[HamSat] ARISS Status - 02 August 2004

[Timothy Pickett]

1. Habikino School Contact Successful

The Council on Sound Development for School Children in Habikino in
Habikino, Japan experienced a successful contact with the ISS on Thursday,
July 29 at 11:55 UTC. Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, speaking in English and Japanese,
answered 16 questions put to him by fifth and sixth graders from Habikigaoka
Elementary School, as an audience of 70 children and 300 adults looked on.
One TV station and 2 newspapers covered the event.


2. Russian Contact Successful

The aerospace festival "Let's Give the Planet to the Kids" is being held
from July 15 through August 4, at ARTEK International Children's' Center.
The President of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma, UNESCO's Deputy Director General,
Mr. Barboza, members of diplomatic corps from over 20 countries, and other
high-ranking dignitaries were invited to the gala concert, which was
scheduled for July 30. During this event, a HAM radio contact was scheduled
with Gennady Padalka, RN3DT, and cosmonaut Anatoly Artsebarsky, callsign -
Ulyana-7-MIR [?7???]) at 16:50 UTC.


3. Upcoming School Contact

Two Tennessee schools, Good Shepherd School in Decherd and St Paul's in
Tullahoma, will share an ARISS contact. The contact has been scheduled for
Tuesday, August 10 at 1340 UTC, and will take place from St. Paul's.


4. Mike Fincke Makes Random Contacts

Astronaut Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, has been enjoying himself on the ARISS radio
systems. In addition to his participation in Field Day, he has made many
general contacts. He has been most active on the weekends, including this
past weekend, July 31 - August 1, when he made over 30 contacts to 5
continents. ARRL ran an article on the Expedition 9 crew members and their
time on the air. See "ISS crew schedule tight for casual hamming," at:
http://www.arrl.org/?news_list_off=15


5. ARISS Team sends Photos to Japan for Exhibit

The Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL) will sponsor a Ham Fair 2004 on
Saturday and Sunday, August 21 - 22 at Tokyo Big Site, Japan. The ARISS U.S.
team provided photographs of the ARISS radio equipment in the Service Module
to Hiroto Watarikawa, JJ1LYU. Hiroto will display a modified Kenwood D700E,
which looks like the flight radio, and will use the photos for a slide show
on a personal computer as part of an exhibit in the Kenwood Booth. An
attendance of 28,000 people is expected at the event.


6. ARISS Radio Systems to be Cycled for EVA

In preparation of the EVA, scheduled for Tuesday, August 3, the amateur
radios on board the ISS are scheduled to be cycled off at 0850 UTC on Aug 2.
They will be turned on again on Aug 4 at 0850 UTC.


7. ARISS Acquires Amateur Radios for Training

A Yaesu FT-100D amateur radio is currently being qualified for flight as
part of the ARISS Phase 2 Hardware. The ARISS U.S. team has recently
acquired six of these transceivers and associated tuners. These will be used
for training, crew procedure development and testing.


8. Coordinating Teacher of First ARISS Contact Receives Second License

Rita Wright, KC9CDL, recently earned her General Class license. Rita is an
8th grade science and math teacher from Burbank School in Burbank, Illinois,
whose school experienced the first ARISS radio contact with Bill Shepherd,
KD5GSL, on December 21, 2000. She still uses radio and NASA material in her
classroom and pursued her second license in order to help her students
progress even further in science.