UBA section AAA set up an portable ARISS groundstation

The UBA section AAA has developed a mobile ARISS ground station for ARISS school contact with Frank Dewinne. A few weeks before the ARISS contact, the section set up the ground station to fully test it. The design and execution was carried out under the professional guidance of Willy Goovaerts, ON5JM, section chairman.

Frank De Winne talks to people Urania observatory.

There was an ARISS radio contact on Monday, August 24 2009 with Frank De Winne, ON1DWN, from the public observatory Urania in Hove (near Antwerp). It was a telebridge contact, respectively, through VK4KHZ , Queensland, Australia. Frank De Winne talked to twenty children could ask questions. The conversation was moderated by Gaston Bertels ON4WF with the help of Rik ON7YD.

Frank De Winne talks to schoolchildren from Leuven

On Friday, June 13th 2009, in the afternoon primary school students got the opportunity to speak with astronaut Frank De Winne. The direct link with the International Space Station was made with the help of radio amateurs. Frank De Winne answered 22 questions on a range of subjects. The children wanted to know more about what life is like in outer space.

ariss_2009_leuven_4wf_b

The contact via the so-called ‘telebridge’ took place in the framework of the international ARISS amateur radio programme. The telebridge connection was set up for contact between primary school students of the Terbank-Egenhoven school in Heverlee (near Leuven, in Flemish Brabant).

The radio link was established by ON4ISS the ARISS telebridge ground station, operated by Philippe Van houte, ON5PV. The Belgian astronaut Frank De Winne, ON1DWN operated OR4ISS.

ARISS 41 and ARISS 43 were installed on Columbus

October 9 th and 10 th, 2007 ARISS 41 and ARISS 43 were installed on Columbus in the high bay of the Kennedy Space Center. October 12 th the electrical properties of cables and antennas have been tested and validated.

ARISS 41 and ARISS 43 were installed on Columbus - nadir site

Columbus in the high bay of the Kennedy Space Center.

Two L/S band patch antennas (ARISS 41 and ARISS 43) were installed on the nadir side of Columbus.

AO-40 suffered a catastrophic failure

The newspaper “De Standaard” 22 Dec 2000 provides a report on the status of AO-40. On board was a K-band transponder developed by a AMSAT-ON team. The original idea was to have a 24 GHz beacon. Karl Meinzer, DJ4ZC, suggested to build a transponder. Unfortunately, the result of all these efforts was never fully operational.