ISS Fan Club

Hi guys!
my son is 10 years old and fanatical about space! we visited KSC at xmas and went through the "ISS" on the tour. This has really started something with him and he wants to learn as much as he can I noticed you are able to "contact" the ISS WOW that is amazing! how do I do this so I can encourage Toms passion for the ISS? Is it expensive? what do I need? where do I start?
Please Please help we want to learn as much as we can!
Thanks guys

thomas wilson age 10

Hello Tomas Wilson & Son,

Nice to hear that your young son is enthusiast.
Probably you both are looking now for a scanner.
In case you didn't found/bought one yet, you always
can listen to the free online scanner here in Holland.
http://onlinereceivers.net/pcr100.php
You can also tune the frequentie (online) to the
ISS frequenties.
ISS digital data amateur radio comm. 145.825Mhz (FM/N).
ISS astronauts talk in voice with Moscow flight control
on 143.625Mhz (FM/N).
ISS crew general ham & and school contacts on 145.800Mhz.
There is soon a school contact with Croatia which can
be heard on the free online scanner.
Subscribe for upcomming ISS school contacts information.
You will receive automatic an e-mail from the ARISS
manager:
http://www.ariss-eu.org/mailinglist.htm

But keep in mind the online scanner is in Holland so
you have to wait till the ISS footprint (red circle) is
in range of Holland.
Check here the ISS real time position:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/

73's Cor PD0RKC
Ham Radio In Space http://iss.ontwikkel.nl

thank you I will try that!!
by the way my name is paula, thomas is my son I am so sorry I have confused you.
this info is realy helpful and I will let Thomas know you are all helping him feed his hunger for the ISS!
thomas wilson age 10

'contact' the ISS is only for licenced amateur radio operators.
To become a licence, you have to fulfill your country's regulations and pass exams.
For your 10 year old son it may be a good start to just buy a VHF scanner or amateur radio receiver
with a simple antenna and 'listen' to ISS communications.

ok so where do i buy a vhf scanner i'm sorry to sound so thick but i don't know anything about this yet.

thomas wilson age 10

we have registered him with earthcam he hasn't used it yet but is looking forward to it. i know if he could hear the ISS we will never see him again! one very quiet 10 year old such bliss! what else can he do, he watches and tracks the ISS as well as the Topex posiedon satellite. can you suggest any other activities to keep his enthusiasm?
thomas wilson age 10

ARRL has a lot of good info to get started in amateur radio. http://www.arrl.org/

You might find a local club to help out. They can start you down the path to getting a ham license.
Check here....
http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/club/clubsearch.phtml

Where are you located?

Good luck!

Matt, N8MS
Coloma, MI

we live in england.
thanks for your suggestions i will look for a group in my area.
we are finding it so hard to find information that he can understand in england. we have contacted our local university and there is a very helpful physics dr who is sending me some info. But schools here don't really study space it seems soccer clubs are more popular! shame we can't put together a good team! hahaha
i have looked at some radios on web pages but I don't really know what I'm looking for. What would be a good starter kit?
thomas wilson age 10

AMMSAT-UK and the University of Surrey are very involved in space. Try getting a hold of someone there. Their web page is http://www.uk.amsat.org/home.php but it might be down for a while due to a server move.
They should be able to help you get info on radios and getting licensed in the UK.
You might look at this site as well http://www.southgatearc.org/

Kenneth - N5VHO
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/reference/radio/
Support ARISS http://www.amsat-na.com/donation.php (select "Human Spaceflight (ARISS))

Scanners can be found at Radio Shack or any number of online stores like Gigaparts or Ham Radio Outlet. A Google shearch should locate several places to start looking for equipment. Be sure to consider an external antenna if you decide on a base system or if you go with a portable system, be sure it has the ability to use other antennas.
Once you have the hardware, just program it to listen on 145.825 for the digital signals and 145.800 when school contacts are scheduled in your area or when a crew member is active making general contacts.

Kenneth - N5VHO
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/reference/radio/
Support ARISS http://www.amsat-na.com/donation.php (select "Human Spaceflight (ARISS))