[FPARC] NASA releases ISS North and South America Pass Times for Field Day

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SB SPACE @ ARL $ARLS004
ARLS004 NASA releases ISS North and South  America Pass Times for Field Day

ZCZC AS04  
QST de W1AW   
Space Bulletin 004  ARLS004
>From ARRL Headquarters   
Newington, CT  June 16, 2006
To all radio amateurs

SB SPACE  ARL ARLS004
ARLS004 NASA releases ISS North and South America Pass Times for  Field Day

NASA ISS Ham Radio Project Engineer Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO,  has
released a list of International Space Station Field Day pass  times
for North and South America.  See
www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/06/15/1/ for pass times and  any
updates. The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
(ARISS)  program has announced that the Phase 2 ham station aboard
the ISS will be on  the air in crossband repeater mode over Field Day
weekend, Saturday and  Sunday, June 24-25. The chances of actually
talking to one of the crew  members appear to be minimal, however.

''Keep in mind that these are not  scheduled times for the crew to be
active,'' Ransom points out. He says crew  members Jeff Williams,
KD5TVQ, and Pavel Vinogradov, RV3BS, may work some  stations
personally, but they're already booked pretty heavily during  FD
weekend.

''They will try to participate as time permits, but the  pass times
for North America are not favorable,'' Ransom noted. The crew  should
be on its normal sleep schedule of 2130-0600 UTC during Field  Day
weekend. When they're awake, however, Williams and Vinogradov  will
have their hands full preparing for the arrival of the Progress  22
supply vehicle on Monday, June 26, when the crew will deactivate  the
crossband repeater.

The crossband repeater uplink is 437.800 MHz.  The downlink is
145.800 MHz. Ransom says the crossband repeater should be  active
after 1900 UTC on Thursday, June 22 to give stations time  to
practice working through it and to learn how best to deal with
Doppler  shift on the uplink, which can be considerable. The
crossband repeater will  be available only to low-power (QRP)
stations following AMSAT criteria,  Ransom said. A QRP station may
run no more than 10 W to a vertical or  handheld antenna.

US pass times are not especially ideal for contacts  with the crew
members. The only one on Saturday, June 24 (UTC) - over Mexico  and
the Eastern US - falls during the crew's sleep period. Passes  on
Sunday, June 24 - from 0046 to 0105 UTC and from 0708 to 0728 UTC
over  the Central US - may offer a better opportunity. Stations in
the US Southwest  might look for crew activity on Sunday from 0844 to
0900 UTC, while those in  Hawaii should check Sunday from 1152 to
1200 UTC and again from 1327 to 1335  UTC.

If Williams or Vinogradov do find time to get on the air,  Ransom
says, they also will use the crossband repeater mode. Williams  will
give a report of ''NA1SS, 1 Alpha ISS,'' while Vinogradov will give  a
report of ''RS0ISS, 1 Alpha ISS.''

Contacts through the ISS  crossband repeater count as a satellite
contact for Field Day bonus points,  but contacts with the crew do
not count for Field Day bonus  points.

AMSAT is making its ECHO (AO-51) satellite available for Field  Day,
Ransom notes. One of AO-51's FM transponders (145.880 MHz  up/435.150
MHz down, no CTCSS tone needed) will be QRP only during the  Field
Day period.

Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, has indicated that  PCSat2--which is mounted on
the outside of the ISS--will be in packet mode  and operating on
145.825 MHz simplex during Field Day  weekend.
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/EX