[HIham] ISS Pass Sunday, 1:08:40 - 1:12:40 am

Fri Mar 3 10:13:57 EST 2006

Dear EARC members,

At our last general membership meeting, we discussed space communications
and undertook a demonstration of connecting with the International Space
Station (ISS) using packet radio.  As mentioned, Bill McArthur, KC5ACR, has
been the most active amateur radio operator/astronaut in space.  Bill is
scheduled to return to earth towards the end of this month or the beginning
of April.

Since Bill's free time is on Sundays (UTC) and there's one or
two usable passes of the ISS each day, there's only four or so chances
left to contact Bill and the ISS.  Unfortunately, Bill's free time is 
between
8:00 pm Saturday and 12 noon Sunday Hawaii time, so much of the
opportunities are at night when we are most likely sleeping.  There
is a chance that Bill will be operating VHF voice this Sunday morning
between best time of the pass which is approximately 1:08:40 am
and 1:12:40 am.  There is no guarentee Bill will at the mike at this time,
but he's been informed that Hawaii is looking to make contact with him
on this pass before he departs Expedition 12.  He might modify his
usual Sunday routine to be available at this time.

As you saw during the demonstration, space communications is
very predictable and reliable -- it's usually a matter of whether
you're properly equipped and prepared that makes the difference.
Below are the details.  As you may know, you're in the best
locale in the whole world, because there's no hams
in other states or countries at the same time trying to
make a contact.  Go for it!

For those of you who subscribe to multiple ham e-mail groups,
my apologies if you're getting multiple copies of this e-mail.
Thought you'ld like to know about this unusual and limited
opportunity.

If interested, I will be at or near the old Waikiki Heliport, which is the
parking lot near the Hilton Hawaiian Hotel lagoon, on the 147.06
state-wide repeater system prior to the pass (12:50 - 1:00 am) along with
Ernie, NH7L.  The station will be a modified version of what
you saw at the presentation.  We may move depending on the availability
of suitable parking.

If you have questions, or would like to get pass information for your
location, feel free to email me before 6:00 pm Saturday with your
longitude/lattitude information of where you intend to operate.

I should be up on the EARC net on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 pm
on 146.88 to discuss and answer questions you may have.  When
you see Kimo, KH7U, thank him for the use of the video projector
and screen at the last meeting which enabled you to get a clear
view of all the information at the presentation.

Aloha and good luck,

Ron Hashiro, AH6RH
http://mysite.verizon.net/rhashiro/am-radio/in-hawaii.html

-------------------------

The pass information for Honolulu is in the table at the end of
this e-mail.  It's a 20 degree pass, that appears slightly north
of West, continues along the Southwest, and ends up South.
The distance of the ISS during the best part of the pass is
approx 675 nm down to the closest approach of
about 470 nm.  (In case you're wondering, when the ISS first
appears over the horizon, it's about 1,200 nautical miles or
1,380 statute miles away.) It is a descending pass (heading
from NW to SE).  Stations along the Waianae Coast have
an excellent location.  A diagram of the pass from
STSPLUS is visible at:

http://mysite.verizon.net/rhashiro/am-radio/mar0506.gif

While you might be able to hear Bill on a walkie with a rubber duck
antenna or extendable whip antenna, you'll probably need at least
15 watts and a mobile vertical antenna to contact Bill.  A directional
antenna would be an improvement.  Program three memory channels
in your VHF radio, to account for the effects of doppler shift due
to the speed of the ISS (17,000+ MPH).

Channel       RX           TX          Offset

      1       145.805   144.485      -1.32
      2       145.800   144.490      -1.31
      3       145.795   144.495      -1.30

Use memory channel 1 during the first third of the pass, memory
channel 2 during the middle, and memory channel 3 during
the last third, as indicated by the last column.  Remember that
the ham radios in the space station do not compensate for doppler --
the ground station compensates for doppler.

Since this is a very limited pass (only four usable minutes), please
be courteous and allow others to make contacts.  Please limit your
contact to giving out your callsign and listening for Bill to acknowledge
you by reading back your callsign.  If Bill wants to chat, please keep
it short as others will be trying and you can't hear them because
they are talking on a separate transmit frequency from potentially
around the entire state.

If you make contact, you can get a QSL card via ARRL Headquarters.
Check www.arrl.org for details on amateur radio on the ISS (ARISS)
and QSL cards.  If you hear the space station, you're eligible for
an SWL QSL card.

http://www.arrl.org/ARISS

STSORBIT PLUS Data Output to STSPLUS.LOG, Data = 8

Satellite Name:         ISS Space Station
Catalog Number:         25544  98067A 

Uplink Center Frequency:    144.39000 MHz
Dnlink Center Frequency:    145.80000 MHz
                                                         Freq Diff in Hz
MM/DD     TIME     Sat Lat   Sat Lon  Sat Elv  Sat Azm   Uplink   
DnLink  Chan
------------------------------------------------------------------------
03/05 11:06:10 UTC  30.061  -175.650    0.352  302.162    -3144     
3158    1
03/05 11:06:20 UTC  29.600  -175.153    0.957  301.377    -3126     3139 
   1
03/05 11:06:30 UTC  29.138  -174.660    1.578  300.538    -3106     3118 
   1
03/05 11:06:40 UTC  28.673  -174.173    2.218  299.642    -3083     3095 
   1
03/05 11:06:50 UTC  28.206  -173.690    2.876  298.681    -3057     3069 
   1
03/05 11:07:00 UTC  27.736  -173.212    3.556  297.649    -3028     3040 
   1
03/05 11:07:10 UTC  27.265  -172.738    4.257  296.539    -2995     3007 
   1
03/05 11:07:20 UTC  26.792  -172.268    4.983  295.343    -2958     2971 
   1
03/05 11:07:30 UTC  26.318  -171.803    5.733  294.052    -2917     2929 
   1
03/05 11:07:40 UTC  25.841  -171.342    6.510  292.653    -2870     2882 
   1
03/05 11:07:50 UTC  25.363  -170.884    7.314  291.137    -2818     2829 
   1
03/05 11:08:00 UTC  24.883  -170.431    8.148  289.489    -2758     2769 
   1
03/05 11:08:10 UTC  24.401  -169.982    9.011  287.695    -2690     2701 
   1
03/05 11:08:20 UTC  23.917  -169.536    9.903  285.738    -2614     2625 
   1
03/05 11:08:30 UTC  23.433  -169.094   10.823  283.600    -2527     2537 
   1
03/05 11:08:40 UTC  22.946  -168.655   11.770  281.262    -2428     2438 
   2
03/05 11:08:50 UTC  22.458  -168.220   12.739  278.702    -2316     2325 
   2
03/05 11:09:00 UTC  21.969  -167.788   13.724  275.899    -2188     2197 
   2
03/05 11:09:10 UTC  21.478  -167.359   14.714  272.833    -2044     2053 
   2
03/05 11:09:20 UTC  20.986  -166.934   15.698  269.484    -1882     1890 
   2
03/05 11:09:30 UTC  20.493  -166.511   16.657  265.836    -1700     1707 
   2
03/05 11:09:40 UTC  19.998  -166.092   17.570  261.882    -1498     1504 
   2
03/05 11:09:50 UTC  19.502  -165.675   18.410  257.623    -1275     1280 
   2
03/05 11:10:00 UTC  19.005  -165.261   19.146  253.075    -1032     1037 
   2
03/05 11:10:10 UTC  18.507  -164.850   19.749  248.269     -772      775 
   2
03/05 11:10:20 UTC  18.008  -164.441   20.189  243.254     -497      499 
   2
03/05 11:10:30 UTC  17.507  -164.035   20.443  238.098     -212      213 
   2
03/05 11:10:40 UTC  17.006  -163.632   20.496  232.880       77      -77 
   2
03/05 11:10:50 UTC  16.504  -163.230   20.345  227.683      364     -366 
   2
03/05 11:11:00 UTC  16.000  -162.831   20.000  222.592      644     -647 
   2
03/05 11:11:10 UTC  15.496  -162.435   19.479  217.678      912     -916 
   2
03/05 11:11:20 UTC  14.991  -162.040   18.810  213.001     1163    -1168 
   2
03/05 11:11:30 UTC  14.485  -161.647   18.023  208.600     1395    -1401 
   2
03/05 11:11:40 UTC  13.978  -161.257   17.148  204.497     1607    -1614 
   2
03/05 11:11:50 UTC  13.471  -160.868   16.215  200.702     1798    -1805 
   2
03/05 11:12:00 UTC  12.962  -160.481   15.246  197.209     1969    -1977 
   2
03/05 11:12:10 UTC  12.453  -160.096   14.262  194.006     2121    -2130 
   2
03/05 11:12:20 UTC  11.944  -159.712   13.278  191.077     2256    -2265 
   2
03/05 11:12:30 UTC  11.433  -159.330   12.305  188.399     2374    -2384 
   2
03/05 11:12:40 UTC  10.922  -158.950   11.351  185.953     2479    -2489 
   2
03/05 11:12:50 UTC  10.410  -158.571   10.421  183.716     2571    -2582 
   3
03/05 11:13:00 UTC   9.898  -158.193    9.519  181.669     2652    -2663 
   3
03/05 11:13:10 UTC   9.386  -157.817    8.645  179.793     2724    -2735 
   3
03/05 11:13:20 UTC   8.872  -157.441    7.800  178.070     2786    -2798 
   3
03/05 11:13:30 UTC   8.359  -157.068    6.984  176.485     2842    -2854 
   3
03/05 11:13:40 UTC   7.845  -156.695    6.197  175.024     2891    -2903 
   3
03/05 11:13:50 UTC   7.330  -156.323    5.436  173.674     2935    -2947 
   3
03/05 11:14:00 UTC   6.815  -155.952    4.701  172.425     2973    -2985 
   3
03/05 11:14:10 UTC   6.300  -155.582    3.990  171.265     3007    -3020 
   3
03/05 11:14:20 UTC   5.784  -155.213    3.302  170.187     3038    -3050 
   3
03/05 11:14:30 UTC   5.268  -154.844    2.635  169.183     3065    -3077 
   3
03/05 11:14:40 UTC   4.752  -154.476    1.989  168.245     3089    -3102 
   3
03/05 11:14:50 UTC   4.235  -154.109    1.360  167.367     3110    -3123 
   3
03/05 11:15:00 UTC   3.719  -153.742    0.749  166.545     3129    -3142 
   3
03/05 11:15:10 UTC   3.202  -153.376    0.154  165.773     3146    -3159 
   3