User:Kmpriddy/sandbox


 * Instructor Final Comment

Looking good, but needs attention to:
 * Repetition of material about Owen Garriott in both History and Participation sections
 * Referencing needs expansion in History, Educational Uses
 * Licensing section is problematical--it seems unrelated to SPACE radio. It will need to be left out if it can't be made more relevant to SAREX particularly.

—Webster Newbold (talk) 17:22, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

Astronaut Participation
In November 28, 1983, Owen K. Garriott, W5LFL, was the first astronaut to take an amateur radio into space. He brought along a two meter handheld radio on board Columbia flight STS-9. Garriott had scheduled times that he would talk to groups on earth, but he was also able to speak with the Amateur Radio Club in his hometown of Enid, Oklahoma, his mother, Senator Goldwater, and even King Hussein. Through all Garriott’s uses of Ham radio he was able to make 300 calls and convinced NASA that Ham radio was very useful in space and that amateur radio should be continued. Because of this, Space Amateur Radio Experiment began, also known as SAREX.

The second amateur radio operator (or ham) in space was Anthony W. “Tony” England, WØORE, aboard shuttle Challenger flight STS-51F in 1995. Along with voice capabilities, England brought along amateur radio television gear in order to transmit pictures from the shuttle to Earth. He ended up with 130 contacts and 10 images in Slow Scan Television. In 1991 every astronaut of the five-person team aboard Atlantis flight STS-37 was a licensed amateur radio operator.

After these flights, amateur radios were often taken on the shuttles, as many as twenty-five before the program became known as ARISS. Licensed hams were able to participate during their free time. A big goal of this program was to connect students with astronauts in space through a radio conversation. SAREX is sponsored by AMSAT, NASA, and the ARRL

Shuttles that Participated and Licensed Astronauts

Educational Uses
As you can see SAREX is a sub category of amateur radio, most amateur radio operators use SAREX to speak with licensed astronauts during there down time. SAREX however, can be very educational for young students from kindergarten to fifth grade involved in a program similar to young astronauts (which is a program designed in elementary schools to educate children about space and missions, pretty much the day and life of an astronaut.)depending on the type of radio that the astronauts bring on board their shuttle students may have the opportunity to communicate via video as well as ham radio.

If you are an educator and are involved in a program similar to “young astronauts” you can copy and paste the following web address into your search bar (teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlnasa/units/AmateurRadio/Part03.pdf),which will explain how to apply to the SAREX program in appendix A, so your students can have the opportunity of communicating with real astronauts. Not all schools are selected however, at the very least, your students will be able to listen in on astronauts. Students can ask the astronauts questions about there mission. the rest of this pdf includes worksheets and labs that would be useful for teachers instructing students about this topic. Most of this information was found from

Licensing
An amateur operator license is needed before operating an amateur station. No special SAREX license is required for operation. The license can be obtained from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Applicants have to take and pass a test given by volunteer examiners (VEs), who assess the applicants' abilities in operating an amateur station and assign a license operator class qualification. To receive the test, contact a local VE team, or a Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (VEC), for assistance with FCC registration. After the test, it is screened by VEC and sends it (electronically) to the FCC for further processing. The Universal Licensing System will record your license grant information under the amateur service licensee database if you successfully pass the test.

===FCC Rules and Regulations :=== “The SAREX program is so visible that you will want to pay particular attention to making sure it all goes "by the book".”

1. Retransmissions
 * "No amateur station, except an auxiliary, repeater, or space station may automatically retransmit the radio signals of other amateur stations". Paragraph 97.113 (f)
 * Cannot retransmit automatically unless the regulations governing auxiliary and repeater stations are followed

2. Auxiliary & Repeater Stations
 * Paragraph 97.201: Auxiliary stations, or those defined by the FCC as amateur stations transmitting communications point to point within a system of cooperating amateur stations (see paragraph 97.3), must be licensed and controlled by a technician or higher class licensee. Authorization of amateur frequencies for auxiliary stations include 220 MHz and higher, except 431-433 MHz and 435-438 MHz.
 * Repeater station rules are found in Paragraph 97.205 and state repeater’s input may be restricted to certain users.

3. Control Operators
 * A control operator is required to be present for transmissions, in which all operations is limited to the control operator’s privileges, according to FCC Rules 97.7, 97.105, and 97.109. The operator and station licensee are also legally responsible for all operations.
 * Control operator must hold Technician class license or higher.
 * Station licensee must also hold Technician class license or higher.

4. Third Party Traffic
 * Station must manually be controlled when third-party traffic, or unlicensed students communicate with licensed members, according to paragraphs 97.115 and 97.109.
 * Control operator must be continually monitoring and supervising communication
 * If crew member is licensed by foreign government, a third-party agreement must occur between foreign country and United States.
 * AMSAT and ARRL handle agreements

5. RF Power Levels
 * FCC Rule 97.313(a) states: "An amateur station must use the minimum power necessary to carry out the desired communications".
 * 45-150 watts are successful for SAREX contacts (for a 12 element crossed Yagi antenna (24 total elements)
 * 1.5 kW is not needed

6. Space Station
 * In Part 97, a space station is defined by the FCC as “an amateur station located more than 50 kilometers above the Earth's surface.”
 * Old rules written said only an extra class operator could establish a space station
 * Those rules do not apply today because they were written to cover orbiting, unmanned satellites and most astronaut-hams do not hold extra class licenses
 * FCC lifted restriction, allowing anyone to establish a space station under the operator license held by the control operator
 * All astronaut-hams must have a technician class license or higher

7. Commercial Use
 * In media requests to ask a question of the astronauts, the answer is NO.
 * The news media has their own established channel to ask a crew questions—NASA Public Affairs at the Johnson Space Center
 * News media collects information for commercial interests, which would violate the FCC Part 97 regulations prohibiting the use of amateur radio to facilitate a commercial activity or interest
 * It is a violation of Part 97 to mention a radio dealer or supplier, which provided you with equipment or services, on the air.
 * If you mention equipment, state Brand X and number Y radio to avoid advertising
 * Any press media must act only as observers so ham radio is not facilitating commercial activity
 * It is advised that the SAREX Lead, Technical Lead, Station Licensee, and Control Operator review the FCC Part 97 rules for applicability, prior to the design and operation of the radio system for the SAREX contact.