SB SPACE @ ARL $ARLS017
ARLS017 Seventeen schools on STS-94 SAREX schedule
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Space Bulletin 017 ARLS017
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington, CT June 13, 1997
To all radio amateurs
SB SPACE ARL ARLS017
ARLS017 Seventeen schools on STS-94 SAREX schedule
Thanks to SAREX--the Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment--students at 17
schools, including one in the People's Republic of China, are
scheduled to talk with the astronauts on the upcoming STS-94 mission
aboard the shuttle Columbia. STS-94 is a ''refly'' of the April STS-83
mission that had to be cut short when a problem developed in one of
the shuttle's fuel cells. STS-94 is set to launch on July 1. During
the earlier mission, Columbia prematurely returned to Earth April 8
without making any of the scheduled SAREX QSOs. Most of the schools
on the earlier schedule remain on tap for the July mission, which
will again carry the microgravity science lab. Three hams are among
the STS-94 crew members. They are Jim Halsell, KC5RNI, the mission
commander; Janice Voss, KC5BTK; and Donald Thomas, KC5FVF.
Under the SAREX program, students at each of the selected schools ask
questions of the astronauts during the contact. The primary goal of
SAREX is to excite students' interest in learning.
Schools selected by the SAREX Working Group for a ham radio contact
during this mission include: Mountain View Elementary School,
Prescott Valley, Arizona; Center Street School, El Segundo,
California; Ione Junior High School, Jackson, California; Foursquare
Radio Amateur Youth, Oxnard, California; Crittenden Middle School,
Mountain View, California; Robert J. Burch Elementary School, Tyrone,
Georgia; Edgewater High School, Orlando, Florida; Lexington
Traditional Magnet School, Lexington, Kentucky; Discovery Place Inc,
Charlotte, North Carolina; Lawrence Intermediate School,
Lawrenceville, New Jersey; Yeso Elementary School, Artesia, New
Mexico; Public School No 9, New York, New York; Du Bois Middle
School, Du Bois, Pennsylvania; Dunn's Corners Elementary School,
Westerly, Rhode Island; Alvin C. York Agricultural Institute,
Jamestown, Tennessee; S.J. Davis Middle School, San Antonio, Texas;
and Tsinghua University, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
During most SAREX missions, many of the crew members will make random
contacts with earth-bound hams. This crew will use KC5RNI, KC5BTK and
KC5FVF on FM voice and W5RRR-1 on packet. They make these contacts
during their breaks, before and after meal time, and during their
pre-sleep time. In fact, over the past years the astronauts have
contacted thousands of amateurs around the world. On many missions,
they have even carried a 2-meter packet radio station. Innovative
computer software allows the crew to operate the packet gear in an
''unattended'' mode, allowing amateurs to make contacts with the ROBOT
station when the astronauts are working or sleeping.
The SAREX Working Group has designated the following frequencies
during this mission. FM voice downlink (worldwide): 145.55 MHz; FM
voice uplink (except Europe): 144.91, 144.93, 144.95, 144.97, and
144.99 MHz; FM voice uplink (Europe only): 144.70, 144.75, and 144.80
MHz; FM packet downlink: 145.55 MHz; FM packet uplink: 144.49 MHz.
Hams should avoid transmitting on the shuttle's downlink frequencies.
The uplink is your transmitting frequency. The crew will not favor
any uplink frequency, so your ability to communicate with SAREX will
be the ''luck of the draw.'' Transmit only when the shuttle is within
range of your station, and when the shuttle's station is on-the-air.
QSLs go to ARRL EAD, STS-94 QSL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT
06111-1494. Include the following information in your QSL or report:
STS-83, date, time in UTC, frequency and mode (FM, voice or packet).
You must also include a business-sized SASE.
Additional STS-94 mission information is available from NASA at the
NASA Shuttle Web site, http://shuttle.nasa.gov.
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