Amateur Radio Club Lucknow, VU2LKO: 2017

Note : This article is complied by me from various sources available on internet like www.ariss.org, www.arrl.org, www.amsat.org etc.

H.A.L. Scouts Group Amateur radio Club (VU2LKO) Lucknow is deeply devoted to explore Amateur Radio activity among students and other interested people in state. We are licensed Radio Amateurs (Generally known as HAM), when all means of communication fail Ham Radio works. It is widely used in disaster mitigation to provide emergency communication.

To fulfill Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) goals for students education an unique programme for students has been started by NASA and other space agencies including Canada, Russia, the European Partners, and Japan & other international partners like AMSAT, ARRL, RAC etc. known as ARISS.

What is ARISS

ARISS is an abbreviation for Amateur Radio on the ISS (International Space Station), meaning amateur radio on the International Space Station. The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space facility of 108 m × 88 m, orbiting the earth at an altitude of about 400 km, and in cooperation with the United States, Russia, Japan, Europe and Canada from 1998. There are already three astronauts staying 3 to 4 months alternately, and there are also many people who have amateur radio licenses.

Amateur radio is recognized as one of the elements for maintaining the psychological stability of these astronauts, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), and activities are accepted by the national space agencies. ARISS is a program for developing and operating facilities of amateur radio stations on the ISS.

Organization of ARISS : The organization of ARISS is as follows.

a. BOARD

It is composed of IARU affiliated organizations and representatives of AMSAT regional organizations in 5 regions (USA, Russia, Europe, Canada, Japan). Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Portugal are also participating as observers.

b. Committee:

It is divided into the following committees, and one from each region participates.

i. Administrative Committee

ii. Technical Evaluation and Support Committee

iii. Sustainability and Funding Committee

iv. Operations Committee

v. Educational / School Selection Committee (Educational Outreach / School Selection Committee)

vi. Public Relations Committee

ARISS communication and call sign

On the other hand, ARISS communication is divided into the following three types.

1) School communication that decides the date and time:

School contact (Scheduled School Contact)

(2) Communication with a person the astronaut wants (Crew QSO)

(3) General communication (General QSO)

These are done by astronauts with amateur radio licenses, (1) and (2) during work hours, (3) in leisure time.

DP 0 ISS (Germany), NA 1 SS (USA), OR 4 IS (Belgium), RS 0 ISS (Russia) are used for call signs of amateur stations on ISS.

School contacts are putting particular emphasis on boys and girls to have valuable experiences that encourage not only joy of amateur radio but also interest in space development and communication technology. Since a lot of hope is received from all over the world aiming at direct communication with the astronaut, we accept application from the communication hope school at ARISS Education / School Selection Committee, equipment, operation time, participation In addition, the ARISS Operation Committee decides communication schools, communication dates and times in consideration of orbit conditions, working hours of the astronauts, etc.

Communication with partners who astronauts desire is determined by ARISS's operation committee so as to follow hope.

General communication is the same as communication on the ground, communicating with the station that has issued CQ and responded to it, and the ARISS committee will not be directly involved. Also, like the DX Pedition, there may be times when you foretell the date and time of communication. In ARISS, the frequency of general communication has been decided for the time being as follows for the time being, so please follow this and communicate.

Downlink (voice worldwide) -145.80 MHz

Downlink (packet: worldwide) -145.825 MHz

Uplink (packet: worldwide) -145.99 MHz

Uplink (voice: first region) -145.20 MHz

Uplink (voice: second region, third region) -144.49 MHz

The QSO between astronaut and School students can be heard during programme with the help of link given below:

http://www.discoveryreflector.ca

http://www.sites.google.com/site/arissaudio/

1. Direct Contact

A direct ARISS School Contact involves the setting up in the school of a satellite type amateur radio ground station. This is done by volunteering radio amateurs.

For several reasons a direct radio contact is not always possible:

- the school building or the location may be inappropriate for setting up a reliable satellite type amateur radio ground station (antennas, horizon limited…)

- there are no passes of the ISS over the location at the time the contact should occur

- etc…

2. ARISS telebridge contact

In such a case ARISS offers the possibility for a “telebridge”. The ARISS organisation has several dedicated satellite ground stations operated by volunteering radio amateurs. These stations are capable of linking the astronauts to virtually any school in the world that has a phone service and are located worldwide.

ARISS will select the most appropriate ground station to handle the radio contact with the ISS and the uplink/downlink signals will be relayed to the school by teleconference at no cost to the school.

2.1 Telebridge equipment

In the school a “speaker-phone” is needed. The speaker-phone shall be equipped with a separate microphone and connected to the public address system of the room where the audience is assisting.

Special care shall be taken to avoid audio feedback (Larsen effect). The speaker-phone shall be connected to a secure phone line. Care shall be taken that the phone line is free at least 30 minutes before the radio contact.

A secondary phone and separate phone number are also needed. The secondary phone may be a mobile (check that it is operational).

Preparation

The school shall prepare 20 questions, numbered from 1 to 20.

The questions shall be written like this:

1. Christian (12). How do you feel in space?

2. Alice (13). What is….

3. John (11). ...

Once approved, the numbering of the questions SHALL NOT BE MODIFIED. The questions shall be asked to the astronaut in the order of numbering.

On the other hand the names of the students may be changed up to the last minute. The questions shall be addressed to the ARISS mentor in charge of the school contact at least 10 days before the event. A short description of the school and their space and science oriented educative project is also needed.

The questions will be radiogrammed by Mission Control to the astronaut. The radiogramme will also feature the script describing the school.

During the radio contact, the astronaut will read the questions from the radiogramme while he listens to the students. In case the radio link is disturbed he will still be able to answer a question.

The schoolchildren/students shall be trained to speak into the microphone. They shall queue in a row, holding a sheet of paper with their numbered question. Attention shall be given to good pronunciation:

- not to fast speaking

- clear pronunciation

- loud voice

- mouth near to the microphone

- not to let the voice drop at the end of the phrase

- not to forget the word OVER at the end of the question.

Experience has shown that three rehearsals are needed, for adults as well as for children.

3 Telebridge procedure

One hour before the contact the audience will be invited to a presentation on the ARISS School Contact. A data projector (beamer) will project the world map showing the ISS progressing on its orbit in real time. Several free PC programs are available where the location of the ground station can also be shown. With this set up the presenter can explain how the telebridge contact will be performed.

30 minutes before the radio contact the teleconference is started and participants are called in by the telephone operator.

From that point on the audience will be invited to listen and keep silent.

Several persons will be involved in the teleconference:

- the responsible for ARISS Operations

- a moderator

- the ground station operator

- the school contact operator

- etc…

1. The ground station operator will start checking and fine-tuning the audio levels for the telebridge. He will invite the school contact operator to proceed to audio tests.

2. 10 minutes before AOS (acquisition of signal) the ARISS moderator will start introducing the event over the phone. He will present the parties involved to the audience and comment the role each one is playing.

3. The schoolchildren/students will line up, queuing near the speakerphone. They will have their question on a sheet of paper, ready to read it into the microphone.

4. One minute before AOS the ground station operator will start calling the ISS. As soon as the radio contact is established, the ground station operator will turn over the microphone to the school operator.

5. The school operator will immediately extend the microphone to the first student for the first question.

6. As soon as the student has read his question, without forgetting the word “OVER”, he leaves the front area while the next student lines up to the microphone.

7. When the astronaut has answered the question the school operator simply extends the microphone to the next student without a comment. The next student reads his question.

8. One minute before LOS (loss of signal), the ground station operator warns the school operator and invites him to stop the questions.

9. The school operator thanks the astronaut and invites the audience to send applause.

10. The ground station operator signs off the radio contact.

11. The moderator briefly comments the event, thanks the parties involved and closes the telebridge.

Remark: the number of questions that will be handled depends mainly on the length of the astronaut’s answers, as well as of the quality of the radio link. The children/students and the audience shall be made aware of this before the contact.

4 How to apply for school contact

4.1.1 Application forms can be downloaded from www.ariss.org.

4.1.2 Send the dully filled application form by e-mail to yasuda@ier.hit-u.ac.jp. A member of the ARISS-Japan operational committee will be informed about the applicant and this member will respond to technical matters.

4.1.3 Upon receipt of the application, ARISS-Asia's education / school selection committee reviews the suitability, ranks the accepted schools within the Asian region about every month, and sends them to the ARISS Education / School Selection Committee. The member's e-mail address is iaru-r3 @ jarl.org.

5 The ARISS Education / School Selection Committee holds a telephone conference about every month and decides the cross-regional order from 2 to 6 months ahead for applications from all over the world and sends the list to the ARISS Operation Committee To do.

6 Considering the orbit conditions, astronaut's working hours, regional distribution of the desired school, etc, coordinate with the NASA's ISS personnel, decide the week of communication date and apply with a margin of about two months & will notify the school. However, in some cases, it may take only 1 to 2 weeks. Determination of detailed date and time will be made two weeks before the scheduled week of communication. In addition, the scheduled communication date will be specified 2 days including the reserved date.

7 Communication time is specified as a path that can take a long communication time between 0800 UTC and 1900 UTC on weekdays (Monday to Friday), which is usually the astronaut's working time. In some cases, astronauts are assigned between 0700 UTC and 2100 UC that is supposed to be happening.

8 Communication time is usually about 10 minutes. In the meantime, Students ask questions to the astronauts, but in the past examples, They have been asked 16 questions in less time and 26 in less cases. Please refer to the number of questions and decide on the question with at least 10 people planning to communicate in advance. This list of participants and questions should be submitted to the operation committee two weeks before the scheduled date of communication. In the absence of this submission, the communication schedule may be canceled.

We feel proud to serve the Nation through HAM Radio.

(Dinesh Ch Sharma, VU2DCT)

Secretary

e-mail: lkohamclub@gmail.com

www.lkohamclub.blogspot.com

VIPNET Club No. VP-UP0081

Cellphone : +91 9450911438

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REPORT ON ACTIVITIES

H.A.L. Scouts Group Amateur Radio Club (VU2LKO) is deeply devoted to promote the Amateur Radio among students especially Scouts & Guides of state. The Club held various programmes & demonstrations etc. to popularise this modern age scientific hobby. Some activities performed by club members are as given below:

1.Demonstrations on Amateur Radio organised at

i. NR Railway station Lucknow during Vigyan rail

ii. CMS Degree college Lucknow during National children science congress.

iii. Regional Science City Lucknow – Twice

iv. DST UP office on National Science day- 4 times

v. HAL School Lucknow – twice

vi. a village near Mahadeva (Distt Barabanki)

vii. IIT Kanpur during its TECHFEST

viii. BBDNIEC Lucknow during its TECHFEST

ix. Integral University Lucknow during its TECH FEST

x. Lucknow Montessori School Lucknow on National Science Day- 2013

xi. Ramadheen Singh Inter college Lucknow on National Science Day- 2014

xii. HAL School Lucknow on National Science Day- 2015.

xiii. DIET Lucknow on National Science Day- 2016

xiv. Barakatullah University,Bhopal during First Science teachers congress

xv. University of Dehradun during VIPNET regional workshop

xvi. UPAAM Aliganj Lucknow

xvii. Ansal Guest house Lucknow for U.P. District chief fire officers

xviii. Various programmes organised by UPBSG

xix. IIITM, Gwalior during HAMFEST India 2014- HAMSAT

xx. Police radio Headquarter Mahanagar, Lucknow

2. Conducted JOTA for Scouts & Guides at

a. School in Sitpur District

b. Aminabad Inter College Lucknow

c. State Office of UPBSG Mahanagar Lucknow - twice

d. HAL Scout Bhawan – twice

3. Demonstration on ARISS was organised at

1 CMS Rajajipuram II Lucknow on 11^th Dec 2015

2 HAL School Lucknow on 12nd Dec 2015

3 DST UP Auditorium Lucknow on 29^th Feb 2016

4. Application sent to Asia Japan coordinator for ARISS programme

1. HAL School Lucknow -Oct 2015

2. CMS RJPM Lucknow - Nov. 2015

3. Templeton Academy International, Nainital - Feb 2017

5. Organised ARISS programme at

a HAL School Lucknow on 12^th May 2016

6. Conducted ASOL preparatory classes for interested persons and students

a. HAL Scout Bhawan, Lucknow - 4 times

b. HAL Technical training centre Lucknow

c. HAL welfare centre, Lucknow

d. HAL Officers club hall, Lucknow

e. National Head Quarter BSG New Delhi June-2000.

7. Organised ASOL exam at Lucknow centre – 4 times

Total Candidates cleared the ASOL exam

HAL staff, School, CRE/CRI and their dependents – 29

Licence Taken - 12

8. Participation in Emergency communication during disaster mitigation of

a. Amarnath tragedy

b. Uttarkashi earthquake

c. Gujrat earthquake

d. Orissa super cyclone

e. Andaman Tsunami

f. Nepal earthquake

g. Bihar Kosi river flood

9. Publication of series of articles on Amateur Radio in Hindustan Times, Lucknow Edition

10. Interview published in Times of India & Indian express Lucknow editions

11. Interview & speech based on Amateur Radio had been broadcasted by Akashwani Lucknow- speech recorded at studio and interview was Telephonic.

The Lucknow Radio Amateurs participated in these programmes are –

VU2UR ARASU, VU2VDM VARUN, VU2SR RANA, VU2JSX CHAUHAN, VU2DCT PANDIT, VU2SIS SANJAY, VU2ACS ANAND, VU2NTT NEERAJ, VU3WJM RAHUL, VU2AIE AMISH, VU3SUA SUNIL, VU3NRI NIKHIL, VU3KIR KIRAN, VU3SLI SUBHASH, VU3MHJ MAHESH & SWLS.

We feel proud to serve the Nation through HAM Radio.

(Dinesh Ch Sharma, VU2DCT)

Secretary

e-mail: lkohamclub@gmail.com

www.lkohamclub.blogspot.com

VIPNET Club No. VP-UP0081

Cellphone : +91 9450911438

Amateur Radio Club Lucknow, VU2LKO

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Tuesday 26 December 2017

HAMFEST INDIA 2018

Tuesday 12 December 2017

ARISS School Contact Programme coordinated by Club

Friday 8 September 2017

ARISS Programme at Vidya Mandir Inter College, Meerut, (U.P) India

Thursday 27 July 2017

ARISS SCHOOL CONTACT Programme - Upcoming contact

Templeton Academy International, Nainital, India, telebridge via TBD

S. N. K. High School, Bangalore, India, telebridge via TBD

Tuesday 13 June 2017

ARISS – A NASA sponsored special programme for Students.

Wednesday 17 May 2017

World Telecommunication and Information Society Day - 17 May 2017

Thursday 4 May 2017

A REPORT ON CLUB ACTIVITIES - VU2LKO