Amateur Radio have several communications satellites in orbit operating on
various bands and modes. The MIR Space Station (now no longer in space), Space Shuttles and the
International Space Station include Amateur Radio as part of their
payloads.
You can work these orbiting stations with a modest antenna and a handheld.
Depending on the mode you are operating you will need more equipment and either
a dual band or two separate radios. If you only want to receive then a receiver
and depending on the mode a computer and software to decode the signal.
Modes include voice, packet, APRS, slow scan TV.
A tracking program will let you know when the particular station/satellite you
wish to hear will be in your vicinity.
Amateur Radio
Online Orbital Predictions
for satellites, space bodies, etc
Orbital Prediction Software
General Information
NASA Web
Rebroadcasts
of NASA TV Signal
Monitoring Times
NASA
Frequency List
Amateur Radio
Home Brew and Satellite page (links)
The Space Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX)
WA3NAN Goddard A.R.C. rebroadcasts
of shuttle communications
WA3NAN Frequencies: 3.860, 7.185, 14.295, 21.395, 28.650 MHz
AMSAT
- The Radio Amateur Satellite
Corporation
AMSAT-NA
- North American Branch
Satellite
FAQs and Intros a collection of articles introducing amateur radio
satellites (and related topics).
Keplerian
Elements
Phase 3D Project - AMSAT-OSCAR
40 (AO-40)
K9Ek's Phase 3D (AO-40) Frequency
Listing
ARISS Amateur Radio on the International Space Station
ISS Alpha Amateur Radio Frequencies
SPARTAN - Packet Radio
Experiment (SPRE) The primary mission was to test satellite tracking using
amateur packet radio and Global Positioning System (GPS)
UoSAT and SSTL Space Missions
Bob Bruninga, WB4APR's
APRS Satellite Tracking and Reporting system
Radio Sputnik (RS) - Well known Russian Satellites
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Online Orbital Predictions
Heavens
Above: Use their database to predict when stations/satellites will
be in your area. Will give dynamically generated pages which give
visible satellite passes and real-time orbit displays for any location
in the world. Lots of information here! Once you have set up your
location and are on the main screen - Bookmark this page with your
location name and then next time use the bookmark to go to Heaven's
Above.
NASA's SkyWatch SkyWatch
Quick Start Guide
Marshall Flight Center's Lift
Off J-Track: (Java) - views of over 500 satellites in
real-time and you can subscribe to e-mail list for obtaining up to 10
satellite predictions for your area
Real
time tracking - see where the International Space Station and the
Space Shuttle (when in space) are. (NASA - Java)
Realtime Satellite Tracking using OpenAPRS using Google Maps
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Orbital Prediction Software
Scott Hather's Satscape,
Orbital prediction software with optional voice announcements, recording
mode, automatic update of keplerian elements, visual pass
prediction, and it's FREE
AMSAT's
collection of software related in some way to the amateur satellite
program.
( PC-DOS,
Windows,
OS/2,
Linux,
Macintosh,
Psion,
HP-48,
TRS-Model
100)
Keplerian
Elements
WinOrbit: Satellite Tracking
TrakSat
PocketSat for the Palm Pilot
STSORBITPLUS
(STSPLUS) will track the space shuttle or any satellite for which
orbital data (TLEs) are available
SatSpy
A shareware package for tracking satellites under MS Windows 95 and 98
in 32 bit mode. Various tracking views are provided, all of which can be
animated either for a predicted time or in real time for observation.
Satellite
Prediction Software for: UNIX, Mac, Amiga, Archimedes, IBM PC,
PalmPilot
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General Information
Canadian Space Agency
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA for Kids
International Space Station (ISS)
The Space Shuttle
WA3NAN Goddard A.R.C. rebroadcasts
of shuttle communications
WA3NAN Frequencies: 3.860, 7.185, 14.295, 21.395, 28.650 MHz
MIR Space Station
The
Satellite Encyclopedia: the online edition of The Satellite
Encyclopedia, devoted to unmanned artificial Earth satellites
SGPS - Spaceborne GPS Information Site