Hey everyone, I'm a general newbie to Ham, and a big newbie to ISS communication and I need your opinion. I'm based out of Long Island, NY, and I live right in the middle of the Long Island and the only equipment I have available to me is a Yaesu FT-60R. I'm a tech license and I want to know what are my options, if any, to contact ISS on a passover? Any tips and advice are welcome and if I didn't provide enough relevant information feel free to ask for more.

73,
Matt

An International Space Station Expedition 15 ARISS school contact has been planned with participants at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum's Space Day on 05 May. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 18:01 UTC.

The contact will be a telebridge between stations NA1SS and W6SRJ. The contact should be audible in western portions of North America. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The participants are expected to conduct the conversation in English.

Space Day 2007 will be another action-packed day of astronaut appearances, hands-on activities, book signings, tours, and special stories for children, all surrounded by the world's most famous space artifacts. Especially exciting will be a sneak peek at the much-anticipated successor to the space shuttle, the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle.

Not beeing part of AMSAT I would ask Kenneth about this issue and the planned reprogramming of the D700.

-------------------------
Kenneth wrote:

Currently, the
Kenwood radio is being used as a prime radio for everything. That means
changing it from one mode to the next a lot. The simplest switch is from
voice to packet (3 steps). Activation of the crossband repeater is
(unfortunately) a 27 step process and therefore is crew intensive. That
is a major driver in it's activation.
-------------------------

Does the ARISS team plan to reprogramm the radio in a way that just 1 step is needed to change mode ?

LA JOLLA, Calif. - Pioneering astronaut Walter "Wally" Schirra, the only man who flew in all three of America's first human space projects - Mercury, Gemini and Apollo - died Wednesday. He was 84. Schirra's family reported he died of natural causes.

Schirra was one of America's original seven astronauts, selected in 1959, and was commander of the first crew to fly into space aboard an Apollo capsule, Apollo 7, following the tragic launchpad fire that claimed the lives of the crew of Apollo 1.

"With the passing of Wally Schirra, we at NASA note with sorrow the loss of yet another of the pioneers of human spaceflight," NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said. "As a Mercury astronaut, Wally was a member of the first group of astronauts to be selected, often referred to as the Original Seven."

An International Space Station Expedition 15 ARISS school contact has been planned with students at Erweiterte Realschule Weiskirchen, Germany on 05 May. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 13:39 UTC.

The contact will be a direct between stations NA1SS and DN1ERW. The contact should be audible in most of Europe. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The participants are expected to conduct the conversation in English.

ERS Weiskirchen is a general education school where the pupils can achieve a standard and secondary graduation. The school participates as one of 11 pilot schools from the federal states Saarland, Rheinland-Pfalz and Hessen in the project "Innovative all-day school". As special example concerning the project, the school has successfully performed the launch of a balloon to the stratosphere in cooperation with the radio club "DARC Ortsverbandes Wadern, Q21". Following this contact with radio technology, a core-team of interested pupils has been formed. With the support of radio amateurs, a radio station has been set up and a radio club has been founded. Several students have passed examinations and are now amateur radio licensees, operating with their own callsign.

An International Space Station Expedition 15 ARISS school contact has been planned with students at Liceo Scientifico Statale "Lorenzo Respighi", Piacenza, Italy on 05 May. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 10:29 UTC.

The contact will be a direct between stations NA1SS and IK4MED. The contact should be audible in most of Europe. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The participants are expected to conduct the conversation in English.

Natural sciences, foreign languages, music and computer science are the main subjects of the high school "Liceo Scientifico Statale Lorenzo Respighi" in Piacenza. At present about 1076 students aged 14 to 19 attend the school. Piacenza is located about 60 km southeast of Milan and lies on the right bank of the biggest Italian river Po. It was founded 218 B.C. by 6,000 Roman veterans. The University of Piacenza is an important element of the city's economy. The high school is in possession of the first Italian educative license issued by the Ministry of Telecommunication. The students are legally entitled to use the amateur radio school station in the presence of a licensed operator. Students participating in the ARISS contact were involved in different scientific projects such as the universal gravitation law, the experiments in absence of gravity and, of course, the International Space Station.

Ad-Astra! To The Stars!
In Peace For All Mankind!

Hello to the ISS Fan Club from the
International Space Agency, I.S.A.
International Space Administration

Secure Website: https://www,isa-hq.com
Washington, D.C. Phone: (202) 917-0209
Omaha, Nebraska Phone: (402) 299-2799
Public Email: public-affairs@isa-hq.com

International Space Plane (ISP) Program
Secure ISP Launch Simulation:
https://www.isa-hq.com/movies/isp_movie.htm

Main ISP Website:
http://www.international-spaceplane-program.org

Also, the International Space Academy:
http://www.international-space-academy.org