There is one thought, that NASA, as well as the astronauts have totally forgotten, by not turning on the repeater.

Sure it may be a pain in the butt, but what happens when hams, get sick of it not being on ? We go off, and do something else don't we ?

What happened when the final four, or so, Apollo missions did their thing on the moon. Even back as far as Apollo 12, the general public lost interest, and it was only the near disaster of Apollo 13, that brought the public's interest back to the program. ISS is in danger of going the same route.

Ham radio, all over the world injects interest, just by the presence of the radio activity from the ISS. We talk to our friends, often not hams, that in turn reminds our communities that people are up there. We talk about it over repeaters, over HF about it. The news services on all media, don't even run any stories from ISS anymore, as there is little interest.

Today is Mike Barrett's birthday. Wish him a happy one on orbit.
http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/birthday_barratt/