How It All Began

Like many memorable events in our lives, our journey towards the Hudson Memorial School ISS Crew Contact began in a modest fashion with a telephone call from Dan Pooler at Hudson Memorial School in Hudson, NH.

Dan had been to Space Camp where he heard about an ARISS Crew Contact from a faculty member at another school. He asked if the Nashua Area Radio Society would consider supporting Hudson Memorial School (HMS) in their bid to secure and hold an ISS Crew Contact. Of course, I said YES and this was the beginning of what I am sure is one of the most memorable experiences in Anita’s and my lives. We talked about other possible projects that we could do around Amateur Radio and STEM learning and we agreed to look into those as well.

Applying for an ISS Crew Contact

HMS’ application for an ISS Crew Contact began with a site survey on a cold day in December of 2017. To the basic information that the ARISS folks required about the location, Dan added his plans for integrating Space Science and Amateur Radio into the curriculum at HMS. I added details of the primary and backup portable space communications ground stations that we proposed to build and we submitted our application.

It is very difficult to secure an ISS Crew Contact. Only about 26 are awarded to US schools each year so we were cautiously optimistic about our chance. Dan and I had decided to do a High-Altitude Balloon (HAB) Project at HMS.  We felt that this would provide a good STEM learning opportunity built on Amateur Radio if we did not secure a Crew Contact.

The first good signs appeared in January of 2018 when we were invited to a briefing about the ISS Crew Contact process. We also met Dave Jordan, AA4KN early on. Dave helped us to navigate the ARISS Crew Contact process and patiently answered Dan’s and my questions. These early events gave us a pretty good indication that we had made it through the initial cut of what must have been a long list of applicants.

HAB And Other Programs at HMS

Dan, Adam, Rachel, and other faculty members at HMS and I were very focused on our HAB program at HMS in the Spring of 2018.  This led us additional activities including holding our Field Day and a Special License class at HMS during the late spring and summer.

We did a second HAB Program again in the fall as well and we continued our work to spark interest in Amateur Radio among the students and get some of them licensed. Dan, AC1EN and his daughter Mackenzie, KE1NZY both earned their Extra Class Licenses along the way. Kenzie became the youngest NARS member yet to earn an Extra Class License – she is only 10 years old!

Looking Good For A Contact – Time To Build Stations and Excite Our Students

In March of 2018, we received a strong indication that we were going to be selected for an ISS Crew Contact! This was tremendous news and it kicked many of our preparation activities into high-gear.

An ARISS Crew Contact requires two very capable Space Communications Ground Stations to be built – a primary and a backup. We already had a station that would meet most of the backup requirements. Because of this, the station building work for our contact focused on a new, primary station. An ISS Crew Contact only requires simplex communications on the 2m.  Since we had a keen interest in satellite operations and the desire to include space comms demos in our license classes, we decided to construct both stations for both Satellite and ISS contacts.

Both stations are fully computer controlled and we tested them extensively at Field Day, License Classes,  local Ham Fests, and at our QTH making over 900 satellite contacts in the process. All of this work provided a great learning opportunity for us and for NARS members who helped so much to build and test the stations. You can read more about the design and construction of our ground stations here.

Dan and the Faculty Members at HMS were also very busy executing the space curriculum that they had laid out. They provided a long list of space-related field trips and learning opportunities throughout 2018. Their work provided tremendous reinforcement for what we hoped would be a once in a lifetime learning experience associated with our Crew Contact. You can read more about what Dan the other faculty members at HMS did to integrate Space Science and Amateur Radio into their school curriculum here.

A Bump In The Road…

In July, we hit a pretty major speed bump. Due to ISS scheduling problems, we were asked to switch from a Direct Contact via an Amateur Radio station at HMS to a Telebridge Contact using a Ham station somewhere else in the world. This was a tremendous disappointment to all of us.

After discussing the situation with Dan, we decided to ask the ARISS folks to reschedule our contact and keep it as a Direct one. We took a big risk in doing this.  Our decision could have resulted in our losing our Crew Contact all together. In the end, Dan and I both felt that Amateur Radio was an integral part of the STEM learning experience at HMS and we wanted to take the risk. Dave Jordan, our ARISS mentor, understood the situation. I believe that he helped a great deal to get our contact rescheduled to December when we could hold our contact using radio equipment at HMS.

Final Countdown – We Are GO For A Contact!

The way the ARISS Crew Contact Process works, one is never certain that one has an actual contact until a list of ISS pass dates and times is received to be prioritized. This finally happened on October 30th. We were presented with seven candidate ISS passes,  to prioritize, all of which occurred during the first week in December.  We were obviously ecstatic when we received this information!

With our contact now a certainty, our final preparations kicked into high gear. While we had tested both the primary and the backup stations individually, we had never had the chance to test both together. We also wanted to add a professional grade Audio-Visual system which included Livestream and other video cameras to capture our contact. Dave Merchant, K1DLM and I got together and laid out plans for putting all of the gear together.  We got together several times at our QTH in November to set up all of the gear at once and test it.  The tests uncovered some problems which we were able to successfully resolve. We were very glad that we had taken the time to test the full set up well in advance of our contact.

It Takes A Great Team

The NARS team began weekly calls to plan out all of the details of our contact during this time. We had a large team of members who helped us with the final preparations and with our contact. I cannot thank all of these folks enough for all that they did:

• Anita Kemmerer, AB1QB
• Anthony Rizzolo, KC1DXL
• Bob Chin, W1OLD
• Burns Fisher, WB1FJ
• Charlie Dunn, W1CBD
• Curtis Dude, N1CMD
• Dan Pooler, AC1EN
• Dave Merchant, K1DLM
• Jamey Finchum, AC1DC
• Mike Ryan, K1WVO
• Tom Mahon, AB1NS

We also learned that the final date and time for our contact would be Friday, December 7th in the early afternoon.

Final Preparations – T-10…

Final preparations and station setup began on Monday of our contact week. We transported the antennas and all of our gear to the school and began setting up our gear and testing our stations.

By the end of the first day, we had most of our equipment working. We made a few satellite contacts using it as a way to check things out. We also connected our equipment to the sound and projection systems in the gym at HMS and tested with them.

We did run into some pretty serious problems with the acoustics in the gym at HMS. The room was very live and we had problems with feedback and echo to the point where we felt it would be difficult for the students and visitors to hear what was going on during our contact.

Fortunately, Dave was able to secure an adaptive room equalizer just two days before our contact.  We used it to solve the audio problems in the gym. With this step complete, we were ready for our contact!

Contact Day – It’s Finally Here!

The NARS setup team arrived at the school early on Friday to begin final setup for our contact in the afternoon. Our coax and control cable ran across the driveways at the school. We began our day by putting our cables out and connecting them to our antennas. We also set up our sound and projection links. Thanks to all of our preparations, there was very little drama on Contact Day!

We had quite a crowd of visitors at our contact. I would estimate that we had about 700 people in the room with us.  There were another 300 or so in other schools in the district watching the contact via Livestream video through the N1FD Facebook Page.

We worked with several other schools on HAB projects during the time that we were preparing for our contact. The Bishop-Guertin  H.S. STEM club was one of our partners during this time.  They joined us to experience our ISS Crew Contact and got a tour of the equipment that we used. World Academy, another HAB school, watched the contact via Livestream Video as well.

The Contact

The Livestream video of our contact that we delivered through the N1FD Facebook Page turned out to be quite popular. It has enjoyed over 7,000 views to date.

The HMS students that would ask questions during the contact took their seats on stage as the time for our contact approached.

Keith Bowen, the Principal at HMS gave a nice introduction to the event and thanked everyone involved in making our contact happen.

Dan with some help from myself gave the audience an overview of what went into our contact and what would happen while it took place. You can view the presentation here.

With all of the preliminaries complete, we began to call the ISS. After a minute or so, Serena answered our call and our ISS Crew Contact began! The students took turns asking their questions and Serena answered them over the air. It was an experience that everyone involved will never forget!

You can experience our contact via the video above. Also, here’s a transcription of the student’s questions and Serena’s answers.

And In The End…

Finally, our contact came to the end and we said goodbye to Serena and signed off. All of us on stage were elated about the experience that we had.

The folks at ARISS have provided us with a QSL card to commemorate our contact. This will be one of my most special QSLs for sure!

Thinking back about all that happened over the last year and a half leading up to our contact, I now, more than ever understand the following quote:

“It’s not about the destination, it’s all about the Journey”

I can only hope that I have the chance to walk this path again sometime.

The students and Faculty Members at HMS created a personal set of Thank You cards which contain many, many cherished words and memories associated with our experience. I really enjoy reading these time and time again.

Several people have asked me “What part of the whole contact experience was most memorable for you Fred?” There are so many memories, friendships, and experiences that occurred along the way that created lasting memories. For me, there is really only one real answer  – It’s all about the chance to inspire young people to pursue an exciting career related to Science and Technology.

Again, there are many, many folks who contributed greatly to our successful ISS Crew Contact. Thanks to some great work by Charlie, W1CBD, Bob, W1OLD, and Jamey, AC1DC, we have some great photo and video memories from our contact. You can view the photos from our contact here and the video is viewable above.

Fred, AB1OC