Tuesday, November 6, 2018

"Hello, America … Who's Out There?"

It wasn't a traditional "CQ," but then the so-called experts will tell you it's bad form to call CQ on 2-meter FM, so we'll give a pass to Astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor, KG5TMT, who got on 145.800 MHz from NA1SS on the International Space Station on October 6, looking for random contacts back on the ground. 

The ARRL Letter reports that Auñón-Chancellor decided to see who she could contact during a pass that went up the U.S. east coast. "Hello America," she called. "This is the International Space Station. Who's out there?" She found plenty of company … Auñón-Chancellor is expected to return to Earth in December. 

(Should you catch another random CQ from the ISS, be aware that NA1SS operates "split." The uplink frequency in 149.490 MHz in the Americas and Asia/Oceania; and 145.200 in Europe and Africa. - ed.)