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[HCDX] Radio enthusiast speaks with space tourist



Radio enthusiast speaks with space tourist
http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/third_page/story.ht
ml?id=784b54bb-4aa5-44d1-ad71-663bb289399d
 
Lisa Mrazek, The StarPhoenix with AP files
Published: Saturday, September 23, 2006

Ned Carroll's amateur radio has connected him from his Davidson-area 
home with people all over the globe, but now it's given him an 
experience that's out of this world.

Carroll spoke Thursday with Anousheh Ansari, an Iranian-American 
space tourist on board the International Space Station (ISS).

The small radio inside Carroll's farmhouse, west of Davidson, was 
tuned to the space station's frequency and picked up its signal at 
around noon Thursday.

Carroll said he heard a woman's voice coming through the speakers of 
his ham radio.

"I heard her say, 'C-Q, C-Q, C-Q,' and of course that means she wants 
to talk to someone, anyone who is listening," said Carroll. "And I 
thought, 'What the heck, you can't lose by trying.' " He rushed over to 
his radio, grabbed the microphone and said, "V-E-5-N-E-D," his call 
sign, and anxiously awaited a response. He didn't have to wait long, as 
the voice responded immediately repeating, "this is R-S-0-I-SF," which 
is the Russian Space Station call sign, and then the voice revealed her 
name, "Anousheh Ansari." When Ansari, co-founder and chair of 
Prodea System, Inc., lifted off on the Soyuz TMA-9 mission from the 
Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sept. 18, she became the fi 
rst female space tourist. The Dallas woman reportedly paid $20 million 
for an eight-day visit aboard the ISS.

"I was pretty excited," said Carroll.

"And the next thing I was so excited about was when she said, 'You are 
the fi rst amateur radio operator that I have contacted from the 
International Space Station,' and I said, 'Wow.' " There are thousands 
of amateur radio operators worldwide, but Carroll is one of a small 
number of people who have made contact with the space station, said 
Bjarne Madsen, midwest regional director of Radio Amateurs of 
Canada.

"It's quite rare," said Madsen. "There are a great many people who 
want to (make contact with the ISS) and only a few that succeed 
because there is, after all, only one ISS and it's only there for a few 
minutes at any given time and the opportunity to actually make contact 
with it is very slim." Madsen said the space station creates a line a few 
hundred kilometres wide at best, moving across the Earth as it orbits.

A radio operator who happens to fall within that line as it passes by, 
within an eight- to 10-minute window of opportunity, can communicate 
with the ISS, he said.

"Not only is it possible to do, but it doesn't take any sophisticated 
equipment particularly," said Madsen.

"It's really a question of knowing where to listen and when to listen." 
Within the small window of time, Carroll said he and Ansari were only 
able to give their locations, comment on how well they could hear each 
other and then exchange goodbyes. Afterward, he said many questions 
came to his head and he wished he would have had time to ask her.

For her part, Ansari reportedly said Friday she felt a little queasy on her 
rocket ride to the ISS, but she has been enjoying every minute of her 
cosmic trip since.

"The entire experience has been wonderful up here," she said.
.
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/302315/   (travel abt Litohoro)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zachgr    pictures upload 
.
VERY NEW WEB PAGES on my site 
-  tty-px.html : test of various TTY programs (NEW )
- ethics.htm    : greek ethics , days and institutions (NEW )
-frape.htm: the greek way of cofee !!! (NEW )
-

                            ------
Please do not send mesages above 400 kB 
Zacharias Liangas , Thessaloniki Greece 
greekdx @ otenet dot gr  ---  www.geocities.com/zliangas 
Pesawat penerima: ICOM R75 , Lowe HF150 , Degen 1102,1103,108,
Tecsun PL200/550, Chibo c300/c979, Yupi 7000 
Antenna: 16m hor, 2x16 m V invert, 1m australian loop 


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