Since you mentioned the ISS, on 1/14/06 I made a contact with the ISS via Ham Radio UHF, Cmdr Bill McArthur (KC5ACR) heard and repeated my call (N7TMY) thru the probable pile up and I will get a QSL card! (I sent one of course). They were using the International Space Sta. call sign of NA1SS and we had contact as he passed over the NW USA on 437.550 MHz, using a vertical w/ 35W!! Not bad, huh??

For the Hams in this group, this will mean something and they will understand how cool this is.

For the non-Hams, sorry for the off-topic, but I couldn't resist telling this way-cool story!

Trisha ~ Lightning

----- Original Message -----
From: ShadowAce
To: listserv@azgeocaching.com
Subject: [Az-Geocaching] Ham Radio + Russia + Spacesuite = fun Friday
Date: Thu, 2 Feb 2006 07:46:01 -0700

Spread the word for those who might be interested....

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11102068/



  MSNBC.com

Spacesuit goes overboard for unusual mission
Worn-out suit recycled into miniature satellite sending out a radio beacon

By James Oberg
NBC News space analyst
Special to MSNBC
Updated: 2:52 p.m. ET Jan. 31, 2006


HOUSTON - It sounds like a scene from science fiction: A lone figure is cast off from the space
station, getting smaller and smaller as it drifts out into empty space.

In this case, however, no human will actually be at risk. When the crew members aboard the
international space station toss a worn-out spacesuit over the side, it will be empty except for an
interesting amateur radio experiment.

During a spacewalk scheduled this Friday, astronaut Bill McArthur and cosmonaut Valery Tokarev will
spend six hours carrying out assembly, repair and inspection work on the space station — and one
photogenic feat of "space littering."

It won't be the first time an old Russian spacesuit has been tossed overboard, but "SuitSat," as it
is called, has an actual mission.

A simple battery-powered radio transmitter inside the suit will use an antenna mounted to the suit's
helmet to send signals down to Earth for up to several days. The data will include temperature
readings, a slow-scan TV image and several specially coded messages for ham radio listeners to
figure out.

~~~Much more on the website~~~~

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11102068/


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