North Central Alberta Amateur Radio Club providing shuttle mission audio

[EdmontonFireRadio]

For those of you that live in the Edmonton, Alberta area, the North Central Alberta Amateur Radio Club will be providing live air to ground audio for space shuttle mission STS-133 to the International Space Station. Coverage will begin on November 1st at 2 PM Mountain time on 146.94 MHz.

Club website - http://ncaarc.ca/
Club facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/ncaarc

 

[EdmontonFireRadio]

After looking deeply into an issue with a main engine controller on space shuttle Discovery, the Prelaunch Mission Management Team is confident the issue has been resolved. The team therefore gave a unanimous "go" for Discovery's launch Thursday at 1:29 p.m. MDT. That means the countdown will proceed through the night, including the retraction of the Rotating Service Structure from around the shuttle.

However, the weather forecast calls for a 20 percent chance of acceptable conditions, with the concerns being low clouds and rain within 20 miles of the Shuttle Landing Facility at launch time. The MMT will meet at 5:30 a.m. Thursday to consider the forecast and will decide then whether to fill the shuttle's huge external fuel tank for the launch.

As long as the shuttle is still go for launch, We will begin the relay of STS-133 mission audio on the 146.94 MHz repeater at noon.

73 de Jeff VE6EFR

 

[rdale]

The 530am is EDT just to keep things clear. They won't try tomorrow, and unfortunately winds are going to be an issue Fri/Sat/Sun. They might be able to waive them on one of those days though, so at some point your feed will have contectn

 

[EdmontonFireRadio]

Yes, they do seem to often have issues getting off the ground. But as the old saying goes it's better to be on the ground wishing that you were in the air instead of being in the air wishing you were on the ground.

As of the briefing this morning, it sounds like they are giving a 60% chance of being able to launch on Friday. If they get a thumbs up we will enable the link around noon.

 

[rdale]

They'll at least proceed to the T-9 minute mark. Winds may be an issue, so monitor the KSC feed here where you'll be able to hear the shuttle training aircraft doing simulated landings.

 

[EdmontonFireRadio]

That's a pretty interesting feed. I have listened to that one for about a year now. Seems like there is almost always something going on. If the shuttle isn't sitting on the pad they are often getting ready for another launch.

 

[rdale]

Looks like it's going to be sitting on the pad for a while now Good to see your group doing this, not too many clubs keep this going anymore.

 

[EdmontonFireRadio]

I don't know of anyone in Michigan, but it's still pretty popular in other parts of the country. Here in Canada there are only a few clubs providing the audio but where they do it's enjoyed.

Ah well, better to have to delay the launch until the 30th than to rush things and have another accident.