AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 115.02 FROM AMSAT HQ

SILVER SPRING, MD, APRIL 25, 1999

TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS

BID: $ANS-115.02



Recently, during the 'Mir School Club Roundup', several students from

Unicoi County Area Vocational High School in Erwin, Tennessee

experienced a unique learning experience by participating in a special

experiment that involved the Russian space station and amateur radio.



Bob Thomas, KS4NG, tells ANS that the welding classes at the school

constructed a small, four element VHF antenna "with the hopes of

making contact with Mir." The students also learned how to use a

computer for tracking Mir as it passed over North America and a

communications software package for transmitting APRS packet

messages to Mir and digipeating through the station, all under the

direction of KS4NG.



The experiment at the school was successful each day the students

tried. The students had to aim the antenna as Mir passed overhead,

track the space station during the pass and then confirm their APRS

packets were received and retransmitted. Many schools in North

America (along with satellite operators across the country) monitored the

event and reported each station's success by e-mail. UCHS received

reports from as far away as Spokane, Washington and Annapolis,

Maryland.



In addition, the students learned how to use APRS software, putting a

symbol of a school building on computer maps showing exactly where

UCHS was located.



ANS congratulates students Diana Boone, KF4FLT, and Josh Bryant,

KF4JMU, along with all the UCHS students that took part in the Mir

School Club Roundup.



[ANS thanks AMSAT-NA Vice President/Educational Liaison Steve Bible,

N7HPR, and Unicoi County Area Vocational High School Instructor Bob

Thomas, KS4NG, for this information]