There are a few different ways you can "work" the space station. The first and probably most obvious, is voice. This is an extremely rare event. I imagine astronauts are pretty busy people, so I understand that they have far better things to do than float around and talk on a radio to any and all hams that call them.
I have never had the opportunity to communicate with them in this fashion, but I've tried. When my fellow Canadian, Chris Hadfield was commander of the ISS a few years ago, I spent hundreds of dollars and countless hours attempting to talk to him. I never had any luck. One day, I sent him a tweet, and he got back to me in five minutes...
But I digress.
There is also an FM repeater on the ISS, but I have never heard it, or seen proof of it working, and with all the amateur radio satellites, I haven't wasted any time trying to use it.
The one method I have enjoyed success with, is APRS. For those of you who don't know what APRS is, it's basically like text messaging and position reporting via ham radio. It's kind of neat. Back when it was on the road, you used to be able to follow my truck on the internet, and you can still look me up on aprs.fi and see where I am... or at least where my radio is. I can also Tweet via APRS. There are hundreds of uses for it, which I will save for another post, but bottom line: it's a lot of fun!
I am by now means very knowledgeable about APRS, so please excuse my boorish language and terminology.
Basically, the way it works is using a special radio, or a regular radio and some special equipment, and a special antenna, you can send sort messages up to the ISS, which they will "digipeat" (repeat) for others to see. Sometimes, you'll even get a message back from them, which I have a few times. I've also gotten APRS signals and messages from other hams as far away as Alberta, and all over the Western United States.
Because the Space Station is so high, it has a very wide broadcast footprint.
It doesn't take much time, money or effort to work the ISS, just as long as you have the right equipment, some know-how and you knew when and where it's going to be.
For voice, and 2m radio will do. Even a handheld will work if the pass is right and you know how to orient it. For APRS and packet, you do need some more equipment, most obviously a TNC. I am fairly lucky, I have a Kenwood TM-D710A, with a built-in TNC and setting so simple and straightforward, even an idiot like me can do it.
There are plenty of websites with proper instructions how to work the ISS with any and all radios and setups which are written by people with far more knowledge and experience than me, so if your looking for step-by-step instructions, I'll include a few in the links below - This is just a post about how fun and easy it is.
For an antenna, I use an Arrow 3 element 2m Yagi, which is also a 7 element UHF antenna and is specifically designed for working the ISS and amateur radio satellites, but you can use any antenna. I have worked the ISS via APRS with a mag mount on my truck and a 2m vertical on top of my chimney. I've also heard the ISS communicating via voice on a stationary vertical antenna. It's all placement during the pass and orientation of the antenna.
I have my Arrow antenna mounted on a tripod with compass and angle meter so I can point the antenna at the Station throughout the whole pass. There are also several phone apps and websites that are invaluable tools to spot, track and follow the Station. Most of these are very accurate, and it would be next to impossible to find the Station in the day with out them.
Once again, I'll include some of the better ones in the links below, but the one I have been using is GoISSWatch on my iPhone and iPad. It was FREE and it a great and accurate app.
It's great fun to try and work the station. I first worked the ISS via APRS on January 2, 2014 at 2:45 in the afternoon. I was quite a thrill to see they're beacon pop up on the radio display. I look forward to trying for a voice contact, but I've just never been in the right place at the right time.
It's actually fun just watching it fly over at night. It's by far the brightest and fastest light in the sky, you can't miss it.
The last week or so, the Station has been passing over at least 3 good times and mostly after dusk when the station is visible, so I've been out every night trying to bounce my APRS signal off it, but as per usual, I haven't had any luck, either getting the station or receiving anyone else's APRS beacons... I have a feeling it might be offline. I'll check in to it.
I am writing this on Monday August 11 at 7:45PST and the station just passed over again with no luck. It is a hit-and-miss process and for one reason or another the equipment does get turned off quite often.
Here are some great resources for working the ISS:
http://oscar.dcarr.org/
http://www.work-sat.com/Home.html
http://www.ariss.net/
http://www.issfanclub.com/
http://www.isstracker.com/
Twitter resources:
Apps:
http://oscar.dcarr.org/
http://www.work-sat.com/Home.html
http://www.ariss.net/
http://www.issfanclub.com/
http://www.isstracker.com/
Twitter resources:
Apps:
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