Sandringham School students at ITV News in London – Image Credit @SandringhamSch1
A 92 minute video containing the Sandringham School GB1SAN and Tim Peake GB1SS amateur radio contact is now available in the ARISS UK Team channel on YouTube.
The amateur radio contact with the International Space Station took place on Friday, January 8, 2016 and was led by Jessica Leigh M6LPJ. The video includes the presentations given to the students by ARISS UK’s Ciaran Morgan M0XTD, Head Teacher Alan Gray G4DJX, and the Chair of the RSGB Youth CommitteeMike Jones 2E0MLJ.
Watch ARISS Schools contact between Sandringham School, GB1SAN, and Tim Peake GB1SS Friday, January 8, 2016
Sandringham students talk to Tim Peake GB1SS using amateur radio – BBC TV screenshot
The BBC report Sandringham School in St Albans has made history by making the first amateur radio call from the UK to a British astronaut on the space station.
Year 10 pupil Jessica Leigh M6LPJ, who has recently passed her amateur radio exam, led the contact which took place on Friday, January 8, 2016.
Headteacher Alan Gray G4DJX with Jessica Leigh M6LPJ – Image Credit Sandringham School
The BBC story says: It took a few minutes for the crackle and hiss to die down and allow the students to put some questions to the astronaut, before the ISS then went over the horizon and out of range.
Jessica called it an “amazing experience” to be talking to someone 400 km above them, but said the significance of the day’s event had yet to sink in: “When I get home, I’ll be completely in shock.”
Her head teacher, Alan Gray G4DJX, said it had been an extraordinary opportunity for the school.
“It’s a way of inspiring young people into science and technology – seeing the opportunities that may be available to them,” he told BBC School Report.
“What you’re seeing is that space has an awful lot to offer. It’s not just about talking to Tim Peake on the space station. There are many other things that are useful for young people and will help with their learning.”
Sandringham students talk to Tim Peake on the International Space Station
On Friday, January 8, students at Sandringham School, St. Albans had an amateur radio contact with UK astronaut Tim Peake GB1SS who was on board the International Space Station.
Initial radio contact with Tim was made by Year 10 pupil Jessica Leigh M6LPJ who, along with two other students, passed her Foundation exam just before Christmas after training with the Verulam Amateur Radio Club.
The school caters for 1300 students aged 11-19 with 100 teachers including specialist teachers of computing science and three female physics teachers all of whom have a specialist interest in space and astronomy. In addition, the head teacher Alan Gray G4DJX is a very active radio amateur who is extremely supportive of this contact.
ARISS UK (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) has provided and set up all necessary radio equipment such as low earth orbit satellite tracking antennas and radios, to establish a fully functional, direct radio link with the ISS from the school premises. In the few minutes when the ISS was over the UK, an amateur radio contact was established with Tim, and students were be able to ask him questions about his life and work on board the ISS.
The Sandringham School Space Festival started on January 5 and culminated with the live contact with astronaut Tim Peake on Friday January 8 at 08:47 GMT. During the week there was a wide range of activities to engage the students in space, including a presentation from Spacecraft Engineer Sian Cleaver, mobile planetariums, an amateur radio buildathon, rocket workshops and talks on Mars and Cosmonauts.
Sandringham School students preparing for Tim Peake contact – Image Credit Sandringham School
Students at Sandringham School, St. Albans have been running through final preparations for their amateur radio contact with UK astronaut Tim Peake GB1SS on board the International Space Station.
The school caters for 1300 students aged 11-19 with 100 teachers including specialist teachers of computing science and three female physics teachers all of whom have a specialist interest in space and astronomy. In addition, the head teacher Alan Gray G4DJX is a very active radio amateur who is extremely supportive of this contact.
ARISS UK (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) has provided and set up all necessary radio equipment such as low earth orbit satellite tracking antennas and radios, to establish a fully functional, direct radio link with the ISS from the school premises. In a ten-minute window when the ISS will be over the UK, an amateur radio contact will be established with Tim, and students will be able to ask him questions about his life and work on board the ISS.
Sandringham School pupils with Foundation exam certificates – Credit Verulam Amateur Radio Club
Initial radio contact with Tim is expected to be made by Year 10 pupil Jessica Leigh M6LPJ who, along with two other students, passed her Foundation exam just before Christmas after training with the Verulam Amateur Radio Club.
The Sandringham School Space Festival started on January 5 and culminates with the live contact with astronaut Tim Peake on Friday January 8 at 08:47 GMT. The contact will be Web Streamed – Schedule
During the week there has been a wide range of activities to engage the students in space, including a presentation from Spacecraft Engineer Sian Cleaver, mobile planetariums, an amateur radio buildathon, rocket workshops and talks on Mars and Cosmonauts.
As part of the Space festival some of the young women at Sandringham School built a model of the ISS. Watch Women In Engineering #SANDspace
While at Goonhilly Graham Shirville G3VZV received ISS HamTV on 2395 MHz with a 60cm dish
Noel Matthews G8GTZ of the BATC provides an update on the amateur radio ground station at Goonhilly which will receive video from the ISS during the mission of Tim Peake KG5BVI.
Some of you may remember the presentation Graham Shirville G3VZV, gave at CAT15 subtitled “Tim Peake on a TV near you”.
Some of you may have also noticed a new station on the Tutioune map located at Goonhilly in Cornwall.
HamTV dish antenna at Goonhilly – Credit Frank Heritage M0AEU
This station is using a 3.8 m dish is being loaned to the ARISS project by Satellite Catapult, and will be used to track the ISS and provide real time video during the schools contacts scheduled for early next year. This dish is almost in the shadow of the 29 metre dish built in 1962 to receive the first transatlantic television signals from the Telstar-1 spacecraft.
At the beginning of November, we (G8GTZ, M0AEU and G3VZV) installed a PC with mini-tutioune software and a DB6NT downconverter to receive the ISS on the dish – It was no surprise that during the tests, we received video for 8.5 minute during one pass and had an MER of 30 dB 🙂
Currently the dish is not tracking the ISS but will be doing so in the near future and will be dedicated to this task for the next 6 months 🙂 In the mean time, the dish is pointing up at 90 degrees (zenith) but the receiver is connected and we received 25 seconds of blank video (visible on the TT monitor page) this morning when the ISS flew over the top of the dish!
There will be a full article on the ARISS Tim Peake project in the next CQ-TV along with pictures of the Goonhilly site.
Whilst we were at Goonhilly last week, Graham could not resist seeing if it was possible to receive the HamTV signal using only a handheld 60cms dish and the Tutioune software – much to the team’s surprise Graham was successful and this was the first reception of the ISS at Goonhilly as the equipment had was yet to be installed on the ground station dish!
Watch CAT15 HamTV on the ISS by Graham Shirville G3VZV
ARISS contact between 4U1WRC and OR4ISS November 3, 2015
The ITU World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 (WRC-15) is taking place in Geneva from November 2-27. On Tuesday, November 3 at 1241 UT there was an amateur radio link-up between WRC-15 and two astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS).
The contact took place using the permanent amateur radio station at the ITU. The station’s normal call sign is 4U1ITU but during the conference the special call sign 4U1WRC is being used.
Students from Institut Florimont were able to use the ITU station to talk to astronauts Kjell Lindgren KO5MOS and Kimiya Yui KG5BPH who were using the amateur radio station in the ISS Columbus module, call sign OR4ISS.
The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program established the first permanent amateur radio presence in space 15 years ago. The inaugural ARISS contact took place on December 21, 2000, between a member of the ISS Expedition 1 crew and youngsters at Luther Burbank Elementary School near Chicago. Several pupils and a teacher got to chat using amateur radio with “Space Station Alpha” Commander William “Shep” Shepherd KD5GSL.
Watch ARISS contact with WRC-15 and Institut Florimont
The ARISS program lets students worldwide experience the excitement of talking directly with crew members of the International Space Station, inspiring them to pursue interests in careers in science, technology, engineering and math, and engaging them with radio science technology through amateur radio.
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