On 28 Jan 2006 06:12:03 -0800, K4YZ wrote:
Greetings All,

Are any of you equipped to work the ISS crossband repeater?

Actually, you don't need crossband capability to use the ISS repeater.

Have any of you made contacts through it, or directly with NA1SS?

Do any of you use NASA's www.science.nasa.gov site to determine the
footprint?


Why bother with old fashioned radio equipment when ISS is regularly on
both Echolink and IRLP? While it's true that anyone with a 2M HT
pretty much has all the equipment needed for an on-the-air contact,
the time and footprint restrictions are too severe to make that a mode
which is even practical for more than one trial contact. Tried it
once and didn't particularly like it (144.49 MHz / 145.80 MHz).

Nope, I say the VoIP Echolink or IRLP method is much more reliable.

See http://www.rac.ca/ariss/oindex.htm for info on Echolink conference
schedules. Apparently, the astronauts haven't gotten the message yet
that "Echolink isn't real ham radio."