Some quotes from Richard Garriott to the ham community...

October 28, 2008

Richard, W5KWQ, landed in Kazakhstan on Friday, 24 October 2008 at about 0936 local time and was met there by his father Owen, W5LFL. They became the first American "second generation" father/son combination to have both flown in space and the first cosmonaut/astronaut-trained pair in the world. They returned to Star City near Moscow that afternoon for medical evaluation and this is the first interview provided by Richard the very next day. It is transcribed and delivered by Owen to the ham community.

"On my recent flight I had the great opportunity to speak directly with and trade call signs with hundreds of hams around the globe. For me it was a unexpected joy to find so many enthusiastic hams, who were so well informed and interested in my activities in orbit. When I began my transmissions with preplanned SSTV images including "pirate messages", test patterns and family images, I did not know how they would be received. But it seemed that fellow hams really enjoyed seeing this beginning to my time on the International Space Station (ISS). Throughout the bulk of my 10 days on the ISS I tried to be speaking by voice or transmitting SSTV images whenever possible. 

After my first 100 or so QSOs, I understood how well "networked" the global ham community really is. I received specific reports back through Mission Control-Moscow about technical aspects of my work and how the community was enjoying the transmissions. This redoubled my enthusiasm to do quality work for the amateur radio legions around the world as I realized how much it meant to those with whom I had the chance to talk. By late in my flight I had contacted many hundreds of hams by voice and I have good records of these contacts. Finally I sent some "Goodbye" images on my last day in space. I also contacted many hams that had listened to or contacted my father from space 25 years ago. Some hams I contacted 2 to 4 times on my flight.

On those last days I was very moved when sent many "soft landing" messages from individuals and classrooms full of children as I passed by. The ham community has added greatly to my personal feelings of success on my flight. I can only hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Thanks so much and 73, Richard, W5KWQ"

ARISS Update

October 21, 2008

All,

I think you all can agree that this has been a stellar and an historic week for Amateur Radio on the International Space Station! 

Speaking on behalf of the ARISS international team of volunteers and the AMSAT community, we really appreciate the overwhelming flood of positive comments that we have received from the ham radio community and the general public regarding the ham radio operations on ISS this past week.  Collectively, we have all made history….starting with Richard, W5KWQ and his father Owen, W5LFL and continuing with all of you that participated and/or volunteered in his ISS journey.  And along the way, we have sparked the imaginations of thousands of students.   Got more interest in satellite operations.  And, I understand, excited some youths to the point where they are now  licensed.  

Richard Garriott, W5KWQ has been extremely prolific on the ARISS ham radio system, making hundreds of voice contacts, operating the packet system during the crew sleep times and transmitting hundreds of SSTV images throughout the day.  He put the newest ARISS hardware, the Kenwood VC-H1 to good use, performing the vast majority of contacts with this hardware system coupled with the Kenwood D700 Transciever.  The remaining SSTV downlinks were performed with the software-based SSTV system---using either the SpaceCam software or MMSSTV software that are on-board ISS.  Given the limited availability of ISS computer systems, the ARISS team will continue to utilize the VC-H1 well after Richard's flight.  So don't be surprised if you see some VC-H1 SSTV operations from Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, during his stay as the commander of Expedition 18.

The team apologizes for the temporary shut-down of the ARISS SSTV server.  We have been a victim of our own success in that the site has been overwhelmed by the popularity of Richard's SSTV images.  We hope to get the system operational very soon.  This may take a URL change, so please check the listservs and the ARISS SSTV blog http://www.ariss-sstv.blogspot.com/  for updated information.  http://www.ariss.org will also carry updates.

ARISS Development and Operations

As a reminder to all, the ARISS team is an international volunteer working group that is sponsored by three major entities in each ISS region---the National Amateur Radio Society, the International AMSAT organization and the National Space Agency.  The 5 regions that comprise the ISS development are Canada, Europe Japan, Russia, and the USA.  In the USA, the two ham radio sponsors are the ARRL and AMSAT-NA.  NASA is the USA space agency sponsor. 

Over 12 years ago, the formulation of the ARISS working group was a specific request from NASA.  They wanted the amateur radio community to internationally consolidate into one team all the development and operations of the ISS Ham radio system.  This specific request from NASA, and ultimately the other space agencies, was to provide a single focus of ham radio on ISS within the amateur radio community and within the space agencies.  As a result, the 5 international delegations that make up ARISS tightly coordinate the day-to-day mission operations as well as the strategic hardware development planning and implementation.  The success of this past week would not have been realized without this tight coordination, particularly between our Russian colleagues, led by Sergey Samburov, RV3DR and our international operations team, led by Will Marchant, KC6ROL. 

Individuals are always welcome to volunteer their support to ARISS through their regional delegation.  Please see the ARISS web site http://www.ariss.org for more information on your regional delegates.

Voice QSOs

We have received some reports of individuals providing advice to the ISS on-orbit crew or making specifc requests to the ISS crew to change or modify the ARISS hardware, on-board software or ham radio operations.  The ARISS team would like to remind the amateur community that we all have a duty to the international space agencies to coordinate ISS ham radio operations through ARISS.  Our advice to you is that if you have a specific request or idea, that you forward it to one of the ARISS international delegates or ARISS team leaders.  These individuals are identified on the ARISS web site http://www.ariss.org.  Also, please remember that there are a *lot* of hams that would like to get their QSO with the ISS (including me!)  So please use courtesy and keep your contact short.  And once you have made a contact, please do not go for a repeat…despite the intense temptation to do so.  I think you all know that this is an "open" hobby.  So all are listening in, observing and remembering your operating habits.

On behalf of the ARISS team, I thank you all for your interest in Ham Radio on ISS.  Enjoy the contacts!  And remember the ARISS teams and organizations that have made the ham radio system on ISS such a tremendous success.  This includes the national amateur radio societies and international AMSAT organizations.  As well as the international space agencies and the ISS on-board crew members. 

73,  Frank Bauer, KA3HDO
AMSAT-V.P. for Human Spaceflight Programs
ARISS International Chairman

ARISS Flight Update

October 15, 2008

All,
 
It was quite an exciting day for ARISS yesterday with the Expedition 18 crew docking and the start up of Richard Garriott's ham radio activities. Here are some updates and plans for ARISS during Richard's flight.
 
Richard, W5KWQ, fired up the radio and started SSTV operations just a couple of hours after docking. Prior to flight, Richard planned to support a slide show mode using the SpaceCam software and the SSTV interface box at the beginning of his flight. This is what you saw yesterday. Richard downlinked a number of SSTV images using Martin 1, a higher quality but longer transmit SSTV mode. The Russian team, led by Sergey Samburov, RV3DR, had requested testing several high quality image modes during Richard's flight, so don't be surprised if you see Martin 1 or other high resolution SSTV modes during Richard's flight. We asked Richard to move to the default Robot 36 mode for the time being and to space out the images once every 3 minutes to reduce the radio transmit duty cycle. Richard confirmed that he will support this. He also has transitioned to the VC-H1 as this will allow Richard to use the computer to support his Earth ops and still support SSTV.
 
We have over 300 image uploads on the Gallery site by hams all around the world! The ARISS team appreciates your volunteer support through all the SSTV images that have been uploaded. A volunteer ARISS team is working 24/7 during Richard's flight to review these images, to understand how the SSTV operations is progressing, and to include some of these images on the Gallery pages. ALL the images you have uploaded have been archived and are being reviewed. Please continue to upload these images as they help the ARISS team analyze and redirect the SSTV operations. You are welome to upload these through the gallery page:
 
http://www.amsat.com/ARISS_SSTV/
 
We also have a blog available that provides the latest ARISS information for this expedition. That blog is located at:
 
http://www.ariss-sstv.blogspot.com/
 
You can also reach these sites through the ARISS website:
 
http://www.ariss.org
 
Some other information:
 
SSTV uplink/downlink: Richard is really not supporting SSTV uplinks during his short duration mission. The downlink is on the normal ARISS VHF downlink, 145.80.
 
General Voice Contacts: Use the regular general voice frequencies. 145.80 downlink. Uplinks are 144.49 in Region 2 (Americas) and 145.20 for Region 1 (Europe, Africa, Middle East) and Region 3 (Australia, Asia). Richard and Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, have been on the air on voice since shortly after docking yesterday.
 
Sleep Period Activity: We have asked the crew to turn packet on during sleep periods. Our intent is to keep SSTV active during their work day. The rationale for this is that we are having some issues with the software based (SpaceCam) SSTV system occasionally keeping the radio keyed down after an image transmission. And we have a limited set of Russian batteries available during Richard's flight for the VC-H1.
 
Additional SSTV Information: The computer-based SSTV can also support SSTV picture taking using a USB camera. We don't anticipate Richard using this as his primary SSTV operations for his mission will be with the VC-H1. The USB camera was checked out over the weekend by the Expedition 17 crew, where they took photos of themselves and downlinked these to the ham community.

 
You are witnessing and are a part of history: Some of you have asked why Richard is using his callsign for some QSOs and SSTV contacts instead of the ISS station callsigns. There is a long and proud history that is attached to the Garriotts. This includes ham radio in space and their personal callsigns. 25 years ago, Richard's father, Owen Garriott, W5LFL, initiated the first ham radio contacts from space on the STS-9 SAREX mission. Richard, W5KWQ, is following in his father's footsteps, using the ARISS ham radio system extensively on his first flight. And Richard's callsign is actually his grandfather's original callsign. So you can see that this mission touches 3 generations of ham radio and 2 generations of ham radio in space!
 
JOTA: Remember that Jamboree on the Air is this Weekend! Scout groups are welcome to call Richard or Mike Fincke over the weekend using the General Voice Contact frequencies (see above).
 
School Contacts: School contacts from this day forward are tentatively scheduled as follows:
 
Challenger Learning Center Combined Contact #1, telebridge via W6SRJ; on Thu 2008-10-16, 16:39 UTC
Howard B. Owens Science Center's Challenger Center (Lanham, MD)

Challenger Learning Center of Columbia (Columbia, SC)

Verizon Challenger Learning Center at MOSI (Tampa, FL)

Brownsburg Challenger Learning Center (Brownsburg, IN)

Budbrooke Primary School, Warwick, England, direct via GB4OBS Fri 2008-10-17, 11:05 UTC

Challenger Learning Center Combined Contact #2, telebridge via W6SRJ; on Fri 2008-10-17, 15:30 UTC
Indianapolis Challenger Learning Center (Indianapolis, IN)

Challenger Learning Center at Paducah (Paducah, KY)

Challenger Learning Center St. Louis (St. Louis, MO)

Austin Liberal Arts and Sciences Academy, Austin, TX, direct via K5LBJ Sun 2008-10-19, 13:14 UTC

Pinehurst School, Ashland, Oregon, telebridge via W6SRJ Mon 2008-10-20, 15:13 UTC

National Planetarium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, direct via 9M2RPN Tues 2008-10-21, 08:30 UTC
 
Enjoy the ARISS operations!! And my thanks to the international ARISS team for their outstanding volunteer support.
 
73, Frank Bauer, KA3HDO
AMSAT-NA V.P. for Human Spaceflight Programs
ARISS International Chairman
 

Richard Garriott Update

October 9, 2008

All,

The ARISS team has a lot of exciting activities planned for the next few weeks, including the flight of Soyuz 17S to space station with Richard Garriott, W5KWQ and Mike Fincke, KE5AIT on-board. The following represents some new information and capabilities that we are rolling out to the community to prepare for Richard's and Mike's flight. Please go to www.ariss.org, www.amsat.org, www.arrl.org and www.issfanclub.com for real-time information updates.

73, Frank Bauer, KA3HDO
AMSAT-NA V.P. for Human Spaceflight Programs
ARISS International Chairman


The ARISS SSTV team announces the new ARISS SSTV Web Gallery and Blog.

A website has been established to enable amateur radio operators to share their pictures received from the International Space Station's SSTV system. People wishing to view photos captured from the ISS or upload their own captured pictures can go to http://www.amsat.com/ARISS_SSTV/. There is also a blog in which the ARISS SSTV Team will post announcements and additional information about the project. The blog can be viewed at  http://www.ariss-sstv.blogspot.com/.

To prepare for the upcoming SSTV operations, you are welcome to "try out"  the new Web Gallery by posting past SSTV images (on-orbit and terrestrial).  These will be deleted prior to the ARISS SSTV events that are planned for this weekend and during ISS Expedition 17 and Richard Garriott's flight (see below).

ISS SSTV Operations Planned for October 12

The ARISS team received word from ARISS Russia delegate Sergey Samburov, RV3DR, that the current ISS crew expect to transmit SSTV on October 12 from 18:00-21:00 UTC. This is your opportunity to test out your SSTV reception capability and to post images on the ARISS SSTV Gallery. The planned downlink for this operation will be 145.80 MHz with Robot 36 as the expected SSTV mode of operation.

AO-51 Special SSTV Mode

Thanks to Drew, KO4MA, AMSAT-NA VP for Operations, this weekend AO-51 will operate in a special mode in anticipation of Richard Garriott's visit to the ISS. Richard's launch is currently scheduled for October 12th, with docking at the ISS on the 14th. Richard plans on being very active from the ISS ham station, including extensive operation with Slow Scan Television (SSTV).

In preparation for this event, AO-51 will be configured with dual repeaters for the weekend of October 11th and 12th. The primary repeater on AO-51 will be configured with an uplink on 1268.700 FM and downlink of 435.300 FM, and will be designated for this period as an SSTV repeater. Users are encouraged to exchange SSTV images in ROBOT 36 mode, as an opportunity for others to practice receiving SSTV images from space before the ISS activity. Please keep the images transmitted to space-related themes, and to the ROBOT 36 mode. Polite and courteous operation among those sharing the uplink is crucial to the success of this mode.

Concurrently, there will be a QRP voice repeater running on 145.880 FM uplink and 435.150 FM downlink. Users are asked to use 10 watts or less, and omnidirectional or handheld antennas only.

Good luck receiving SSTV images this weekend, and from the ISS during Richard Garriott's flight.

Richard Garriott Operations

As stated previously, Richard plans to perform several school contacts and downlink SSTV images during his flight. He also plans to contact the general ham community in his free time and perform random scout contacts during Jamboree on the Air. SSTV downlinks are planned on 145.80. SSTV uplinks are not currently planned. The standard general contact frequencies will be used to support the Jamboree on the Air and general QSO passes.

So that you are not calling CQ for naught, Richard's school contacts, thanks to Will Marchant, KC6ROL, Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, and Sergey Samburov, RV3DR, are tentatively scheduled as follows:

Challenger Learning Center Combined Contact #1,
telebridge via W6SRJ; on Thu 2008-10-16 16:39 UTC
Howard B. Owens Science Center's Challenger Center (Lanham, MD)
Challenger Learning Center of Columbia (Columbia, SC)
Verizon Challenger Learning Center at MOSI (Tampa, FL)
Brownsburg Challenger Learning Center (Brownsburg, IN)

Budbrooke Primary School, Warwick, England, direct via GB4OBS Fri
2008-10-17 11:06 UTC

Challenger Learning Center Combined Contact #2,
telebridge via W6SRJ; on Fri 2008-10-17 15:31 UTC
Indianapolis Challenger Learning Center (Indianapolis, IN)
Challenger Learning Center at Paducah (Paducah, KY)
Challenger Learning Center St. Louis (St. Louis, MO)

Austin Liberal Arts and Sciences Academy, Austin, TX, direct via K5LBJ Sun
2008-10-19 13:15 UTC

Pinehurst School, Ashland, Oregon, telebridge via W6SRJ Mon 2008-10-20
15:14 UTC

National Planetarium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, direct via 9M2RPN Tues
2008-10-21 08:30 UTC