The ARISS team does not plan to use the 144.49 downlink for SSTV for the
long term.

The ARISS team fully understands the Region 1 band allocations and wishes to abide by them. It should be noted that amateur satellite communications are allowed by ITU rules in the 144-146 segment. The reason that we have different uplinks in different regions is that the three ITU regions do not have consistent frequency allocations per mode. As an international team, ARISS and many ham radio entities worked hard to clear as many systems
(repeaters, APRS, etc) from the lower edge of the AMSAT Satellite band segment (145.80-146) as possible. This enabled ARISS to have a dedicated downlink on 2 meters 145.80.

Fifteen students, enrolled in the IDEA (Interior Distance Education of Alaska) home-school program spoke with astronaut Jeff Williams via amateur radio. An acquaintance of Williams arranged the contact with the children through the Challenger Learning Center of Alaska in Kenai. For more information, see:

http://www.adn.com/life/hometown/story/8062300p-7955243c.html

Pavel Vinogradov, RV3BS, continued with Slow Scan Television (SSTV) tests over the weekend. On August 12, a U.S. station captured a few SSTV images transmitted from the ISS.

http://www.rac.ca/ariss/oindex.htm

Students from Reece and Davenport High Schools will be assembled at Reece High School located in Tasmania, Australia on Friday August 18 to take part in two milestone events.

Firstly, the students will have the opportunity to speak with Expedition 13 flight Engineer and NASA Science Officer Jeffery Williams, KD5TVQ, via NA1SS on the International Space Station. If the contact is completed it will represent the 250th successful ARISS contact.

Secondly, the contact will be taking place in celebration of the Centenary of the first long distance radio link in the Southern Hemisphere by the Marconi Company between Davenport in Tasmania and Queenscliff in Victoria.