George H. Diller
Kennedy Space Center
March 24, 1996
KSC Release No. 51-97 (Note 1)

Space Shuttle air-to-ground communication is transmitted on one of two
designated S-band frequencies. Because the S-Band voice is digitized, it is
unintelligible.

When the orbiter is above the horizon, air-to-ground voice on the UHF band
can be heard either on 259.7 mhz or 296.8 mhz. However these frequencies
are primarily used only during launch and landing. It will, of course, be
necessary to know if and when the Space Shuttle will be above the horizon at
your location.

Unless you are near a NASA tracking station, you will hear only the
"downlink," or one side of the conversation, which will be the astronauts
talking to ground controllers.

On some missions, the Space Shuttle's orbital inclination is 28.45 degrees,
meaning the orbiter travels no farther north in the U.S. than the latitude
of Cape Canaveral, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean region or Midway
Island in the Pacific, which limits geographical voice coverage. However,
flights which rendezvous with the Russian Mir Space Station and many
scientific Space Shuttle missions have higher inclinations, ranging between
39 degrees and 57 degrees. At these inclinations, voice may be heard as far
north as the Gulf of Alaska, Hudson Bay in Canada, and the Hebrides in
Scotland.

During all Space Shuttle flights, air-to-ground voice (both uplink and
downlink) and video from the orbiter are transmitted on NASA Television
which is a C-band satellite transmission on GE-2, Transponder 9C, (3880.0
mhz). This is a geostationary satellite with an orbital location of 85
degrees West. Audio only is also available on 6.8 mhz. GE-2 can be received
in all 50 states and much of Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. While the
Space Shuttle is in orbit, this system is always broadcasting. The signal
is not encoded, or scrambled, and may be picked up with a home satellite
receiver. Some cable television companies carry it, at least on a limited
basis.

The Space Shuttle on-orbit communications through the Tracking and Data
Relay Satellite (TDRS) system uses S-band and K-band. This is encoded and
also transmitted digitally, so it is not possible for a home satellite
system to receive air-to-ground voice or television from TDRS.

The Amateur Radio Club at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,
Maryland, WA3NAN, retransmits the air-to-ground Space Shuttle
communications on shortwave frequencies. The best reception on each
frequency will vary based on the time of day. The frequencies a

3.860 mhz
7.185 mhz
14.295 mhz
21.395 mhz
28.650 mhz

Some amateur radio organizations retransmit NASA Television or mission
audio. As an example, an amateur radio FM transmitter, located on Merritt
Island near Gate 2 at the Kennedy Space Center, retransmits Space Shuttle
air-to-ground communications on 146.94 mhz. Mission Audio is also
transmitted by the amateur radio club at the Goddard Space Flight Center on
frequency 147.45 mhz, and by the club at the Johnson Space Center in Houston
on 146.64 mhz. The signals can be received for about 25 miles. An amateur
television transmitter (ATV) in Cocoa, Fla., retransmits NASA Television on
421.25 mhz. This can be received with a normal cable-ready television set
on Channel 57 by using an external antenna. The signal can be received for
at least 20 miles.

Transmitters of various power on other frequencies are provided by local
amateur radio organizations in cities around the country. A list of amateur
retransmissions of audio or video/audio from NASA TV is available on the
Worldwide Web at http://shuttleaudio.info (Note 3).

Some Space Shuttle missions also carry amateur radio transmitters called
SAREX (Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment). As the schedule permits, amateur
radio operators can have their call sign confirmed directly by an astronaut.
When the flight crew is busy, a "computer packet module" will automatically
transmit a computer message. For further information on the SAREX program
frequencies, contact the American Radio Relay League, 225 Main Street,
Newington, CT 06111, (860) 594-0200.

A SAREX Worldwide Web Page from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center may be
found at http://www.arrl.org/ARISS

SR wrote:
Hello everyone: The Space shuttle suppose to take off on Friday Sept.
8th at 11:41pm EST.

I have the ICOM R75 Shortwave radio. Which frequency should I listen to?

73

Steven.

I heard Cape Radio talking to Lucky Star on 10780 a few minutes ago.
They agreed to use 4992 for future comms, but I've since heard nothing
on 4992. I'll probably keep switching back and forth between 10780 and
4992.

Steve

Steve wrote:
SR wrote:
Hello everyone: The Space shuttle suppose to take off on Friday Sept.
8th at 11:41pm EST.

I have the ICOM R75 Shortwave radio. Which frequency should I listen to?

73

Steven.

I heard Cape Radio talking to Lucky Star on 10780 a few minutes ago.
They agreed to use 4992 for future comms, but I've since heard nothing
on 4992. I'll probably keep switching back and forth between 10780 and
4992.

Steve

Correction: It should be Liberty Star, not Lucky Star

Steve wrote:
Steve wrote:
SR wrote:
Hello everyone: The Space shuttle suppose to take off on Friday Sept.
8th at 11:41pm EST.

I have the ICOM R75 Shortwave radio. Which frequency should I listen to?

73

Steven.

I heard Cape Radio talking to Lucky Star on 10780 a few minutes ago.
They agreed to use 4992 for future comms, but I've since heard nothing
on 4992. I'll probably keep switching back and forth between 10780 and
4992.

Steve

Correction: It should be Liberty Star, not Lucky Star

http://www.supload.com/sound_confirm...=546609857.wav

Steve wrote:

SR wrote:
Hello everyone: The Space shuttle suppose to take off on Friday Sept.
8th at 11:41pm EST.

I have the ICOM R75 Shortwave radio. Which frequency should I listen to?

73

Steven.

I heard Cape Radio talking to Lucky Star on 10780 a few minutes ago.
They agreed to use 4992 for future comms, but I've since heard nothing
on 4992. I'll probably keep switching back and forth between 10780 and
4992.

I'm hearing them on 4992 at 1513.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

www.devilfinder.com Space Shuttle Atlantis NASA

I saw it on my Radio.Radio tv.DirecTV channel 376 the NASA tv channel.
cuhulin

On 2006-09-09 11:44:27 -0400, said:

www.devilfinder.com Space Shuttle Atlantis NASA

I saw it on my Radio.Radio tv.DirecTV channel 376 the NASA tv channel.
cuhulin


You don't seem to get it do you? No surprise...

dxAce wrote:

Steve wrote:

SR wrote:
Hello everyone: The Space shuttle suppose to take off on Friday Sept.
8th at 11:41pm EST.

I have the ICOM R75 Shortwave radio. Which frequency should I listen to?

73

Steven.

I heard Cape Radio talking to Lucky Star on 10780 a few minutes ago.
They agreed to use 4992 for future comms, but I've since heard nothing
on 4992. I'll probably keep switching back and forth between 10780 and
4992.

I'm hearing them on 4992 at 1513.

Some talk at 1641 about the left booster and float bags.

dxAce
Michigan
USA

Sat. Sep. 9 2006 12:01 PM ET
CTV.ca News

Space shuttle Atlantis finally blasted off this morning on a mission to the
International Space Station after weeks of frustrating delays from weather
and technical problems.

The six-astronaut crew, including Canadian Steve MacLean, lifted off at
11:15 a.m. ET from its seaside launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in
Cape Canaveral, Fla.,

On the ground, NASA officials kept close watch on images from cameras zoomed
in on the shuttle. They were looking for any signs of hard foam breaking off
its external fuel tank -- the problem that doomed shuttle Columbia -- as it
streaked into space.

NASA declared the crew safe after a preliminary review showed no signs of
major foam loss before Atlantis separated from its external fuel tank.

NASA spokesman Kyle Herring said fuel cells that had forced launch delays
earlier this week were working as expected.

Officials gave the go-ahead early in the day to fuel up Atlantis and get it
ready for launch after there were no signs of problems from a fuel sensor
that had also been acting up.

The primary goal of the mission is to install a $372-million US solar power
module on the $100-billion space station.

Ahead of liftoff, flashing a broad grin and giving a double thumbs up,
MacLean, 51, boarded the shuttle as the clock counted down.

NASA engineers overnight drained and re-filled Atlantis' external fuel tanks
without the sensor exhibiting any problems.

This was the last chance in weeks for Atlantis to lift into space because a
Russian Soyuz capsule is slated for liftoff September 18 on a flight to the
ISS. If Saturday's window has passed, the launch would have had to wait
until October.

Atlantis is scheduled to deliver an addition to the ISS, for which
MacLean -- a laser physicist known to the crew as "the professor" -- will
play a significant role.
"He's going to do a couple of things that are rare and there will be at
least one first," said CTV's Tom Walters on Saturday morning, reporting from
Cape Canaveral, Fla.

"He'll be the second Canadian to walk in space; and he will be the first
Canadian to operate the Canadarm2 aboard the space station. That's going to
be a very significant part of this mission because the purpose of this
mission -- it's a construction flight -- is to take up a big truss and solar
panel assembly.
"That's going to expand the space station and give it a lot more
power-generating capacity. And Steve MacLean's role will be to manoeuvre
this assembly."
In fact, MacLean will have to manoeuvre it to within a three-inch tolerance
for the buckling clamps on the ISS to take hold of the school-bus sized
assembly.
"So a Canadian astronaut and Canadian technology playing an important role
in the expansion of the international space station," said Walters.
NASA wants the work finished before the Russian mission arrives at the
station at the end of this month.

The first day for the Atlantis crew will be dedicated to getting into orbit.
On the second and third days the shuttle will rendezvous and dock with the
ISS.
"But there are some steps to go through before they dock with the
international space station," said Walters.

"Since the Columbia disaster, there's a new protocol in place where one of
the things the shuttle has to do, and Shuttle Commander Brent Jett will fly
through this tricky manoeuvre called the RPM -- and that stands for
rendezvous pitch manoeuvre."

During the manoeuvre, the shuttle does a 360 degree back flip below the ISS,
and astronauts aboard the space station will photograph all of the heat
shielding to try to determine whether any damage was done during takeoff.

In the case of Columbia three years ago, it was damage to the heat shield
that left the spacecraft vulnerable upon landing and resulted in the shuttle
breaking apart while returning to Earth.

Thursday's launch was delayed by an electrical short in a fuel cell. ASA
managers decided Thursday night that it was operating within safe limits and
announced plans for a Friday morning launch. It's one of three aboard the
shuttle, which can operate with only two.
Former Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau, head of the Canadian Space Agency,
told CTV Newsnet that the sensors are "a complicated, technical piece of
equipment."

"These are sensors that are very critical. They tell you that you're out of
fuel, in this case it's liquid hydrogen," Garneau said. "The potential for
catastrophe is fairly high if you don't turn off the engine when you're out
of fuel."

The sensors are engine cutoff sensors, or ECO-sensors, that act as fuel
gauges and regulate the firing of the main engines during takeoff. If a
sensor shuts off too early, the shuttle doesn't make it into orbit. If it
shuts off too late and allows the tank to run dry, an engine could rupture.

The launch of Discovery was delayed by almost two months earlier this year
when one of the sensors was discovered to be faulty. All four were replaced
on Discovery at the time. A similar problem delayed a launch of the
Discovery in July 2005. The problem was never fully resolved.

MacLean and the other five members of the Atlantis crew had suited up to fly
Friday when it was scrubbed at the last minute.

Friday morning, the ground crew had pumped the last of 50,000 gallons of
liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the shuttle tanks in preparation for
takeoff.
The shuttle is to deliver a 16,000-kilogram, $372 million addition to the
half-built space station during an 11-day mission. Four astronauts will take
three spacewalks to resume construction on the orbiting lab, the first work
in more than three years after Columbia broke apart while returning to
Earth.

This mission to deliver two girders crucial to the space stations' continued
expansion must be done before the final 14 shuttle flights.

The Russians plan to launch a Soyuz capsule on Sept. 18 ferrying two new
station crewmembers and the space station's first female tourist,
Dallas-area entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari.

Officials with both space agencies wanted to avoid the shuttle and Soyuz
meeting at the station, fearing a traffic jam.

Atlantis' mission will be the first since late 2002 to expand the space
station. The last two flights were tests evaluating a redesign of the
external fuel tank, whose falling foam was blamed for the Columbia accident.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...09?hub=SciTech

Good on yer,Steve MacLean.Seeeeeee,,,,,, I dont hate Canadians.
cuhulin