Connecting Kids with Astronauts: Radio Amateur of the Year
NASA Astronaut Kjell Lindgren operates the amateur radio onboard the ISS.
Media Credit: NASA
Congratulations to Frank Bauer on receiving the 2017 Amateur of the Year Award! Frank is the International Chair of ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station), a nonprofit outreach organization that uses ham radio to connect students with astronauts in orbit. He will get the award at the Dayton Hamvention, the nation’s largest amateur radio convention, which runs May 19-21, 2017.
ARISS has organized over 1100 live contacts in which students ask astronauts their questions. Recent events included schools in France, Greece, India, and Russia. In the last year, a few contacts have even used digital amateur television (HamTV).
Schools can submit proposals to ARISS to arrange direct contacts (where a ham radio at the school connects to the ISSInternational Space Station) or telebridge contacts (where the school connects through telephone to a ham radio ground station linked to the ISS).
On April 19, 2017, Students at Brook Haven School in Sebastopol, CA talked with European Space Agency Astronaut Thomas Pesquet on the ISS. They used the ARISS ground station W6SRJ on the campus of Santa Rosa Jr. College. Don Dalby KE6UAY is the operator.
Video courtesy of Tim Bosma and ARISS.