st Packet to the ARISS this AM October 29, 2020. Mike, ve4mm

[@ronangsr]

How do you set the correct digi path, would your setting work in Ireland? Also do you log the contacts in logging software? Thanks

[@NaughtRobot]

I've enjoyed your series of videos of videos on the FT3D and have been looking forward to this one. I'm jealous of the number of packets you receive because out here it's pretty dead. I'm looking forward to you video on making a QSO QSO though the ISS. I've tried a few times and I suspect I'm doing something wrong.

[@lylepedro6342]

I know im asking randomly but does any of you know a tool to get back into an Instagram account?? I somehow forgot the account password. I love any assistance you can offer me!

[@wyattkairo1156]

@Lyle Pedro instablaster ;)

[@lylepedro6342]

@Wyatt Kairo I really appreciate your reply. I got to the site through google and im trying it out now. Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will reply here later with my results.

[@lylepedro6342]

@Wyatt Kairo It did the trick and I now got access to my account again. Im so happy! Thanks so much, you really help me out !

[@wyattkairo1156]

@Lyle Pedro No problem =)

[@jomosoft]

I put the iss frequency in two vfo’s, the B vfo with squelch, the A vfo without. This makes it possible to listen without squelch and still sending beacons. I hope you’ll make a qso video as well !!

[@jgaffney6]

Very Good Thanks

[@Justretired755]

Hi first off great content I have learned a lot from it!!!! I have a question I followed this video and the APRS setup video to the T I can get packets out because theres stations replying back but when I go to ariss.net they wont show up any ideas. Thanks for any info WP4ROM from FK78bk....73!

[@glenc4173]

Oooooooo I forgot about the ISS digipeater. I will have to try when my new radio arrives.

[@oldpreach]

That was...just great stuff. Thanks for inspiring the kiddos. Acts 2:38 to you.

[@1OTDM]

What is that adapter/extender you have on your signal stick?

[@okhamradio]

It's interesting experiment

[@twentyone3811]

Sweet

[@remingtonkevin65]

Thank you so much for making this video. This clears a lots of questions I had. I appreciate you making it. 73! KJ7CRM

[@LiamKennedyISSAbove]

Great video - thanks for sharing all of that. I have something to share on the packetpath you configured.. I'm curious about the use of ARISS and WIDE2-1. Although it obviously worked for you (picked up on ARISS.NET) a guide on aprs.fi states the following: "In the classic/old APRS digipeating world, people used aliases like WIDE to ask for any digipeaters to digipeat. Currently, this method is used to digipeat through satellites and the ISS - just use a simple alias of ARISS as the path and it will be digipeated through the RS0ISS digipeater on the ISS or any of the other APRS-supporting satellites on 145.825 MHz! Yes, this means the PATH setting should be just "ARISS". Do not put any of the WIDE or RS0ISS stuff in there, it won't help." I'm not sharing this as a "correction" - but I am curious about your setup. Have you found any issues with having ARISS,WIDE2-1 as the path?

[@DARTHDANSAN]

Kool

[@davidpruitt952]

I do a lot of remote Fly fishing with no Cell service. Will this device help me contact someone if needed/emergency needed. I would learn all methods of communication with device. Do I need a radio license to use one. Thank you for any info. Cheers....

[@robertodelavega9311]

Olá, a isso passou aqui no Brasil Santa Catarina, pequei a portadora mais não veio sinal para gerar imagens, e normal?

[@tomrh126]

like this vid. have arrow antenna ft3d on the way. zl4hd

[@kenneth8183]

Is there anything you’d change about your setup in this video ? I’m about to acquire your exact setup.

[@ModernHam]

Not really. If I had a computer interface for the APRS, maybe I would add that. Or a tablet for typing messages.

[@marklandman1159]

I'm new to satellites and the FT-3DR. I've tried following the instructions in this video, but I'm apparently doing something wrong. I can receive packets from the ISS, but it can't hear the ones that I send. I have Digi Path Address1 set to ARISS and Address2 set to WIDE-2. I read elsewhere that the path should be CQ VIA ARISS, but the radio won't let me enter a path with that many characters. Is this my problem, or am I doing something else wrong?

[@marklandman1159]

I should clarify to say that the ISS can't hear the packets that I send.

[@JoeyFlowers]

What yagi antenna is that?

[@sbadolian]

What kind of antenna is that?

[@danivanon]

10:27 like they were targeting you specifically?

[@danivanon]

Confused about the direct message: shouldn't the sender have been right next to you since only you had the ISS above you at that exact time?

[@ModernHam]

@@danivanon The ISS was above the whole country. It could have been anyone in the USA really.

[@danivanon]

@@ModernHam but, only a small section gets a flyover at any given time no?

[@Youtaran]

I have enjoyed your videos a lot and has helped me setup my Ft3dr. Thank You! I was trying to use aprs on my FT3DR and use it to send a winlink-aprslink message via the radio. When i transmitted a message to [e-mail] I did not get any ack from RMS. The message transmit on the MLIST window changes from 4->3>2>0> to dot. Also I do not recall seeing a login challenge message. I would appreciate any insight you can share.

[@davidm1635]

nice job, one of the best ISS videos i have seen. 73 de kk4zuu