ISS Fan Club

1. Upcoming School Contacts
Central Middle School in Parsippany, New Jersey, has been slated for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Monday, April 14 at 17:03 UTC. An essay and presentation contest will be held to determine which students will speak with the astronaut. The New Providence Amateur Radio Club will assist with the contact. The event will be available through a live transmission to all local schools using amateur band fast scan television. The school will notify CBS, NBC, ABC, New Jersey 12, the local and state newspapers, New York Times, USA Today, local and state elected officials, Board of Education members, district personnel, and New Jersey Education Association of the event.

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled with the National Science Museum of Korea on Friday, April 18 at 01:35 UTC. The Museum is an umbrella organization of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and as such collects, preserves, researches and exhibits cultural assets in the fields of science, technology, natural science, history of science and technology. It also provides informal education to students. Spaceflight participant Yi So-yeon will participate in this educational activity.

Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando, Florida has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Monday, April 21 at 17:48 UTC via the telebridge station W6SRJ in Santa Rosa, California. The audio for this event will be fed into the EchoLink AMSAT (101 377) and JK1ZRW (277 208) Conference Room servers and the IRLP Discovery Reflector 9010.

2. Croatian Contact Successful
On Monday, April 7, students from Osnovna skola Pazin in Croatia participated in a successful Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact. Garrett Reisman, KE5HAE, answered 15 questions posed to him by 6 students as an audience of 100 people gathered around the radio. Three national television stations, three radio stations and five newspapers covered the event. The audio was fed into the EchoLink AMSAT (101 377) and JK1ZRW (277 208) servers and received 16 connections, including 3 link nodes and 1 repeater node, from 11 countries.

3. First Korean Contact Successful
Students attending the Han Gwang Boys & Girls High School in Pyeong Taek City, Republic of Korea experienced an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Sunday, April 13. South Korean space visitor Yi So-yeon, HL0ARISS, answered 12 students’ questions. Over 500 people attended the event. Media coverage included 5 television stations and 10 newspapers.

4. ARISS Crew Debrief Held
A debrief session was held between the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) team and Expedition 16 crew member Leopold Eyharts, KE5FNO/FX0STD, on Monday, April 7. Eyharts provided feedback on ARISS school contacts and operation of the ARISS radio equipment.

5. ARISS Presentation at Dayton Hamvention
The Dayton Hamvention will be held at the Hara Arena Complex in Dayton, Ohio on May 16 - 18. The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) will both support exhibit booths at the event. Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Chairman Frank Bauer plans to give a presentation on "A Ham Radio Operator's View of ARISS" at the AMSAT forum which will cover new ARISS initiatives and a status report on SuitSat-2. The Dayton Hamvention is an internationally attended amateur radio convention that draws crowds of 25,000 annually.
For more information on Dayton Hamvention 2008, go to: http://www.hamvention.org/hv2008/forums/forumlist.htm

Source ARISS Weekly Status