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Space

Packet Radio On ISS Beeping Away 46

Posted by timothy from the do-they-use-cb-jargon-too? dept.
mzac writes: "The amateur radio abord the ISS is now activated and is digipeating packet radio. With a simple 5W handheld and a 3/4 wave 2 meter antenna, the signal can be received quite easily. Anyone who doesn't have a amateur radio license but does have a scanner can probably also receive the signals with a handheld scanner and the stock antenna. Using satellite tracking software and NTP software to sync your computer's clock is a good way of knowing when the ISS will pass over." (Read more.)

"Transmitting to the station is a bit more difficult as everyone is trying to transmit to the station on each pass, but many people have made it through.

Frequencies for the ISS are:

  • Worldwide downlink for voice and packet: 145.80MHz
  • Worldwide packet uplink: 145.99MHz
  • Region 1 voice uplink: 145.20MHz
  • Region 2 & 3 voice uplink: 144.49MHz
More info can be found at: Amsat or the ARISS Home Page."
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Packet Radio On ISS Beeping Away More

Packet Radio On ISS Beeping Away

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  • heh, I can see it now.. (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    FIRST POST on the ISS!!! And inbetween, the trolls are going to be complaining "ISS sucks because it is made by Microsoft.."

    Great, what a day

  • nope. Just a simple digipeater (which lost its configuration, so it's responding to the call NOCALL only).


    ...phil
  • Good thing they're using 2 meter, since any class of ham (at least in the US..) can operate on 2 meter.

    Well, all of the currently offered classes, yes. Those still holding Novice licenses don't have 2 meter privileges.

  • honestly, it's not that close...

    There's a reason that certain ideas occur over and over: cause they are easy targets. There's an entire group dedicated to finding references to the "virtual/digital/electronic Pearl Harbor." Cause any damn fool can make that one up...

  • 1200 baud AFSK..I've managed to bounce a few packets up there myself. 73 de Maggie K3XS
  • http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/RealTime/JTrack/ that and hundreds of other things orbiting earth... here's the ISS direct page: http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/temp/StationLoc.html
  • Try listening for the voice downlink on 143.625 MHz. This is not an amateur radio frequency; it's used primarily by the Russians on baord the station. That's the language you'll hear used most frequently, although I have heard English from time to time. The signals come through loud and clear on an old haldheld scanner using a 1/4 wave whip antenna.
  • : what happen?
    : we get signal
    : main radio turn on!
    : d00d!!! 3y3 g07 f1r5t p0st0rz on the 5p4c3 573710n!!! uhmm, all your base are belong to me!

  • Re:heh, I can see it now.. (Score:3)

    by Kartoffel ( 30238 ) on Friday April 13, 2001 @08:06AM (#294704)
    ISS isn't made by Microsoft, but it *is* proprietary

    Not true. Per the Natioanl Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958: "The Administraction shall provide for the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination of information concerning its activities and the results thereof."

    Getting specs from contractors is more difficult, however, because they've got contacts (surprisingly enough) that allow them to keep their own stuff proprietary. Anything NASA does purely on its own, however, is meant to be freely available.

    Some things like parts of the ISS expedidion #1 crew's log entries, were "redacted" by NASA PAO office. That doesn't mean it's classified, however. You can still get all that stuff throug a FOIA (freedom of informatio act) request. The redacted stuff was mostly Shep cursing out flaky software, or the crew talking about going to the bathroom, or losing a small part cause it drifted away behind a rack. No conspiracies to cover up... just silly things that for whatever reason the public affairs folks "sanitized".

  • Map of stations making it in (Score:4)

    by jmaslak ( 39422 ) on Thursday April 12, 2001 @10:25PM (#294705)
    http://www.ariss.net/

    It includes maps of the stations that get to make it in.

    As a disappointment, there are some dweebs that are tying up the link by sending too frequent of beacons. After all, if you can wait an hour between passes, can't you be happy if only 1 or 2 beacons are heard an hour?
  • Glad to see that ham is still going strong, and is no longer the exclusive domain of middle aged white guys. In fact, one of the most interesting guys I've ever talked with on 2-meter (voice) is 12 and is blind. Good thing they're using 2 meter, since any class of ham (at least in the US..) can operate on 2 meter.

    KG4KWI
  • They're solar panels, for collecting energy. I have seen them called "Solar Sails" elsewhere [space.com], but that seems like a misnomer to me. Solar sails are for navigation through the solar wind, and (thanks to events this week) they are still fictitious.
    --
    Patrick Doyle

  • Another site (Score:4)

    by superid ( 46543 ) on Thursday April 12, 2001 @07:52PM (#294708) Homepage
    I use Heavens-above [heavens-above.com] to get times for sightings in my area.

    SuperID
    Free Database Hosting [freesql.org]
  • From what I understand your X-mhz box does not run at precisely X-mhz. The clock actually oscillates slightly around the stated frequency. This is of course to prevent a huge spike of RF emissions at the clock frequency, which makes it way easier to get FCC certification.

    This is an option in most modern bioses (spread spectrum) that is switched OFF by default
  • Nothing to do with the MPAA.

    The amateur radio world is divided into three regions. ( see map: http://www.iaru.org/ituzonesc.gif )

    For the graphics-impaired (I'm running lynx this morning), region 1 is Europe, Middle-East, Africa, and Russia. Region 2 is North, Central, and South America. Region 3 is Pacific and Indian Ocean nations.
    Oh, and China.

  • I got through! (Score:5)

    by QuantumHack ( 58048 ) on Thursday April 12, 2001 @08:39PM (#294711) Homepage
    On April 10th, at 6:35pm CDT, I sent a message through the ISS digipeater, using nothing but a low-power 2-meter radio in my car, a TNC (radio modem), and a little handbuilt terminal (coulda used a Palm, even). I'm in Oklahoma, and the message was picked up by a station in Colorado, and one in Maryland. Pretty cool. This would make a great "stuck-out-in-the-boonies-and-need-help" thing. Plus, since we're using APRS (transmitting our GPS position along with messages), that means "help" would know where it was needed. Cell phones don't work everywhere, you know, and don't even get me started on Iridium. Ham radio still has some uses.

    Check out http://www.hamhud.net to see what I used to get through.

    Steve KA9MVA
    "QuantumHack"
  • What are you running for your packet link: 2400 or 9600? Given that packet is simplex, CD/CSMA, and requires the keyup and keydown delays for turn-arounds, I'd think TCP/IP would be unacceptably slow.

    Also, how do you prevent the 5|r!p7 |1ddi3z from sending unacceptable things over the link?

    If I could come up with good solutions to these problems myself, I'd be tempted to set my station back up.

    73 de N0YKG
  • I too love NTP, especially since my old (p133) computer would lose about 57s daily. But you don't need to be on Linux to take advantage of getting your clock synced on the hour. WinNT and 2K have NTP built in, letting you sync via the 'net.exe' tool, although I'm not 100% sure on that.

    The rest of the Win32 crowd can use on of many, many utils to synchronize their clocks. It's enough to search for 'synchronize [cnet.com]' on download.cnet.com to find a bunch of them. I recommend Sync-It With Atom [tolvanen.com], but that's just a personal preference.

    jedrek
  • On 2 meters, TCP/IP is dreadfully slow.

    It can be done, however.

    The ham specific routing protocols that sit on top of AX.25 stuff are much more usable on 2 m.

    I haven't done this for several years, but one
    of them was called ROSE and I can't remember what
    the other one was called.

    KN6QC (inactive)
  • So, does this mean ISS will get a NAL?
    Will NASA have to pay a fine to the FCC?

    Or is it id'ing properly.
  • Try here [nasa.gov]
  • no longer the exclusive domain of middle aged white guys

    Around here, that's true. Most of the operators are retired white guys. Ham Radio -a bunch of old men who can't hear trying to program a radio with a display they can't see!

  • Anyone have a mirror for the satillite if it crashes due to the /. effect?
    You'll see it mirrored on the surface of the Pacific Ocean, right before impact.

    --

  • Re:How to do it? (Score:3)

    by burris ( 122191 ) on Thursday April 12, 2001 @09:06PM (#294719)
    From what I understand your X-mhz box does not run at precisely X-mhz. The clock actually oscillates slightly around the stated frequency. This is of course to prevent a huge spike of RF emissions at the clock frequency, which makes it way easier to get FCC certification.

    Burris

  • Dude, ISS isn't made by Microsoft, but it *is* proprietary. They should release it under the GPL or BSD license so that we can all *easily* make upgrades to it. I mean, c'mon, this ain't rocket science. ;-D

  • Cool, where'd I put that HTX-202.
  • Best radio I ever owned. Only cost me $75, it has survived quite a few drops, and it was even left outside in the rain for a week. It still works wonderfully.
  • Thanks, sorry to infer that you were such... never actually seen anyone apologize on this site before. I can certainly see what pissed you off though.

    Now, whoever the hell modded your last post down, is in fact, THE asshole.
    ---
  • OMG, it is the same post. Well, I apologize for stealing your thunder. I had not read your post before, but I can certainly see where you're coming from. I even think your post is a helluva lot better done than mine.

    Hell, no one even understood mine, now that /. and Linux aren't synonymous. (It's already been modded down)

    Based on your comments however, I find it unlikely that *I* am the one who is acting like an asshole.

    ---

  • Just what amateur radio needs.... (Score:3)

    by yawhcihw ( 171760 ) on Thursday April 12, 2001 @07:18PM (#294725)
    another busy, intermittently available repeater.

    yay

    now when do we get autopatch? :)
  • In the UK, any class can use 2m as well. In common with most European (particularly UK) licensing, it's all become a bit complex in the past five years though...
  • Of course you're right, they're panels, they turn light from the sun into electricity, not redirect the force of the solar wind. (solar sails would be quite useless in orbit, AFAIK) Up late typing nonsense again, I'm afraid, thanks.
  • I remember when the ISS first had its solar sails deployed. That night, I looked up the night's pass on J-pass, went outside, and saw it rise, for the first time. I made sure to do that the next few nights, as the orbit would allow. It's going to be nice to be able to "see" it for the first time with a radio, get that warm fuzzy feeling about international cooperation across borders and all.
  • Eh, solar sails?

  • Region 1 voice uplink: 145.20MHz

    Region 2 & 3 voice uplink: 144.49MHz

    Did the MPAA force them into this? Are the Region 2 and 3 uplinks delayed by over five months?

  • Here is another good one [nasa.gov]. And this one will also show the shuttle when it is in orbit. http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/
  • University of Deleware NTP is indeed nice software, however if you run it under linux or any x86 arch, be aware that a hole was found last week. A "panic fix" is availible, but a stable fix is not yet availible. Indeed, I saw a post on comp.protocols.time.ntp today where it was confirmed that the quick panic fix had in fact introduced new bugs. Here's the CERT advisory [cert.org] and the original Bugtraq post [securityfocus.com] that started it all.

    Part of me is incredulous that slashdot staff would recommend installing a system daemon with a known unfixed vulnerability, but hey, these guys aren't journalists, and have no obligation to us.

    Actually, now that I look at it, my parent post seems to be making an allusion to being hacked due to running NTP on a home linux box hosted on a DSL line. Not bad, but parent has a long way to go before getting close to the sublety of a real USENET troll.

  • You're in Oklahoma? I'm in Stillwater, and can be found on the W5YJ repeater (OSU's ARC). What's your usual 20? 73 for now... KD5IJW

  • Re:Idea (Score:1)

    by TGK ( 262438 )
    Bastard! Beet me to it. This one [nasa.gov] is also good for that sort of thing.



    This has been another useless post from....

  • Oh yeah... (Score:3)

    by Scoria ( 264473 ) <{slashmail} {at} {initialized.org}> on Friday April 13, 2001 @02:13AM (#294736) Homepage
    Use J-Track [nasa.gov] or J-Track 3D [nasa.gov] to see when the ISS will be near your house.

    And this [nasa.gov] is NASA's ISS homepage, if any of you want to know something about the ISS...

  • Good, since MIR is dead. And, Ham radio dead (Score:3)

    by mwillems ( 266506 ) on Thursday April 12, 2001 @10:26PM (#294737) Homepage
    Good to hear we have another satellite! I (aka VA3MVW) used to digipeat via MIR, and the feeling that I was talking from Toronto to, say, Texas via space station MIR was fascinating. Using simple equipment too - simple 2m VHF, with a simple TNC (I have a few for sale btw: I use 3 and own 5)...

    Ham radio is not dead - one use that /.ers should like is TCP/IP over AX.25 packet. Meaning, when my cable provider is down (happens a few times a week) I can get out (or in!) via packet radio. Telnet to a server 25 miles away from home, and standard TCP/IP from there; a ham's IP address being issued by ampr.org.

    Then there's emergency radio (ice storms, tornadoes, etc), and talking to people kin your car: I spend hours talking away while stuck in traffic jams. And it's all free. :)

    73,

    Mike
    ---

  • I found this free satellite tracking program for windows available here [blueyonder.co.uk].
  • Does it have a TCP/IP stack? If so, what's it's IP address? Let's slashdot this thing silly!
  • ... because all the Slashdot trolls are going to screw with the system!
  • If you look at http://www.ariss.net, you can see who has been able to bounce packets through the station. Also, to see the live data, type: telnet first.aprs.net | grep NOCALL (This won't show much unless there is a pass in progress over the US... Steve K4HG

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