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Amateur Radio on the International Space Station

ariss.org

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Re: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station

#82
post #23

> A key development is the Multi-Voltage Power Supply (MVPS), which interfaces with multiple electric outlet connection types on ISS So here we have the supposed pinnacle of human achievement and international cooperation, and they can't even agree on a common electrical plug and voltage? Excuse me while I go and cry in my beer..

It's a matter of perspective. You could say that building an interoperable power supply was a pragmatic solution to multiple independent engineering teams building modules. This approach allows individual teams to use power systems they are familiar with so they can focus on actually building the ISS.

I know little about it but the MVPS sounds like one of the ISS' many accomplishments.

Re: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station

#83

I just want to remind everyone that it only costs $10-$15 to get a license. You can generally take multiple tests in one day, so you could get a technician's and general in one day. Not too much use to get an extra. The tests are pretty easy and I'd expect most people on this site can get the technician without studying. Test questions are from a pool and you can do practice tests here[1] [1] http://aa9pw.com/radio/

And you only have to do those tests once. You can renew every 10 years in perpetuity.

I got mine at a HAM fest I went to with my dad 12 years ago. I hadn't studied. It's fairly basic things about radio and legal things like 'can you use amateur radio for business?' (no).

- KD8ECA :)

Re: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station

#84

I just want to remind everyone that it only costs $10-$15 to get a license. You can generally take multiple tests in one day, so you could get a technician's and general in one day. Not too much use to get an extra. The tests are pretty easy and I'd expect most people on this site can get the technician without studying. Test questions are from a pool and you can do practice tests here[1] [1] http://aa9pw.com/radio/

And you only have to do those tests once. You can renew every 10 years in perpetuity. I got mine at a HAM fest I went to with my dad 12 years ago. I hadn't studied. It's fairly basic things about radio and legal things like 'can you use amateur radio for business?' (no). - KD8ECA :)

Seriously? On my technician practice exams, I aced the physics stuff ("What's the wavelength of a 7.255MHz signal?" "Let's see, the speed of light divided by 7,255,000 is...") but the FCC regs part was an utter black box. "What's the maximum permitted power on a 20m frequency?" A lot of that was sheer memorization.

- KM6OCD

Re: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station

#85
post #23

> A key development is the Multi-Voltage Power Supply (MVPS), which interfaces with multiple electric outlet connection types on ISS So here we have the supposed pinnacle of human achievement and international cooperation, and they can't even agree on a common electrical plug and voltage? Excuse me while I go and cry in my beer..

It's often referred to as "two space stations flying in close proximity". One Russian, one American. 28VDC on the Russian side, 124VDC on the American.

Rumour has it that there's bolts with imperial thread on one end and metric on the other holding them together in the middle..

Re: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station

#86

I can't recommend amateur radio enough to fellow HN readers. There are so many things to do -- my favorite is HF CW.

What is so interesting about amateur radio, besides talking to other people? Could you expand a little bit on this? This is an honest question, as I used to be a licensed user of CB radios but the bad mood of truck drivers and mIRC (internet) led me to leave it eventually.

I imagine everyone gets something different out of it. I have my technicians but have never made contact and barely listen. I use it as an excuse to learn electronics. There is a lot of material written for the HAM audience that is great for learning about electronics.

Re: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station

#87

I can't recommend amateur radio enough to fellow HN readers. There are so many things to do -- my favorite is HF CW.

What is so interesting about amateur radio, besides talking to other people? Could you expand a little bit on this? This is an honest question, as I used to be a licensed user of CB radios but the bad mood of truck drivers and mIRC (internet) led me to leave it eventually.

Doing experiments outside of a personal lab in a legal way.

Re: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Just because they're connected to the internet doesn't immediately invalidate their use. We've got the PNW DMR network up here[1] that gives you tons of coverage where cellphones don't[2] all through a linked repeater system. We had an emergency a while back where someone got stranded up on the mountain due to a flat tire and they were diabetic so it was an urgent situation. In that case just hitting one repeater the…

Hold your horses. The thread is a response to a comment suggesting the ability to speak to someone in Australia over the internet as reason to get into HAM. Nobody is "invalidating" anything.

Re: Amateur Radio on the International Space Station

#89
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's on 7.2? I rarely listen to HF.

A couple of lids, trying there hardest to get fined by the FCC by trolling hams. I have an SDR here: http://64.136.200.36:8073/

Wow. I just used your SDR (totally cool). What I am hearing right now is simply horrific (LSB brings it in loud and clear). If these guys have tickets, the FCC needs to pull them.
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