International Space Station Contact done 6 July

KD5TVA-Jeff-WilliamsAt 1:29 UTC (10:29am EDT), 14 students and 6 instructors asked questions of astronaut Jeff Williams, KD5TVQ, aboard the ISS (International Space Station).   it was part of the “Space Station Camp,” a joint project of the Science Museum of Virginia and six RVA amateur radio clubs with the RARC taking the lead.

VK5ZAI-headSince our RARC station on a hanger at the airport was not stable by the end of May, we elected to used a phone-patch (“telebridge” in ARISS jargon).  It was from Tony Huchison, VK5ZAI, in southwestern Australia.  Tony’s station is mostly home-brew and highly modified. His website is very interesting at http://www.electric-web.org/.

VK5ZAI-station-locationDave Taylor, W8AAS, was our mentor.  He helped us when we got into the weeds and attended the contact.