Video of space station reception on 145.800 MHz FM
On Monday, January 9, Edmund 2E0MDO received the International Space Station (ISS) using a Baofeng UV-3R hand-held with its supplied antenna.
He writes:
Continuing the theme of receiving the International Space Station in random car parks in Southern England, using various low-tech cheap equipment…
The signal from the space-station I am receiving is on 145.800MHz, in narrow FM, at the top-end of the 2 meter amateur radio band. The signal going up to the space-station was coming from a school in France. Sadly I couldn’t receive that side of the conversation. The astronaut speaking is Dan Burbank, callsign KC5ZSX.
Watch International Space Station received in Worthing – 9 January 2012
The handheld is the Mark II version of the very cheap and cheerful (but excellent value for the money) Baofeng UV-3R, using just the supplied rubber duck as an antenna. The smallest step size on the radio is 5kHz, so I couldn’t do anything about the Doppler shift unfortunately! 145.800 was close enough though.
There is slight breakthrough from pagers, which cannot be helped in a radio of this size and complexity. Using a bigger and better antenna might actually have made the breakthrough worse.
If I can receive the ISS, then *anybody* can! Go for it, whatever your receiving setup is!!
For more information on hearing the ISS read ‘Listening to the International Space Station’ at http://www.uk.amsat.org/3491
