Hi Jerry, I don't know what a class "a" ground station consists of, but I'm sure the kids will get a blast just listening to the recorded children's greetings broadcasted in FM voice mode. I caught one of these transmissions when they first tested ARISSat-1 earlier in the year using only a HT with a simple homebrew 70cm yagi like the ones listed below
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/information/faqs/crow/JulAug06AmsatJournal.pdf http://www.ea4cax.com/paginaea4cyq/cju/cjuingles.pdf http://www.wa5vjb.com/references/Cheap%20Antennas-LEOs.pdf I've built all 3, but the easiest, I think, is the one from AMSAT (Richard Crow N2SPI). The instructions are *VERY* detailed. I take it you're a school teacher? Even your students can build it. I made mine from 10 gage solid copper wire because I couldn't find the aluminum grounding wire, but everything else can be purchased from RadioShack (The Source in Canada, eh). Even if ARISSat-1 doesn't "fly", pardon the pun, you'll still have a decent downlink antenna for the other FM satellites. All the best and have fun! 73's Peter VE7NGP -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of jerry Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2011 8:38 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [amsat-bb] ARISSat-1 After years of anticipating the launch of SuitSat-2 and then ARISSat-1 , I for one have lost My interest in it. I think even with peak performance , it will take a class "a" ground station to hear any of the formats We're expecting . Definitely not a school project . I hope it proves Me wrong . Jerry WB5LHD _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
