AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 091.02 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, APRIL 01, 2001
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-091.02

The ARRL is reporting that Expedition-2 crew member Susan Helms,
KC7NHZ, had barely settled in aboard the International Space Station
when she apparently felt the urge to do a little hamming!

Sam Danner, N3MPE, of Smithsburg, Maryland, had a scanner set to
an ISS 2-meter downlink frequency on the off chance he might hear
something - and he did. Danner then ran out to his car, equipped
with a VHF radio programmed with ISS frequencies, and made contact
with NA1SS. "It was fantastic!" Danner said. Gordon Williams, VK6IU,
also reported hearing Helms calling CQ when the orbiter was over western
Australia recently.

The ISS crew will be busy with upcoming school contacts. The
Vicksburg, Mississippi High School is scheduled for a direct contact
during the week of April 4th, followed by the Woodford County Middle
School, the Admiral Moorer Middle School and the Parkway Central
High School, all scheduled during the month of April.

NASA has released a photograph of Sergej Krikalev, U5MIR, in the
area where the ISS 2-meter radio is located. The corner of the
packet module is also visible in the photograph. Point your browser
to the following URL to view the NASA release:

http://garc9.gsfc.nasa.gov/~ariss/u5mir-is.jpg

[ANS thanks the ARISS group and the ARRL for this information]