I think I "blew" it.. :-)
I am retired KSC C&T/NAV/SSPF Systems Eng'r and had been trying to make an ISS voice contact for a number of years from my crummy Cape Canaveral Condo QTH w/no success.
Have moved up here to N. GA at 1550' (Grid EM74sq) and have made a few APRS and Repeater contacts with ground stations, but never a V/V Contact with ISS - a particular goal/dream for me.
Yesterday afternoon, (9/2/10) I had a strong signal show up while monitoring 145.8 and using my Comet dual-band vertical made a number of attempts signing "W4NOV, KSC-Retiree" and on one peak heard an "ee-sound" (as in a "v"), followed by "got you loud and clear aboard the International Space Station - NA1SS.." - Exuberance! (Maybe)
I don't know if he was responding to me or someone else, having not captured my call on the recording, AND, I never noted the time of day. I was so durn excited. :-( :-)
So: a list of questions:
1) Is there a place where a "Log" of ISS contacts by Day can be searched?
2) Have any of you recorded that mid-late 9/2 ISS pass that would have had a N. GA coverage?
3) Can anyone reconstruct the yesterday pass time(s) from my grid square (EM74) and ISS track so I can get the rough time?
I am on a bare-bones PC as my old XT just died, but will try to make a 5-8 second recording on the XYL's Laptop.
I really appreciate any help.
Tom
http://w4nov.com
Pass Data for 02 September 2010
I can't answer Question 1, but there are recordings or links to recordings for the day in question on this site:
http://issfanclub.com/node/28497
Listen to XE1YFJ's recording in the thread first since it covers an earlier span of time during the pass. Then listen to my (AL0I, Boone, NC) recording which includes everything I heard from 2244 until 2254 UTC.
With regard to your Question 3, here is the Orbitron Version 3.71 output for my station (thank you, Sebastian Stoff):
Satellite passes / Orbitron 3.71 / www.stoff.pl
Location : Boone, NC (81.7083° W, 36.2292° N)
Time zone : UTC
Search period : 2010-08-03 18:17:51 - 31 days
2010-09-03 18:17:51
Conditions : Maximum sun elevation = None
Minimum sat elevation = 0 deg
Illumination NOT required
Time Satellite Azm Elv Mag Range S.Azm S.Elv
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010-09-02 06:18:15 ISS 295.9 0.0 ecl 2245 18.0 -44.2
2010-09-02 06:22:56 ISS 230.2 17.5 ecl 984 19.5 -43.9
2010-09-02 06:27:36 ISS 164.2 0.0 ecl 2231 21.1 -43.6
2010-09-02 21:09:23 ISS 206.8 0.0 3.5 2204 254.9 32.0
2010-09-02 21:14:15 ISS 132.2 28.3 0.4 691 255.7 31.0
2010-09-02 21:19:10 ISS 58.3 0.0 2.5 2233 256.6 30.1
2010-09-02 22:44:51 ISS 257.4 0.0 3.0 2215 270.1 13.0
2010-09-02 22:49:38 ISS 327.9 21.0 0.5 864 270.8 12.0
2010-09-02 22:54:29 ISS 38.7 0.0 2.2 2240 271.6 11.0
2010-09-03 00:22:23 ISS 302.1 0.0 2.5 2232 284.5 -6.6
2010-09-03 00:25:58 ISS 346.9 5.5 1.6 1658 285.1 -7.3
2010-09-03 00:29:34 ISS 31.8 0.0 2.0 2243 285.6 -8.0
I have deleted the irrelevant passes. You are only about 200 miles SW of me, so the pass data would be almost identical, although you might pick up the ISS a little bit earlier and lose it a little earlier as well on a SW-NE pass. I was prepared to record the pass at 2109 UTC, but the crew was not active on voice on that pass, and APRS data was transmitted. I have no idea if the crew was using voice on the 0022 UTC pass on 3 September (8:22 PM EDT local for you and me), but it was so low in terms of elevation, it is unlikely you would have heard it at all even if they were using voice. So that just leaves the 2244 UTC pass.
I highly recommend the Orbitron program for use in a Windows environment. I use it in Win98, WinXP and Win7 32-bit.
Good luck working the ISS. I suspect you recorded NA1SS responding to W1DY, and hopefully the recordings can be matched.
Todd
AL0I