Our Portable Satellite Station antenna system uses a pair of Advanced Receiver Research Remote preamplifiers at the antennas to boost weak signals. These preamps have RF sensing and switching to protect…
PTT Router Front Panel
Our Portable Satellite Station 3.0 is coming together and has been tested thanks to help from several NARS members. Part of the project is to improve the sequencing system which manages antenna mounted preamplifiers. These improvements involved the design and construction of a simple Push To Talk (PTT) router. The article above explains the design, construction, and integration of this PTT Routing devices. It was a great homebrew addition to our Portable Satellite Station setup.
We held our first license class of 2018 this past weekend. It was a Technician License Class and it was a huge success. We had a total of 16 students in the class, including 3 high school students from Bishop Guertin High School and Merrimack High School – the two schools who participated in our High Altitude Balloon projects. There was also a teacher in the class from Hudson Memorial School, who will be participating in HAB-3.
We had a great set of students – they all were well prepared and did great on their exams. All 16 students earned their Tech Licenses and one of the students also earned his General!
AB1BY teaching the Tech Class
Thanks to all of our instructors and VEs who made this possible. The Tech Class instructors were Abby, AB1BY, Jamey, AC1DC, Fred, AB1OC, Brian AB1ZO, Wayne, AG1A, and Burns, WB1FJ.
In addition to classroom study, we provided many demos and gave the students an opportunity to get on the air and make Satellite contacts using the station above. Students also had the opportunity to make HF Contacts using a FlexMaestro, which connected over the internet to the station at the AB1OC/AB1QB QTH.
HF Station with Flex Maestro
Our next license class will be the General Class, which will be held on March 24th and 25th. We will hold the Extra Class on April 27 – 29. To register, visit our Class Information Page.
Many of our students also joined the Nashua Area Radio Society after they passed their exams. Please say hello to the new members and congratulate them at our next meeting.
The video above is a capture of the school’s contact. It was very easy to receive the ISS downlink on our portable backup ground station. I heard the downlink a few seconds before the ISS came up on the horizon and the audio was solid for the duration of the contact. We can only hear the astronaut’s side of the contact as we cannot receive the school’s uplink from Raleigh, NC. The ISS pass began here in New Hampshire part way through the school’s session so we did not hear the first few questions.
Update on Portable ISS/Sat Station 3.0
Portable ISS/Sat Station 3.0 Antenna System
Work on our upgraded primary Portable 3.0 Station which includes a larger antenna system using switchable circular polarity is progressing well. The portable tower, upgraded rotator system, and the new, larger 2m and 70cm circularly polarized antennas are complete. We are just waiting for a few additional components to arrive here and the upgraded portable ground station should be ready for its first test at our Technician License Class later this month.
More on Today’s ISS Crew Contact
You can see a live stream of the ISS Contact from the school above. There is a great deal of planning which goes into an ISS Crew Contact such as this. We are working closely with Hudson Memorial School on their project and their school is also beginning a High-Altitude Balloon Project with us in a few weeks.
The ISS Crew Contact today was exciting to listen too and we are looking forward to being able to share this experience with Hudson Memorial School in the near future.
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