Working the Soviet space station Mir on packet is easier than you may think.
I have been able to connect to the Mir Packet BBS on a regular basis with a very modest 2 meter base station and from my car packet station, but you must be very careful not to cause interference (QRM) to other amateurs who are either connected, or attempting to establish a connection with the Mir space station.

The Russian space station is in orbit approximately 200 miles above the earth.
The inclination of the orbit is 51 degrees.
This means that Mir flies over Amateur stations North and South of the equator up to 51 degrees latitude. Stations from the USA and southern Canada should have no problems hearing Mir during a good orbit.

The space station typically comes in range 6-8 times per day for up to 10 minutes per pass. A good computer satellite tracking or orbital prediction program fed with accurate Keplerian orbital data elements for Mir should be used for best communication results.

The Space Station Mir is running an ICOM-228A with voice and packet communications on 145.985 MHz simplex.
Power output is 5 or 25 watts with a dual band dipole mounted outside the space station.
By comparison, the NASA Space Shuttle uses 5 watts with a dipole mounted to the inside of a thick radiation resistant window.

On most of the passes, the Mir BBS will be connected to a ground station.
If you try to connect to the Mir BBS, you will get the message "R0MIR-1 Busy". If this happens, STOP calling the Mir BBS until you see the message "- Logged off" going to the station who is currently connected to Mir's BBS.

Remember, ONLY ONE STATION CAN CONNECT TO THE MIR BBS AT A TIME! If you try to connect to the Mir BBS while it is busy, the following will result:

 

When is it appropriate to call the MIR Packet BBS?

First, configure your TNC to be able to monitor all packet information during transmit and receive, and turn Time Stamp ON.
Setting the correct TNC parameters will assist you in a successful connection with the minimum amount of interference.
By monitoring the control packet information at the end of each packet header, you can tell if the packet information is:

C - Connect request D - Disconnect request DM - Disconnect mode
UA - Unnumbered Acknowledge UI - Unconnected Information frame or I(n) - Information frame (n=0-7).

This is a sample of suggested TNC parameters for a KAM. Your actual parameters may vary:

AUTOCR OFF LFADD OFF MCON ON MCOM ON MONITOR ON RETRY 8-10 TIME STAMP ON

Set your terminal program to save all data to disk. This will help you look back at what was captured after the Mir pass is complete, and even if you are unable to connect to Mir, you can read what other people were sent.

This is a sample of a station logging off from Mir:

R0MIR-1>WF1F/V [05/01/95 03:50:57]: <<I1>>: - Logged off

R0MIR-1>WF1F/V [05/01/95 03:50:57]: <<D>>:
*** DISCONNECTED [05/01/95 03:50:57]

R0MIR-1>CQ/V [05/01/95 03:50:59]: <<UI>>: - Logged off
"NOW YOU MAY BEGIN CALLING MIR, C R0MIR-1"

Look for the "<<D>>" Disconnect frame. This is different from the "<<DM>>" Disconnect Busy message.
If the station connected to Mir goes our of range, then an idle timer will force a log out after 8 minutes.
The Mir PMS will send 15 <<D>> messages, then MIR resets and sends out the desired "CQ, <<UI>>" packet (UI = Unconnected Information frame).

ATTENTION
Since February 22, 1998 NEW PMS is back on line with these new commands and features

The new modem is a Kantronics KPC-9612 Plus, Revision 8.1. 
The command set for this TNC is different than the previous Mir TNC. 
You may want to get a copy of the Kantronics manual for your own review. 
I have attached a list of the new Help file.  And I will highlight some of the key changes.

List
the List command will list all messages in the mail box which your are allowed to read. 
This will include all Bulletins, traffic and any private message address to you or sent by you.
This feature will be a big time saver.  If you type in L and get back nothing, it means there is noting in the mail box for YOU to read, No ALL or Bulletins messages. 
The old TNC would dump 10 messages at a time, even it you were not allowed to read any of the messages.

RM
The Read Mine command has been added. 
You now have the option of R #### or RM to read all messages address to your call sign. 
This feature will also help reduce your connect time.

S
The Send command has changed a little. 
The letter S, defaults to a SP format, which can only be ready by the recipient or Sysops.

Options SR and V  are no longer supported.


New Command List

[KPC9612P-8.1-HM$]
82408 BYTES AVAILABLE
THERE ARE 37 MESSAGES NUMBERED 155-259
ENTER COMMAND:  B,J,K,L,R,S, or Help >


LL n          LIST LAST n MESSAGES
LM(ine)       LIST UNREAD MESSAGES ADDRESSED TO YOU
LO [+|-]      LISTING ORDER
LT            LIST TRAFFIC
LTn           DISPLAY LOCATION TEXT n=1-4
K(ill) n      DELETE MESSAGE NUMBER n
KM(ine)       DELETE ALL READ MESSAGES ADDRESSED TO YOU
R(ead) n      DISPLAY MESSAGE NUMBER n
RH n          DISPLAY MESSAGE n WITH HEADERS
RM(ine)       READ ALL MESSAGES ADDRESSED TO YOU
S(end) call   SEND MESSAGE TO callsign
S[B|P|T] call SEND BULLETIN, PRIVATE, or TRAFFIC

KOVAC, YOU HAVE MAIL WATING FROM ANDY

MSG#  ST SIZE  TO     FROM   DATE               SUBJECT
167   PN 168   KOVAC  R0MIR  02/22/98 01:45:16  GREETINGS

OLD command list,  No longer valid
B(ye)     B [CR] disconnects you from PMS.
H(elp)    H [CR] or ? [CR] displays this help file.
J(log)    J [CR] displays a list of callsigns heard (optional date/time)
K(ill)    K n [CR] deletes message number n  (only to/from your callsign).
KM(ine)   KM[CR] deletes all READ messages addressed to your call sign.
L(ist)    L [CR] lists the 10 latest messages.
M(ine)    M [CR] lists the 10 latest messages to/from your callsign.
R(ead)    R n [CR] reads message number n.
S(end)    S (callsign) [CR] begins a message addressed  to (callsign).
          Subject: max 28 characters ending with [CR].
          Text: End each line with [CR]. End message by
           typing /ex [CR]  or  CTRL-Z [CR]
           at the beginning of a new line.
SR(eply)  SR n[CR] Sends a reply to message n prompting only for text.
V(ersion) V [CR] displays the software version of the PMS system.

New Features of the KPC-9612 Plus

1.   Check:
This is a new feature which will help reduce the amount of idle mail box time. 
How many times did u see the PMS fly by, and no one could log in because the connected station was out of range?
The old PMS required 7 minutes to time out, when the connected station went out of range. 
The new PMS has an adjustable timer.  The new system is set for 120 seconds.
After you connect, if your station is idle for more than 120 seconds, the TNC will begin disconnect from your station.

The initial testing of the feature had the following results:

Station xyz went out of range at 12:01:00
Two minutes later the Check Timer expired: 12:03:00
TNC began sending 10 ACK requests, which required
a total time of 50 seconds:
12:03:50
TNT Retry Count Expired and began sending 10 D - Disconnect
Frames to XYZ this also required approximately 50 seconds total: 
12:04:40
PMS opened for next available customer at : 12:04:45
Total time to Time out, approximate 4:45

This value is still much shorter than we had with the previous TNC, but it still needs to be improved.
Mir is traveling at 291 miles per minute and has traveled almost 1500 miles during this time out period.
The System Operators will be adjusting this value to try to improve its performance.  If we cut the times and counts too short, it may have negative effects on stations uploading message traffic.

2.   Remote SysOp access:
This is a big time saving feature.  Before, if we needed to get any parameter changed, it always required the intervention of the Mir crew.  To schedule crew time, required expensive phone calls and faxes to Moscow.
The crew time is very precious, and the Amateur Radio station should not be intrusive into their schedules.
This feature is already being used to fine tune the TNC settings.

3.   More memory:
The old modem had 13k of memory for Mail storage.  The new modem has 100k of memory just for Mails messages.

4.   Dual speed support:
This modem supports both 9600 and 1200 baud data rates. 
The 1200 baud rate will be the primary rate.
The 9600 speed will be reserved for special testing at a later date.
Mirex believes that the Mir Station is the best place for beginners around the world to experiment. 
Mir is the most popular Amateur Radio Satellite in the world.  The reason for it success is because Mir is so easy to use. 
2-meter FM Mono Band 1200 baud packet is very easy to use and inexpensive to implement.
When we do start testing 9600 baud, it will be only for short published duration's. 
We will always bring the system back to 1200 baud FM Mono Band for the rest of the world.

5.   Software Adjustable Audio Levels:
With the new Kantronics KPC-9612 Plus, we have the ability to remotely adjust Packet Audio levels in the TNC. 
Here is where you can help.  If you have a service monitor and are able to monitor the Mir Packet.
I would be interested in hearing from professionals who can analyze the packet signal coming from Mir.
The  goal is to fine tune the Packet down link audio level to the best level.
The system was tuned in the lab, however, the radio on Mir may be slightly different than the Kenwood TM-733 used during the setup.

Limitations:
It is still a Single User Mail box. 
Only one (1) station can connect to the PMS mail box at a time.
The call sign R0MIR goes to the Keyboard port which is not used.  Think of the keyboard port as a big bit bucket in the sky.
The call sign R0MIR-1 goes into the Single user mail box. 
All stations must wait until the station connected to the mail box logs off.

Mirex would like the stations monitoring the PMS to please be patient while we make adjustments.