A Michigan #ham#radio operator used a homemade setup with a handheld antenna to talk to an astronaut orbiting the Earth on the International Space Station.
The astronaut even sent him a #QSL#card acknowledging the conversation (included at the end of the video).
There’s more info on Reddit about the radio, antenna, and conversation.
The ISS even has an unofficial program that allows students to talk to astronauts on the station via ham radio.
An almost-all-volunteer organization called Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, or #ARISS, now helps arrange contact between students and astronauts on the space station.
Students prepare to ask questions rapid-fire, one after another, into the ham radio microphone for the brief 10-minute window before the space station flies out of range.
“We try to think of ourselves as planting seeds and hoping that we get some mighty oaks to grow,” said Kenneth G. Ransom, the ISS Ham project coordinator at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
That this is even possible with low-powered communication devices underscores just how close the #ISS is to Earth: 200-250 miles above the surface. That’s the distance between Dallas & Houston or NYC to Boston.
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