ARISS 25th Commemorative Event to feature 9K6 packet this week

As promised by ARISS, the 25th Anniversary Commemorative radio event started operations from the ISS amateur radio station this past week.

Early in the week several amateur stations around the world
were able to copy the slow-scan television (SSTV) pictures transmitted from the ISS.

On Friday, December 5 the ARISS crossband FM repeater was enabled with several stations reporting excellent signals. When the crossband repeater is operational its uplink is on 437.800 MHz FM with its downlink on 145.800 MHz FM. Remember to adjust for doppler shift when operating in this mode.

For the week of December 7-12 ARISS will run a test of 9600 baud packet operations on the simplex frequency 145.825 MHz.

To celebrate our 25 years of amateur radio operations from space, the ARISS team has planned a set of special event opportunities during the month of December and part of January. A special certificate is being developed for those who communicate with the ISS, either 2-way direct (with the ISS crew,the digipeater, or cross band repeater), or 1-way reception of SSTV or voice downlink.

Several "surprises" planned over the month-long celebration. The surprises will be announced once ARISS is pre-positioned to accomplish them.

ARISS reminds everyone that ISS flight requirements related to EVA and vehicle activity may require the radio to be off for some portion of this schedule. And school contacts and general QSO opportunities by the crew will also preempt this schedule for short periods of time.

But remember that if you hear these, you still qualify for a commemorative certificate.

Frank, KA3HDO
AMSAT-NA V.P. for Human Spaceflight Programs
and ARISS International Chairman