Several websites at the present time can help you identify the correct offset to apply.Ī really important information is given by the maximum elevation (data are in degrees from the horizon). Regarding time, be careful of the fact that they are given in UTC, Universal Coordinated Time.Ĭheck how this time is related to your time zone and to the season.įor example, in the CEST time zone (Germany, Italy, etc.), 8:00 UTC means 9:00 (+1:00) in winter, but 10:00 (+2:00) in the summer. With a compass and the azimuth data, it will be easy to locate these points. The first refers to the point and time from which the ISS appears from the horizon, the second refers to the point and the time of disappearance. Here is an example of predictions:ĪOS and LOS mean Acquisition Of Signal and Loss Of Signal, respectively. You will have to enter your longitude and latitude data, that can be easily found from Google Maps. The easiest way to start is to use an amsat web tool available at Remember that these predictions are based on orbit information that should be regularly downloaded from the web, at least weekly. Several programs (eg gpredict) and mobile phone apps can be easily found and used to get the ISS pass predictions and the exact path of the ISS above the point of observation. This is also the limit of your potential conversation, so be concise. In practice, the ISS will be visible from a point on the ground for not more than 15 minutes. The ISS orbit is such that the space station completes an orbit of Earth every 90 minutes. In particular, ARISS is in charge of organizing radio contacts with the ISS. The Uplink frequency (145.99 MHz) is the one Earthlings should use to send radio messages to the ISS the downlink frequency (437.8 MHz) is the one to be used to listen to ISS messages.ĭetailed and updated information can be found here: Whatever you want to do, remember that the ISS transceiver/repeater works on different frequencies for transmitting and receiving. In this way, the ISS can be used to contact people that would be unreachable in a direct ground-to-ground communication, because of obstacles and of the curvature of Earth. The international Space Station is equipped with a transceiver that allows astronauts to communicate with radio amateurs and, thanks to them, Scouts, schools and other educational institutions.Īstronauts mostly answer only to scheduled contacts, but it’s always possible to make an attempt to contact them.Įven when they are not active at the radio, their transceiver can work as a radio repeater, so that if you send a radio message to the ISS then the ISS irradiates the messages to the face of Earth in front of itself.
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