October 23 - November 8, 1993: Webber JHS Talks with Space Shuttle Columbia, STS-58
One of many
trip reports under the
SilGro home page for Alan Silverstein and Cathie
Grow.
Email me at
ajs@frii.com.
Last update: May 25, 2024
(Previous trip report: 1993_0926-1003_LakePowell.htm)
All this material has been edited and/or reformatted from its original form.
Emails from Alan:
Date: 23 Oct 93 (Sat)
From: Alan Silverstein
To: hams@hpfcajs.fc.hp.com
Subject: Webber talks with space shuttle
QST for hams@ajs: Today (Saturday) during orbit 83, about
1214-1222, the kids at
Webber Junior High
in
Fort Collins
successfully talked with CSU professor
Dr Martin (Marty) Fettman
on board
Space Shuttle Columbia
for about eight minutes via 2M ham radio. It went really well and it
was more fun and exciting than I thought it would be. For your
amusement, I'll share my impressions...
First to give credit where it's due.
John Coelho
(N0LHW) had the original idea to make this happen and got teacher
Grant Pahlau
(N0QBA) at Webber into it. John loaned, obtained, and/or set up the
equipment including an 11-element beam, steerable in both altitude and
azimuth, and a 160W amp. Of course Grant and the students involved in
this project put in a lot of preparation time too. The approval for
Webber to be one of about 15 SAREX "school contacts" for this mission
happened as far back as last August. Originally the contact was to take
place on a Tuesday, but when the launch was delayed it slipped to today,
and John was out of town!
Jay Nugent,
WK3S, took over and did a fine job as control operator.
Y'all saw the broadcast email from John about this project a
while back. I responded that I was mildly interested and would
help out if it was convenient. At that time I just thought it
would be fun, and had no strong interest nor ulterior motive.
Later, one developed. :-)
It occurred to me that if all went real smoothly, this would be
about the best chance I'd ever get to QSO with the shuttle. I
envisioned maybe ten people standing around outdoors in a field,
and after the kids made their contacts, why naturally the other
hams helping out could take five seconds each to transmit their
callsigns on their own HTs and get acknowledged. This fantasy
was based on hearing the shuttle in the past, when the uplink
frequency was jammed but the signal coming down was clean and
strong, although brief. What the Webber connection offered was
a chance to partake in some dedicated airtime on a quiet
(secret) uplink frequency.
Of course the reality of the situation was rather different than
I expected!
During the current mission I listened to the usual downlink
frequency, 145.55 MHz, on six different passes before Saturday.
All I heard was brief packet robot bursts on three of them; no
voice. Having no packet gear, this got old fast. :-)
I got a phone call Wednesday or so that ultimately put me in
touch with Grant on Friday afternoon. Some packet bursts I'd
heard earlier had been due to his successful uplink; and I'd
missed hearing one voice pass that he'd heard. He needed to
recalibrate his beam antenna's azimuth setting.
I helped out by going up on the roof at HP with my HT and giving
him a weak signal source. He nailed the
Pikes Peak
repeater, which I confirmed with my gcdist program should be heading 179
from
Fort Collins.
Then he rotated to me (presumed to be just about exactly 90 degrees
azimuth from Webber), found the direction of my strongest signal, and
confirmed the azimuth meter was calibrated.
Next I went back to my desk and got on the phone with him. I
gave one of the students current az/el numbers for the sun,
using sun(1), while she aimed the antenna remotely and talked
with Grant up on the roof via FM headsets. Grant watched the
antenna's shadow to see if it pointed at the sun. Curiously,
the elevation was right but the azimuth was off by about 15
degrees. All we could guess was that the scale wasn't very
accurate. Later I found out why -- the antenna was flipped over
(to elevation 180 degrees) on purpose so the azimuth limit was
north, not south, away from the expected Shuttle path. They
were using hand-labeled "inverted" headings on the az/el meters
that weren't very precise. It turned out they were good enough.
This morning (Saturday) while my daughter
Megan Silverstein
was at bowling league I dropped by Webber to see the setup and watch the
prior pass, orbit 82. It was quickly clear that the reality of the
situation was not what I had imagined -- more people, more chaos,
tighter quarters in the "shack", a good distance from outdoors to the
equipment, and a bunch of excited, nervous kids rehearsing the questions
they would ask. They didn't manage to make voice or packet contact on
orbit 82, and I didn't hear anything on my HT while I was outside part
of the time.
Grant said he might need to recalibrate the antenna once more
before the next pass. I promised to come right back ASAP and
departed to pick up Megan -- although there were other hams
around, as many as eight at one time I think.
I got back to the bowling alley but Megan wasn't done yet. I
tried calling Webber on the downlink frequency to see if they
were listening and wanted to use me as a mobile calibration
target. Surprise, one battery contact on my HT had chosen that
moment to snap off! I raced home, replaced it (had one spare
but it involved soldering), raced back, picked up Megan, never
did raise Webber on 145.55 simplex, and re-entered the mob scene
about 45 minutes before AOS.
Things were hectic. They were on the phone to
Johnson Space Center
and the AOS/LOS times predicted by Webber's QuikTrak program running
Keplerian set 10 on a PC weren't agreeing with JSC's numbers. The set-6
numbers from several days ago, courtesy John, said the pass would be
121502 - 122351, but JSC said it would be 1208-1216 -- a huge
difference. This could completely screw up aiming the beam, which would
be done "by hand" anyway -- one of the students would read current az/el
from the PC screen and move the beam to match.
The group raced to reset the PC's clock but it didn't make much
difference. Two of us there had WWV set on our watches and
confirmed the PC wasn't far off to start with. Fortunately JSC
was apparently in error about the 1208-16 times and the actual
contact was just about a minute earlier than the set-6 numbers.
However, the program running at Webber was still off by several
minutes -- possibly due to choosing wrong (old) Keplerians that
were still stored on the system. JSC could and did simply feed
az/el numbers for our location to us over the phone, based on
latest orbit parameters, which helped a lot, after they figured
out whatever it was they'd gotten wrong earlier.
About 25 minutes before contact I learned the uplink and
downlink freqs (both unusual, to my surprise) and programmed one
channel in my HT to equate to "ground station" and the other to
"shuttle" (that is, trans/receive freqs reversed). The five
kids who had questions to ask were pretty antsy. I suggested we
use some of the remaining time for a(nother) dress rehearsal,
including actually working their radio setup.
I went outside and played "space shuttle" for them. I made them
call me twice before I answered, then started a stopwatch and
responded to their five questions briefly and humorously. (In
particular, how do you dissect a rat in orbit without making a
mess? "Lots of superglue to hold everything in place.") This
dry run went really well, and took just 3.5 minutes. (Being I
was nearby, their beam's direction didn't matter. It was
sitting on 0/0.)
I went back inside and told Grant and Jay that if all else
failed, I'd be outside or by the door as a backup with my HT
(good for 2.5W) programmed ready to be a ground station, with a
hot rod antenna and spare battery. I told them if they hadn't
made contact by halfway through the pass (but it was still
unclear when exactly that would be), I'd try making a call
myself and yell in the door to let them know if I got through.
Fortunately this wasn't necessary, because I discovered during
the pass that being close to the school I could only hear the
shuttle well on simplex for about three minutes out of the eight or more
total it was above the horizon. Dunno if they could have heard me
transmitting at all, even with me making 5KHz steps to compensate for
doppler shift. The beam and much the higher power used by the school
station made all the difference, I learned; even though they didn't
bother to adjust frequencies for doppler shift, nor use circular
polarization either.
At about 1208 it was still unclear (at least to me) if the pass
would start early. It was pretty confusing inside, lots of
people milling about and conversing. There was a crowd of about
30 people present, mostly sitting outside the "shack", but
including Channel 4 News and other reporters buzzing around.
Jay was ready at the radio. I suggested to Melinda (the student
chosen for the job) that she should start calling the shuttle
now, and she did. I figured it couldn't hurt, and it might get
her and the others calmed down.
I went back outside and alternated channels to listen to her
transmit and then for anything on the downlink. She did a fine
job, but after five minutes (not 12 minutes, as reported by the
Coloradoan newspaper), I started to sweat, even though it wasn't 1215
yet. I decided to risk transmitting to her, as "shuttle", something
like, "you're sounding good outside here" to let them know they were
getting out OK. I tried to wait just the right amount of time after her
call, but doubled with her three times, I think. Finally I timed
it right -- and I heard a yell from inside. Oops! They thought it was
Columbia answering! I'd better not do that again!
Just a few seconds later I heard Melinda transmit, "Hi Marty,"
and I knew she'd heard from Columbia. As it turned out, my
break-in was a good thing, Jay said later. It released a huge
adrenalin surge and racket from the kids, but they quickly
figured out it was me. Just one call later, when Marty on
Columbia returned Melinda's hail, they were calm (more or less)
and ready. He was scratchy at first -- I could barely hear him
outside -- but they had solid copy on him immediately.
The kids went through their questions with Jay introducing each
in turn. It went very smoothly. They got all five planned
questions through plus one more, but a seventh attempt didn't work.
I popped in and out the door. I noticed NASA Select was just
showing the view out the window -- nothing of the QSO. For a
while in mid-pass,
Paul Stoecker
and I standing outside could both hear Columbia just great on our HTs.
But by the time I went out again with some others in tow to hear it, it
was down to "broken/unreadable". About that time, the school station
lost contact too, twice, probably due to antenna aiming problems, which
were quickly corrected.
I went back into the shack. I heard Jay signing off early with
Columbia. I whispered to him something like, "Whoa, can we send
up our call signs?" He made the right snap decision: "no" --
there wasn't time to get everyone organized and at the mike.
Instead he reminded Marty that a bunch of hams were helping and
would love to get QSL cards, and he brought the contact to an
elegant close as we lost signal. (I guess he was cool under
pressure because this was his second Shuttle QSO. The first was
by mobile HF about eight years ago! Anyway, he sounded great.)
Then there was whooping and hollering and high-fives all around
and a lot of happy kids and adults. Grant got interviewed, etc.
The kids went to
Walrus Ice Cream
to celebrate. Nearly an hour later most of the adults finally cleared
out. Some of us hams, including Jay, met up for lunch and ragchew,
which is how I heard about his previous QSO (and about how he got his
neato NASA cap).
The 5 pm news on Channel 4 did a segment 2:16 long on the event.
Naturally they butchered it in several ways, although if you
weren't there and weren't a ham you'd be blissfully entertained.
They started by saying the kids made a long distance phone call
to the shuttle. They included the kids' excitement at making
contact, and said "yes, that's the voice of
Marty Fettman
from Columbia", but if you listen closely, what you hear on the radio is
me saying "sounds good outside" (my two seconds of anonymous fame, if
only I could have really been on the shuttle...) As usual they jumped
around between little video bites, so you really don't hear much of
Marty talking at all, which is kind of silly since that's what it was
all about. (Jay said even the kids had to be quieted down at one point
during the QSO. He reminded them Marty might ask them a question!)
Apparently nobody (including me) thought to note the exact start and end
times of the QSO. It was pretty close to 121430-122230 though. I heard
the audio tape once afterward but didn't time it accurately.
Well I hope that if you read this far you found this account
entertaining. I must say, after being peripherally involved today,
radio once again has that same magic feeling to it that it had when I
started. I might even get a QSO card worth cherishing!
Alan, N0MFW
Date: 27 Oct 93 (Wed)
From: Alan Silverstein
To: hams@hpfcajs.fc.hp.com
Subject: how not to QSO Columbia
This morning at 1041, during orbit 146, I got voice acknowledgement of
my call sign from STS Orbiter Columbia -- sort of. I screwed it up
enough that it's as embarrassing a story as it is exciting, but
confession is good for the soul (and maybe you'll find it amusing), so
here goes...
I dropped by
Webber Junior High
Monday morning, and again this morning, to participate in two high-angle
Shuttle passes each day using the amazing equipment stack assembled by
John Coelho.
On Monday we heard/saw (via kagold) packet downlink on the second pass
only, and were unsuccessful at getting a connection, although I think we
did everything right. Yesterday one orbit was supposed to be a voice
pass, but listening from HP with
Paul Christofanelli
operating at Webber, we heard nothing but packet. This morning the
first pass at about 9 am was also supposed to include voice, but we heard
nothing, not even packet.
Between the passes I spent time teaching an interested student
about orbital mechanics/etc. That was fun. Then the HP monitor
on the second PC, used to run QuikTrak, died unexpectedly -- it
just whined. (How embarrassing, "you usually don't see this
behavior in a major appliance" from HP.) Fortunately I'd noted
on paper the critical numbers for the second pass today and two
more tomorrow.
During the second pass today I had one student calling and the
other steering the antenna. We heard some broken voice on
145.55 MHz so we didn't mess with packet. Well into the pass
the shuttle was still unreadable and I got antsy, but the
antenna seemed aimed right. It took too long to explain to
Amber that I wanted faster calls -- the students expected a more
relaxed contact, like when they had dedicated time on Saturday.
I took the mike from her to make some rapid calls on various of
the five different uplink freqs: "N0MFW Colorado".
I got an acknowledgement: "N0NFW" (oops). Much excitement. I
called back with a thanks to Marty for the great QSO with Webber
on Saturday, but was not acknowledged. Uh oh, was I on the
wrong uplink freq? Apparently so.
I spent the rest of the pass trying to make contact again on any
uplink freq, using "N0 Mike Fox Whiskey" this time, but wasn't
acknowledged again. Sigh. We heard KC5ACR (Bill) making QSOs
across the country though.
I made two mistakes. First, taking the mike from the student --
being the school station, it should have stayed with her, no
matter what. Second, I screwed up by calling too fast on 2-3
different freqs, thereby confusing myself on the uplink channel.
So I wasn't able to give the mike back to Melinda and Amber to
give them a chance to say "hi" also. Oh well.
Date: 28 Oct 93 (Thu)
From: Alan Silverstein
To: hams@hpfcajs.fc.hp.com
Subject: how to QSO Columbia
This morning we had much better luck talking with Columbia, and there's
still time for you to get in on the fun -- read on.
During orbit 160 (about 0730, groan) we heard neither packet nor voice.
I hung around Webber for two more passes, doing stuff with the kids in
between -- explaining radio stuff and orbital mechanics, and getting
them on the air to make patch phone calls via CSU.
During orbit 161 at about 9 am
Grant Pahlau,
N0QBA, was present. He's the teacher who set up the school SAREX
contact but never got on the air during it. A student used his call
sign. He did what I did yesterday -- grabbed the mike from the student
-- and got a "59" acknowledgement from Bill, KC5ACR. In the heat of the
moment he forgot to mention we were at Webber and to thank Marty for
Saturday's QSO. But it was a kick. Columbia immediately went on to
another contact, and Grant was quickly back teaching class.
During orbit 162 Paul (KG0CZ) and I were present with just one student.
We put the student on to call with Paul's sign, between trying packet
connections. To our surprise the astronauts were on voice again. The
student got an acknowledgement from KC5ACR at about 1038, almost
mid-pass (24 degrees elevation in the SSW). The student kinda froze so
Paul grabbed the mike from him and said we were at Webber in Fort
Collins and thanked Marty for the Saturday QSO. Whereupon Marty,
KC5AXA, responded. We were so high on adrenaline that we don't remember
exactly what Marty said!
I thought Paul hadn't mentioned Webber, so I grabbed the mike from him
in turn and said something like, "N0 Mike Fox Whiskey with KG0C Zed, at
the Webber Junior High station in Fort Collins. Thanks Marty for the
great contact last Saturday. Hope you have a good flight." He said
something about them enjoying themselves and it being a good day. I
responded inanely with, "Please record KG0C Zed and November 0 Mike Fox
Whiskey, and on to your next contact, thanks." Which he did.
It's amazing how most everyone gets mike fright when you are on-line
with the shuttle. We also forgot to start a voice recorder, sigh.
Well we're running out of callsigns :-) but not interest, nor students.
If you want to join the fun...
Date: 29 Oct 93 (Fri)
From: Alan Silverstein
To: hams@hpfcajs.fc.hp.com
Subject: how to QSO Columbia three more times
The
Webber Junior High
station is having phenomenal success reaching Columbia. We connected
with them on three successive orbits this morning, with different call
signs and kids involved each time. That makes five successes in five
attempts in two days.
This morning I just couldn't make it out of bed and over there for the
first good pass, but I listened on my HT from bed(!) I heard Columbia
loud and clear with a hot rod antenna. I also heard John (N0LHW) at
Webber get through on 144.97 MHz, so I programmed my radio to that
uplink freq and made some calls myself -- with 2.5W! Why not? I didn't
get acknowledged, of course...
I was at the school for the later two passes. To my amazement there was
someone onboard Columbia doing QSOs for all three orbits this morning.
It's not so amazing that we got through each time considering the great
equipment setup courtesy of John. (As Paul observed, "it's like
shooting ducks in a barrel", to mix a metaphor.) It is amazing, though,
that several times in the last two days we've actually heard Columbia
having to call CQ! [Which means they were inviting hams to call them!]
The Webber station has now reached Columbia on seven different
orbits. I wonder if that's a record...
Date: 30 Oct 93
From: Alan Silverstein
To: hams@hpfcajs.fc.hp.com
Subject: how to QSO Columbia again
We decided to try a couple more times this morning to get in a
couple more kids, hams, and call signs. It was about 10 degrees
outside, brrr... We managed to reach Columbia by voice with
NK0R on the early pass, at 0728, although it wasn't real clean
or easy. I was disappointed that we didn't get any
acknowledgement of a short message I prepared, thanking them for
"taking us into orbit with them".
During this first pass, just before sunrise, Paul, KG0CZ, made a
naked-eye sighting of Columbia. This should be possible again
tomorrow morning, Sunday, at about 0720-0729, moving from
azimuth 268 to 97 (west to south) with a max elevation of about
54 degrees. Also perhaps again Monday two minutes earlier, if
they haven't done the deorbit burn by then.
The next Shuttle pass was packet only, but we got an
acknowledgement and a SAREX number (847) at about 0902 (with a
bad checksum, hence no completed connection).
After the second pass we broke down the Webber station. We
heard on NASA Select that the astronauts will pack up the SAREX
station this afternoon.
Driving into HP at about 1037 I heard Columbia on voice again,
on a 10-degree maximum pass we'd decided not to wait for. Oh
well.
I heard from Slate, N0TQN, that one morning this week he heard us
connect, noted the uplink frequency, and proceeded to QSO Columbia from
a balcony at the
Anheuser-Busch
brewery, with 2 watts and a rubber duck on an HT.
The Webber station reached Columbia on ten different orbits with
eight different callsigns. I wonder if that's a record. Here's
a revised summary. In every case except the "official" school
contact the downlink freq was 145.55 MHz; and except as noted
Columbia's callsign was KC5ACR.
MDT MHz
DY DATE TIME ORB UPFREQ CALLSIGNS COMMENTS
Th 1021 ? ? 144.49 N0LHW-1 packet denial (shutdown) message
Sa 1023 1215 83 ... N0LHW,WK3S KC5AXA; "official" contact, five students
We 1027 1041 146 144.?? N0MFW botched uplink (144.95?), ack'd "N0NFW"
Th 1028 0904 161 144.?? N0QBA Grant Pahlau's turn, w/ students, solid
Th 1028 1038 162 144.91 KG0CZ,N0MFW Paul/Alan; "long" chat with KC5AXA
Fr 1029 0728 176 144.97 N0LHW John's turn, Paul present, no students
Fr 1029 0902 177 144.97 N0FZD student Melinda handled it great
Fr 1029 1038 178 144.93 N0WCW botched uplink, regained, John did Q/A
Sa 1030 0728 192 144.99? NK0R two acks of NK0R but not our followups
Sa 1030 0902 193 144.49 N0LHW-1 packet ack, checksum error, SAREX #847
Postings From Newsgroup rec.radio.amateur.misc:
From: cowdin@pogo.DEn.mmc.COM (Dave Cowdin)
Date: 25 Oct 1993
Subject: ANS-296 BULLETINS
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc
SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-296.01
STS-58 SAREX MISSION INFO
STS-58 Makes A Picture Perfect Lift-Off; SAREX Operations Begin
The STS-58 Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiement (SAREX) mission
began this past week with a "picture-perfect" lift-off on
Monday, 18-OCT-93 at 14:53:10 UTC. On this particular SAREX
mission the amateur radio station consists of a 2M FM
transceiver and a packet radio TNC. To log the packet station
contacts, the SAREX payload also includes a laptop computer. In
addition to school contacts, there the packet station will be in
operation for unattended "robot" packet contacts. For radio
amateurs who make or hear the SAREX station, you are invited to
send a QSL card to confirm a packet or voice contact or a SWL
report. Send your QSL card to the following address:
ARRL EAD, STS-58 QSL
225 Main Street
Newington, CT 06111
Please allow for up to 6-10 months for the STS-58 SAREX Mission
QSL card to be mailed. Please include with your QSL card all
the specific QSO information such as, date, time, mode,
frequency, etc. Also, and most importantly, if you wish to
receive a QSL card confirming a contact, you must include a
self-address-stamped-envelope (sase) with proper postage! If you do
not include a SASE, you will not receive a QSL card. ...
STS-58 Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) Information Sheet:
Mission: STS-58 Space Shuttle Columbia
Spacelab Life Sciences-2 (SLS-2) Mission
Launch: 18-OCT-1993, 14:53:10.06 UTC
Orbit: 39 degrees orbital inclination
Mission Length: 14 days (Nominal); Return 01-NOV-93
11:26:10 UTC
Amateur Radio
Operators: Bill McArthur (KC5ACR),
Marty Fettman (KC5AXA),
Rick Searfoss (KC5CKM)
Modes: FM Voice: Prime callsign KC5ACR
Packet Radio: Callsign W5RRR-1
Frequencies: All operations in split mode. Do not transmit
on the downlink frequency.
Voice Freqs: Downlink: 145.55 MHz (Worldwide)
Uplinks: 144.91, 144.93, 144.95, 144.97, 144.99 MHz
...
Note: The crew will not favor any specific
uplink frequency, so your ability to work the
crew will be the "luck of the draw."
Packet Freqs: Downlink: 145.55 MHz
Uplink: 144.49 MHz
Info: Goddard Amateur Radio Club, WA3NAN, Greenbelt Maryland
SAREX Bulletins and Shuttle Retransmissions 3.860 MHz,
7.185 MHz, 14.295 MHz, 21.395 MHz, 28.650 MHz and
147.450 MHz (FM)
Johnson Space Center ARC, W5RRR, Houston, Texas
SAREX Bulletins 7.225 MHz, 14.280 MHz, 21.395 MHz, 28.650 MHz,
(SSB) and 146.64 MHz (FM)
ARRL Amateur Radio Station, W1AW, Newington, CT
SAREX News Bulletins
3.990 MHz, 7.290 MHz, 14.290 MHz, 18.160 MHz, 21.390 MHz
From: kd2bd@ka2qhd.DE.COM (John Magliacane)
Date: 22 Oct 1993
Subject: * SpaceNews 25-Oct-93 *
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc
* STS-58 SAREX NEWS *
The Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment has been activated on Space
Shuttle Columbia and is being used to make pre-arranged voice
contacts with school children around the world. SAREX
operations started on Tuesday October 19 with a crystal clear,
horizon-to-horizon radio check with the Johnson Space Center
radio club, W5RRR. Since then, several hams have reported
making general QSO packet radio contacts with the Space Shuttle
Columbia as it passed over the continental U.S.
School group contacts have occurred fast and furiously last
week. On Wednesday October 20, the Russellville High School in
Russellville, Arkansas had an excellent horizon to horizon
contact with Shuttle Pilot Rick Searfoss, KC5CKM. On October
21, the crew had a very busy SAREX day with six school group
contacts scheduled. The Red Springs High School in Red Springs,
NC and the Bloomfield School in Bloomfield, MO each had more
than 10 students ask questions. In addition, the Alamo Heights
JHS in San Antonio, TX and the Lloyd Ferguson Elementary School
in League City, TX had several students talk to astronauts John
Blaha and Rick Searfoss, KC5CKM, respectively.
Over the next few days, the SAREX team hopes to complete the
majority of school group contacts. Thus, general QSO operations
will be somewhat limited over the continental U.S. since most
of the school group contacts are direct. Listen carefully to
the 145.55 downlink; however, please understand that they are
probably working with a school group if you hear nothing on the
downlink.
The SAREX packet radio "robot" was activated last week, logging
packet contacts and transmitting STS-58 mission status messages
as packet beacons. Some examples of SAREX packet transmissions
received by KD2BD in New Jersey on 145.550 MHz follow:
W5RRR-1>N3KYP <I S0 R0>:
#25-is your STS-58 SAREX QSO number.
W5RRR-1>QRZ <UI>:
#23-N3KYP N2NRD WA2N W8RRE KA3MUF KG3N KQ4AV KB8KPV KD4UPF KG5JJ
N3KTC KB8MBE N9NJK N8NYU AA9FA WB0BBR K0BJ KF2T W7US KD6BOG
KD6MKS WD6GYU W6BME
W5RRR-1>QSL <UI>:
WA2N/21 N8NYU/12 AA9FA/11 WB0BBR/10 KD6BOG/4 WD6GYU/2
Notice how the ROBOT QSO numbers listed in the QSL frame increased from
two when Columbia was in range of the 6th US call district to 10 when over
the midwest to 21 when over the 2nd call district. This clearly
indicates the track of the Shuttle as it crossed the southern portion of
the United States moving west to east on this orbit...
From: ABFHB@STDVAX.GSFC.NASA.GOV
Date: 24 Oct 1993
Subject: SAREX Operations 10/23/93
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc
To date, the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment operations on the Space
Shuttle Columbia have been outstanding. Nearly 300 general QSO packet
connects have been completed since SAREX operation was initiated on
Tuesday October 19. In addition, several hams have reported general
voice contacts in the U.S. and abroad.
SAREX school group contacts have been impressive during this mission.
In most cases, full quieting radio links have been established early in
the pass and the school question and answer session has continued
through to the scheduled loss of signal. On October 21, the Lycee
Gaston Febus school in Pau, France had a telebridge contact with the
astronauts. Jean-Marc Dumont, the France school coordinator reports
that over 10,000 students throughout France listened to the contact
through a national repeater link.
To date, the following schools have successfully completed their
contact: Russellville H.S., Russellville, Arkansas, Red Springs HS, Red
Springs North Carolina, Alamo Heights JHS, San Antonio, Texas,
Bloomfield School, Bloomfield, Missouri, Lloyd Ferguson Elementary,
League City, Texas, Sycamore Middle School, Pleasant View, Tennessee,
Gardens Elementary, Pasadena, Texas, Carl Hayden HS, Phoenix, Arizona,
Meyzeek Middle School, Louisville, ! Kentucky, and the Webber JHS, Fort
Collins, Colorado. All these contacts were direct between the schools
and the shuttle. In addition, many of the students have had the unique
fortune of seeing downlink video of SAREX operations on the shuttle
flight deck during their contact.
The outstanding success of the school contacts will provide a potential
bonus for the general ham community. The SAREX team is currently
working to change a planned backup school group pass into a scheduled
general QSO pass. ...
Submitted by Frank H. Bauer for the SAREX Working Group
From: ABFHB@STDVAX.GSFC.NASA.GOV
Date: 29 Oct 1993
Subject: SAREX Keps & Update 10/28
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc
All scheduled SAREX school and personal contacts are complete. This
mission was, by far, the most successful from a school group success
standpoint. Only two school group and one personal contacts had to be
repeated. The probability of a successful school contact on the first
attempt was nearly 90% for this mission. During previous missions, our
success rate was between 66-75%. The majority of the schools had
horizon to horizon contacts and many schools had 10 or more questions
answered. The SAREX Working Group wishes to thank the school group
volunteers for their outstanding efforts, the AMSAT technical mentors
who coached the schools prior to the contact, and those who helped in
the Mission Control Customer Support room; particularly John Nickel,
WD5EEV, and Karen Nickel, WD5EEU.
[Heard on NASA Select Sat 10/30 that 19 schools were contacted including
16 in the US.]
Because all scheduled SAREX activities are now complete, several
additional general QSO opportunities are now available. ...
From: kd2bd@ka2qhd.DE.COM (John Magliacane)
Date: 29 Oct 1993
Subject: * SpaceNews 01-Nov-93 *
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc
* STS-58 SAREX NEWS *
The latest in a series of Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiments carried
onboard Space Shuttle "Columbia" has been a great success. The Shuttle
astronauts managed to make scheduled radio contacts with school groups
as well as general contacts with amateur radio operators around the
world.
The following packet beacon was sent by Space Shuttle "Columbia" on
25-Oct-93 at 15:14:03 UTC and received by N2NRD:
Thanks for all the great QSO's. KC5AXA, KC5CKM, and I love them. We're
half way through the mission, beginning flight day 8 today. We are
doing human metabolic and cardiovascular experiments in the lab today.
We will also continue with an experiment to quantify the impact human
activity in a space ship on the microgravity environment. We have had
spectacular views of our beautiful home planet. We hope to bring back a
large quantity of pictures. 73 KC5ACR ...
From: cowdin@pogo.DEn.mmc.COM (Dave Cowdin)
Date: 31 Oct 1993
Subject: ANS-303 BULLETINS
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc
STS-58 Astronauts Breaks All SAREX Records
Now that the Space Shuttle Columbia Astronauts have packed away the
Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) gear, it can be said that this
SAREX flight was one of the most successful performed to date. All
facets of this SAREX flight were performed superbly. This was a
testament of the outstanding support and preparation by the Astronauts
on-orbit and the SAREX team on the ground. For the DX chaser, this
mission will probably be remembered for the special effort that was made
on the part of the astronauts to make as many general voice QSO contacts
as their busy schedule would allow. The astronauts were available on
voice for all the "scheduled" general QSO opportunities and many
additional passes. Estimates of the number of voice contacts are
difficult without hearing the tape logs but are probably in the high
hundreds. With respect to packet QSOs, well over 800 at this time is a
good estimate. Until the SAREX logs have been completely examined,
these are only preliminary estimates.
One important facet of SAREX is school group contacts. This mission
shined from a school group success standpoint. Of the 17 school groups
and eight personal contacts planned, only two school group and one personal
contacts had to be repeated. The probability of a successful school
contact on the first attempt was nearly 90% for this mission. During
previous missions, our success rate was between 66-75%. Also, the
majority of the schools had horizon to horizon contacts and many schools
had 10 or more questions answered. Hundreds of school children were
thrilled by the experience of talking directly with the STS-58
astronauts and asking questions about various aspects of space flight.
Many thousand more were also able to listen into the conversation...
A great deal of recognition should be given to the hard work done by the
SAREX Working Group which listened to the feedback from radio amateurs
from previous SAREX missions and worked very hard improve operations.
Also, a big "thanks" is due to the astronauts aboard STS-58;
particularly Bill McArthur (KC5ACR), Marty Fettman (KC5AXA), and Rick
Searfoss, (KC5CKM).
In the upcoming weeks as the SAREX logs are analyzed by the SAREX Team,
the AMSAT News Service (ANS) bulletins will publish final STS-58
operational statistics.
From: kd2bd@ka2qhd.DE.COM (John Magliacane)
Date: 8 Nov 1993
Subject: * SpaceNews 08-Nov-93 *
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc
* STS-58 FAREWELL MESSAGE *
The following packet radio beacon from Space Shuttle Columbia was
received by Dave, N6JLH in Northern California on 31-Oct-93:
W5RRR-1>SAREX <UI>: This is STS-58 SAREX Robot station W5RRR-1 onboard
the Space Shuttle Columbia.
W5RRR-1>QST <UI>: 73s from Columbia on our last day on orbit. We have
a beautiful planet. Thanks for participating in this mission with us.
The STS-58 Crew.
(Next trip report: 1994_0510_Eclipse.htm)