Saturday 27 February 2016

MX0MXO portable in Laleham Part

Back to Laleham park tonight.
Additional equipment : we now have a stove and kettle, essential on these winter evening out!

Friday 26 February 2016

ISS contact with Norwich Schools, Norwich/East Anglia, UK,

Here is my recording
Here is the full contact as played on ECHOLINK AMSAT



A direct contact via GB2CNS with students at Norwich Schools, Norwich/East Anglia, UK, was successful Fri 2016-02-26 14:43:39 UTC 29  deg. Astronaut Timothy Peake, KG5BVI answered 16 questions before his responses were lost in the noise. With HamTV in operation, Peake responded to a request  for a wave and demonstrated weightlessness answering questions while floating on his side..

Watch a local media report about the event:  
http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2016-02-26/science-lesson-for-norfolk-pupils-that-is-out-of-this-world/

This contact is a collaborative project between three schools in Norfolk and their local university, UEA. Norwich School employs an Ogden Trust Teaching Fellow whose job is 50% dedicated to Physics outreach and she has led the project. City of Norwich School (CNS) are hosting the link up. Reepham High School have an observatory on site and are hosting a "spot the station" event. 36 schools have signed up to be a part of all we have planned and have each received an age-appropriate radio kit for use in lessons and clubs funded by RCUK through the UEA.

Friday 19 February 2016

Oasis Academy Brightstowe, Bristol, UK



My recording

  • A direct contact via GB1OAB with students at Oasis Academy Brightstowe, Bristol, UK is scheduled for  Fri 2016-02-19 14:23:23 UTC 78 deg. The scheduled astronaut is Timothy Peake KG5BVI.
You can watch the contact at https://principia.ariss.org/Live/. Their stream starts about an hour or so prior to contact.
Audio from this contact will be fed to:EchoLink *AMSAT* (101377) and the IRLP Node 9010 Discovery Reflector. Streaming audio will be available at: https://sites.google.com/site/arissaudio/
Audio on Echolink and web stream is generally transmitted around 20 minutes prior to the contact taking place so that you can hear some of the preparation that occurs. IRLP will begin just prior to the ground station call to the ISS. Audio for this contact is a relay from the Principia website and is dependent on their stream.
  • A direct contact via K4UAH with students at University of Alabama, Huntsville Space Hardware Club, Huntsville, Alabama, USA is scheduled for Fri 2016-02-19 17:20:14 UTC 72 deg.The scheduled astronaut is Tim Kopra, KE5UDN.

The Space Hardware Club at the University of Alabama in Huntsville is an engineering club of students that builds balloon payloads, satellites and rockets outside of their regular classes. The club has been working on this contact for over a year. After deciding to focus on 8th grade students, we reached out to Discovery Middle School, Westlawn Middle School, and the Tennessee Valley Homeschool 4-H group – all from the northern Alabama area. The students from Westlawn have been part of Project Lead The Way for 2 years now and have been exposed to robotics, modeling, and 3d printing. The students from the homeschool group all have a passion for STEM, a love of learning and being challenged, and are bubbling with excitement for this opportunity of a lifetime. There are two STEM II classes from Discovery Middle School that routinely rise to the expectations of their accelerated STEM focused curriculum. By the time of the contact, the students will have learned about the ISS, the astronauts and some of the experiments aboard, and amateur radio.  All of the students and club members involved are passionate about this opportunity, and thank you for your time.

Thursday 11 February 2016

Royal Masonic School for Girls, Rickmansworth, UK

A direct contact with students at Royal Masonic School for Girls, Rickmansworth, UK was successful Thu 2016-02-11 18:11:09 UTC 88 deg  Astronaut Timothy Peake KG5BVI answered 14 prepared questions from the students and was also able to broadcast live video of the interview using the new amateur radio Ham TV system, which is the first use of the Ham TV system during a school interview. 

Watch a video recording of the event at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cosp6W-gqq4Read a story about the event on the Principia website https://principia.org.uk/news/second-amateur-radio-call/

The Royal Masonic School for Girls is an independent girl’s day and boarding school in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, with an exceptional, unusual and distinguished history. Founded in 1788 with the purpose of educating the daughters of Freemasons who were unable to support their families, it is one of the oldest girls' schools in the country. We attract girls aged 4-18 from across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and North London and boarders from all over the world. We also have a Pre School for boys and girls aged 2 to 4. Our ethos is both aspirational and nurturing and our girls strive to be the very best they can be, academically, morally and creatively. Our public examination results are consistently impressive and each year around 90% of girls leave RMS to take up places at University. Life at RMS is centred on much more than "just" academic success and the School is well known for its exceptional pastoral care, and the wealth of extra-curricular opportunities it offers - including Astronomy as we are one of very few schools in the UK to have our own planetarium and observatory!

Saturday 6 February 2016

M0JFP heard by PSAT

PSAT (Navy Oscar NO84) is another APRS satellite that can digipeat user packets

Live data from PSAT can be found here: http://www1.findu.com/cgi-bin/pcsat.cgi 
















"Gesmundo Moro Fiore" Secondary School, Terlizzi, Italy

A telebridge contact via LU1CGB with students at "Gesmundo Moro Fiore" Secondary School, Terlizzi, Italy was successful Sat 2016-02-06 09:09:01 UTC 40 deg.  Astronaut Tim Peake, KG5BVI answered 18 questions prepared by students.

 ‘’Gesmundo – Moro – Fiore ‘’ is a secondary school formed of two different buildings in the suburb area of Terlizzi. The new school was born this school year from the fusion of two schools. In the last few years some foreign citizens from Eastern Europe to Mediterranean Africa are coming to live in Terlizzi, so the school is having new needs and is facing different realities. The school facility includes laboratories ICT, Technology, Art, conference room , library. multimedia room and big spaces outside with wonderful gardens.

Thursday 4 February 2016

ISS contact with Christ The King School, Rutland, Vermont, USA

A telebridge contact via VK4KHZ with students at Christ The King School, Rutland, Vermont, USA was successful Thu 2016-02-04 18:28:16 UTC 88 deg. Astronaut Tim Kopra successfully answered 19 questions for students.

Here is my recording

Watch a local news media report on the event at http://www.wcax.com/story/31144364/vt-kids-quiz-astronaut-on-international-space-station

Christ The King School is a PK-8 Catholic school in the city of Rutland, VT. The school has a population of 150 students and 17 teachers. Since 1886, Christ The King School (CKS) has dedicated itself to the principles of Catholic education, with academic excellence and community service being the hallmarks of our school. CKS is committed to incorporating technology in the classroom, with every class now having interactive white boards and internet access, middle school students each having access to a chrome book, and the school having a fully equipped computer lab. In 2015, the school received the Innovations in Catholic Education National Award for its implementation of exemplary, innovation programs to improve the teaching and learning of their students, faculty, and staff. Three of our students were chosen to be participants in the NASA Girls and NASA Boys summer program in 2014 and 2015. One of our retired school volunteers is a former Goddard Spaceflight Center Education Specialist and current Vermont Solar System Ambassador who helps insure that the students are able to take advantage of all the wonderful educational resources and opportunities available to them through the various NASA Education Programs. Our mission is to promote our Catholic faith through instruction, prayer, and service to others, assist our parents in their role as primary educators, and create a student-centered program in a structured academic environment that nurtures the development of the whole child.