This reminds me of Dinah in 'Seveneves' by Neal Stephenson, communicating with her father from the ISS.
Yes, this is similar.
Source: Am Dinan.
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
11–20 of 125 posts
Re: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
#12My university's amateur radio club had a large collection of QSL cards to go through. Really cool how widespread its use was; but it also shows how far reaching an ubiquitous the internet has become. Most of these were from pre-1970 and came from all over the world.
I got my technician's level license by using the 'Ham Radio Study' android app which does a good job reinforcing the concepts taught in the ARRL manual. The test banks for each level are all publicly posted and have a rotation of about 3 years for each level.
Edit: Meant to type QSL, not QST.
Re: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
#13Finally, the moment I've been waiting for, amateur radio on the top of hackernews. :)
It's also worth mentioning we've got a lot of amateur radio satellites in orbit[0], and more coming, including a geosynchronous satellite launching sometime in March (Es'hail 2)[1].
Some are very easy to get into with just an HT (or two for full-duplex).[2]
[0] http://www.amsat.org/status/
Re: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
#14I can't recommend amateur radio enough to fellow HN readers.
There are so many things to do -- my favorite is HF CW.
Re: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
#15My university's amateur radio club had a large collection of QSL cards to go through. Really cool how widespread its use was; but it also shows how far reaching an ubiquitous the internet has become. Most of these were from pre-1970 and came from all over the world. I got my technician's level license by using the 'Ham Radio Study' android app which does a good job reinforcing the concepts taught in the ARRL manual.…
*QSL cards
Re: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
#16If you want to use a communication system that will work if the Cell towers, local internet, and the phone system are offline get an Amateur Radio Licence. If you want to talk to some random person in Australia using a system which routes your radio through the internet get an Amateur radio Licence. If you want to help out in a disaster then get an Amateur radio licence.
In the second point, did you mean "not through the internet"?
Re: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
#17If you want to use a communication system that will work if the Cell towers, local internet, and the phone system are offline get an Amateur Radio Licence. If you want to talk to some random person in Australia using a system which routes your radio through the internet get an Amateur radio Licence. If you want to help out in a disaster then get an Amateur radio licence.
In the second point, did you mean "not through the internet"?
No, the endpoints are communicated through radio but they are linked using a system similar to VOIP.
Re: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
In the second point, did you mean "not through the internet"?
No, the endpoints are communicated through radio but they are linked using a system similar to VOIP.
Then why don't you just use the internet in the first place, and skip the license and expensive equipment?
Re: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, the endpoints are communicated through radio but they are linked using a system similar to VOIP.
Then why don't you just use the internet in the first place, and skip the license and expensive equipment?
Ya I agree (as a ham). No point in using internet linked repeaters as a reason to get into ham radio. If you have a ham radio, sure, play around with it, but it is kinda pointless. It doesn't exactly teach you how to communicate when the internet doesn't work. -K0COW
Re: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
#20"A key development is the Multi-Voltage Power Supply (MVPS), which interfaces with multiple electric outlet connection types on ISS and provides a multitude of power output capabilities for our current and future ARISS operations and amateur radio experimentation. It will also allow our Ham Video system to have a dedicated power outlet, eliminating the outlet sharing we have now, which shuts down Ham Video at times."
Looks like quite a feat to qualify a spacecraft power supply!
Question for hams: since USB Power Delivery can supply 20V at 5A, might USB serve as a standardized power source for radio amplifiers? How "clean" is the power?