NASA Ames Research Center
Amateur Radio Club

NA6MF
http://hamradio.arc.nasa.gov

Simplex Net: 146.445 MHz        Repeater: 145.250 MHz, minus offset, tone 123.0
Events and NASA-TV re-transmission: 146.490 MHz (might use old freq 145.585 MHz)

What is AARC?	|	Getting a License	|	Links	|	Net Control Script	|	References
Shuttle Re-Transmission	|	NASA TV	|	Digital Communications	|	Events	|	DARTCOM

Last Update: April 24, 2012

Join the AARC (both contractor and civil servant eligible), click here
You don’t need to be licensed to be a club member (but we will help you get a license).

To subscribe to the AARC mailing list, go to https://lists.nasa.gov/mailman/listinfo/arc-hamradio
This page requests info, and lets an individual subscribe, unsubscribe, etc.

Don’t use your walkie-talkie while driving on Ames property

AARC meets every third Thursday monthly at AARC Shack, talk-in 146.445 simplex.

Amateur Satellite Information

Some links helpful for newbies wanting to get up to speed on terms and definitions. AARC is working on establishment of a permanently configured OSCAR/ARISS station and goal is initial operational capability by June.
Intro to AMSAT (Presentation by Emily Clarke W0EEC)
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/information/faqs/Intro_sats.pdf

Getting Started with amateur radio satellites
http://www.uk.amsat.org/images/PDF/Satellites_RadCom_mar07.pdf

ARISS FAQ
http://ariss.rac.ca/faqariss.htm

ARISS Packet How To
http://home.comcast.net/~k9jkm/ARISS_Packet_How_To/

AARC Frequencies

The Tuesday AARC ARES/RACES Net at 12:00 noon will use 146.445 Mhz. Here are all frequencies coordinated with the Santa Clara County ARES/RACES organization. We may still be using 145.585 for events but eventually this will be phased out.
• 146.445, Tactical 1
• 146.505, Tactical 2
• 146.550, Tactical 3
• 147.465, Tactical 4
• 146.490, Events and NASA-TV retransmission (will soon phase out 145.585)
• 145.250-, 123.0, Command NA6MF
• 223.540, Packet 220, Primary
• 144.990, Packet 2M, Secondary

Full list of countywide frequencies can be found at http://www.scc-ares-races.org/freqs/freqs.html

Tactical channels are considered for ARES and RACES activities, “Event” is used for special purposes such as club meetings, NASA-TV re-transmissions. Command is AARC’s repeater, and two packet frequencies are used with County and city EOC message handling.

Amateur Television from AARC

AARC occasionally re-transmits NASA-TV to the K6BEN video repeater, and other events. Click here for more info on amateur television from AARC.

Receiving K6BEN in south San Francisco bay area
K6BEN video repeater is on 427.25 MHz, same frequency as cable channel 58. To receive K6BEN, set your TV set to cable channel 58, connect a UHF antenna (vertically polarized) aimed at Mt. Hamilton (east SJ foothills). Recommended antenna is a UHF (70 cm) yagi antenna.

NASA Schedules and News Links

NASA-TV schedule at http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/schedule.html
Daily schedule at http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Schedule.html
Launch schedules at http://www.nasa.gov/missions/highlights/schedule.html
NASA Breaking News http://www.nasa.gov/rss/breaking_news.rss
NASA News Releases http://www.nasa.gov/news/releases/latest/index.html
NASA News Events http://www.nasa.gov/news/index.html
ELV Countdown Portal from KSC http://countdown.ksc.nasa.gov/elv/

AARC Continuing Meetings

AARC meets every third Thursday monthly at AARC Shack, talk-in 146.445 simplex.

The club is continuing a series of technical presentations on amateur radio. This is not only for people who already have a ham license, but for those who might be considering getting into amateur radio. There are many applications of ham radio that are not only interesting and useful, but which are also essential in emergencies on land and at sea. The first presentation was an overview of using high frequency (HF) radio on sailboats for voice and email communications. Future technical presentations may include presentations on bouncing signals off meteor showers (“meteor scatter”), digital communications, and how to get your amateur license.

Previous AARC News Bulletins

A collection of previous news bulletins (click here). If a particular topic not here, see Presentations at Previous AARC Meetings.

Parachute Mobile at 2011 Pacificon

Space Shuttle Retransmission

AARC at Yuri’s Night

Presentations at Previous AARC Meetings: If a particular topic not here, see Previous AARC News Bulletins

Amateur Radio Participation in LADEE Lunar Science January 19, 2012

FunCube Dongle Pro SDR presentation June 16, 2011

Accelerated Basic Emergency Management Courses May 18, 2006

D-STAR Digital Communications Protocol November 17, 2005

Katrina DARTCOM Deployment October 20, 2005

Digital HF Communication (PSK31), August 18, 2005

Amateur Satellites, July 21, 2005

Amateur Television, June 16, 2005

HF Radio at Sea, May 19, 2005

International Space Station Amateur Radio Communications

ISS has an onboard amateur radio station though ISS crews do not have much free time for ham radio activities. Most radio traffic is APRS. You can contact or listen to ISS crews using amateur radio 2 meter frequencies, and handhelds should have good signal quality.

Frequencies:

145.800: Worldwide downlink for voice
144.490: Region 2 and 3 voice uplink (The Americas, and the Pacific)

145.825: Worldwide packet uplink/downlink (1200 baud)
145.800: Worldwide SSTV downlink

145.200: Region 1 voice uplink (Europe, Central Asia and Africa)
437.800: Worldwide uplink for cross band voice repeater, downlink 145.800

Voice repeater (worldwide): downlink 145.800, uplink 1269.650
Voice repeater with PL (worldwide): downlink 437.800, uplink 145.990 with PL 67.0

Occasionally, the amateur radio gear onboard would be configured as a repeater. Click here for more info.

ISS Callsigns:

Russian callsigns RSOISS, RZ3DZR
U.S.A. callsign NA1SS
German callsign DP0ISS
Packet station mailbox callsign RS0ISS-11
Packet station keyboard callsign RS0ISS-3
Packet Digipeater ARISS

ISS Websites:

ISS Reference for Ham Radio, http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/reference/radio/index.html

ISS fan club at http://www.issfanclub.com

ARISS School Application Form for organized radio contact with ISS, http://www.arrl.org/ARISS/ariss-ap.html

APRS via the ISS Tutorial (by Foothills Amateur Radio Society) at http://www.fars.k6ya.org/docs/aprs_via_iss.pdf

Current station location Orbital Tracking page at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/

Orbital Elements for ISS and Shuttle at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/elements/index.html

ARISS webpage: http://www.rac.ca/ariss

AMSAT webpage on ISS, http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/ariss/

SSTV from ISS at http://ariss-sstv.blogspot.com

A collection of SSTV images transmitted by ISS crews received by hams around the world at http://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/SSTV

AMSAT Pass Prediction Calculator includes ISS. Go to the webpage at http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/predict/ and select a satellite and provide your latitude, longitude and elevation.

Sighting opportunities at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/index.html

Heavens-Above website provides ISS, Shuttle, flares from Iridium satellites, and other spaceflight and astronomical information at http://heavens-above.com

Simple Satellite Tracking (enter your ZIP code for sighting opportunities) at http://spaceweather.com/flybys/

Purpose:

The Ames Amateur Radio Club (AARC) provides a matrix of related services, technologies, people, skills, equipment, opportunities, and resources to those interested in, or desiring to benefit from, radio based communications technologies for educational, public service, emergency communications, and recreational purposes. Members of the club are available to guide newcomers, and enjoy sharing their knowledge about amateur radio. For more information, click here.

Club members also support a wide variety of HF, VHF, and UHF communications modes for educational and recreational purposes as well as provide voluntary public service and emergency communications support to Ames, Santa Clara County, and special events occurring on the Moffett Field complex.

The AARC is coordinated with the Silicon Valley Emergency Communications System (SVECS at http://www.svecs.net), an ARES/RACES association. AARC cooperates with other ARES organizations in the Santa Clara County, http://www.scc-ares-races.org

The club station, NA6MF, is affiliated with the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL) http://www.arrl.com.

Weekly Nets:

AARC conducts a weekly Amateur Radio Net that occurs every Tuesday at Noon on 145.585 MHz (simplex). See the Net Control Script (click here).

General Club Meetings:

The club meets at 12:00 noon on the third Thursday of each month in the Ames Amateur Radio Club “shack.” Visitors, even those without licenses, are always welcome. Visitor passes are required for non-badged attendees from outside Ames. See typical meeting agenda (click here).

Official US Time and Naval Observatory Master Clock

USNO Clock Times (UTC, EDT, CDT, MDT, PDT)
Standard Time Zone Conversions	Time Service Department, USNO
UTC Time from time.gov	Pacific Time from time.gov

Radio Astronomy

Jupiter can be heard on a shortwave around 18-22 MHz. Use a loop antenna over a ground plane reflector. Solar flares can be heard on a VLF reciever at 27 KHz. A good book to get is Radio Astronomy for the Amateur by David Heiserman and the Amatuer Radio Astronomers Handbook by John Jotter Shields.

More on Radio Astronomy and Space Science

For more information on the AARC, contact:

Mark Allard, KD6CWM, at (650) 604-6145 or email mark.r.allard@nasa.gov

AARC Webpage Editor: Michael Wright, K6MFW, at (650) 604-6262 or email michael.f.wright@nasa.gov

Mailing address:

Ames Amateur Radio Club
P.O. Box 73
Moffett Field, CA 94035-0073

The AARC is a member of the NASA Exchange Council (http://exchange.arc.nasa.gov)

NASA Website Privacy, Disclaimer and Accessibility Statement