Nelson ATC group to connect elementary students with space station today
Friday, Jan. 28, 2011, 8:10 a.m. — Students who are part of the Kentucky Space Science Academy at the Nelson County Area Technology Center in Bardstown will be using their Amateur Radio station this morning to allow elementary school students talk to an astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS).
Students from Foster Heights Elementary School in Bardstown will take part in a radio contact with NASA astronaut Cady Coleman beginning about 11:16 Friday morning. The 9 1/2-minute contact will take place on the 2-meter Amateur Radio band. The public can monitor the audio downlink from the ISS by programming a police scanner to the 145.800 MHz. The ISS will be peaking at 28 degrees above the horizon, and a radio with an outside antenna will have the best opportunity to hear Coleman answering the students’ questions. The students will be transmitting on a separate, unpublished frequency the ISS will be monitoring.
The Kentucky Space Science Academy is a ham radio club at the Nelson ATC, and they will be using the call letters K4SSA. Student Kyle Robinson, KJ4ZSF, will be manning the radios during the students’ contact with Coleman aboard the ISS.
Check back on the Gazette for more information.
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