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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