Listening To ISS HAM Freq

[Omega-TI]

packet is on 145.825 you do not need to correct for doppler, only on the voice repeater 437.800. Also all this can be heard on a hand held while out side. I've made APRS contacts on 5 watts with the rubber duck that came with my FT1D.

Well, all I can do is tell you from my PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. Back in the late 1990's and early 2000's, correcting for doppler shift could get me an extra 10-20 seconds per pass as it came into range and before it faded away.

 

[K4EET]

Hi @citygirlleosprtr,

If you have an Apple iPhone, there is an app called ISS Detector in the App Store which I highly recommend. There are also other iOS phone apps that you can try out. Pick the app that best meets your needs. If you have an Android phone, there should also be some apps for that model too. Those apps tell you when and where the pass will occur for your area.

As for duration of a pass, on Sunday 17 November 2024 in my area, there is an ISS pass that reaches 88 degrees elevation (almost straight up overhead) that will be in view for 6 minutes and 46 seconds. It is the thrill of hearing ham radio ops coming through the ISS using their ground based radio systems. Tuning the receiver to account for the Doppler shift in frequency as the ISS passes adds challenge and skill to the event. Of course, the receive frequency goes up as the ISS travels towards you and the receive frequency goes down as the ISS travels away from you due to the Doppler effect.

In addition to the ISS, there are the OSCAR (Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio) satellites 🛰️ that can be heard like the ISS. There are also apps and Internet based programs that you can use to track the OSCAR satellites 🛰️.

When listening for these “birds” it is best to open the squelch on the receiver so you can catch the weakest signals as they rise and set on the horizon. Your Baofeng transceiver would probably be better to receive these signals since you can pre-program the Doppler shift in as different channels and change channels as the bird rises and sets.

This is another fun aspect of the scanner hobby. Do some Googling for the birds and operational procedures or ask here if you need some help. There are enough birds flying over every day that can turn a 6 minute pass into an afternoon of fun 🤩 listening to the various birds pass over you.

I hope you are enjoying the scanner hobby. There are so many different things to listen to that things stay quite interesting day in and day out.

Cheers! Dave K4EET

 

[citygirlleosprtr]

This is another fun aspect of the scanner hobby. Do some Googling for the birds and operational procedures or ask here if you need some help. There are enough birds flying over every day that can turn a 6 minute pass into an afternoon of fun 🤩 listening to the various birds pass over you.

I have never quoted before because it doesn't make sense to me, so I am unsure if this will work.

Can you elaborate what this means? Do 'birds' mean 'helos'? I listen to my state's medical helos (I am not using the agency's name for privacy), and I only hear traffic like, 'yy year old male, trauma to both _. He isn't conscious and hasn't been for us. We are going to {Hospital} and will give more on arrival.'

Thank you, Kilo 4 Echo Echo Tango.

 

[rf_patriot200]

You can't. That's all on microwave & satellite systems.
Some it might be

I have never quoted before because it doesn't make sense to me, so I am unsure if this will work.

Can you elaborate what this means? Do 'birds' mean 'helos'? I listen to my state's medical helos (I am not using the agency's name for privacy), and I only hear traffic like, 'yy year old male, trauma to both _. He isn't conscious and hasn't been for us. We are going to {Hospital} and will give more on arrival.'

Thank you, Kilo 4 Echo Echo Tango.

Chloe, "Birds" is sometimes used as a slang term for Satellites, or helo's.

 

[citygirlleosprtr]

Chloe, "Birds" is sometimes used as a slang term for Satellites, or helo's.

Thank you.

 

[rf_patriot200]

Thank you.

 

[K4EET]

<snip> Can you elaborate what this means? Do 'birds' mean 'helos'? <snip>

I apologize for using slang. In my post, when I said “birds” I was strictly talking about the ISS and other orbiting satellites 🛰️. Next time I post slang, I’ll be sure to explain myself. Thanks for keeping me in line with your comment! 😃

73 (best wishes in ham lingo), Dave K4EET

 

[spacellamaman]

[ANSWERED]

Hi, my name is Chloe. I live on the East Coast of the US. I am not a HAM nor am I licensed at all BUT I have an Uniden BC345CRS and access to a Baofeng BF-F8+. I am wondering how to listen only to- I know I cannot legally make contact with- the ISS HAM frequency. I looked it up, but there are so many frequencies, I do not know which one I need to programme.

I usually listen only to public safety in my area and on Gordon Edwards' Scanner Radio, but would love to add the ISS HAM freq to my scanlist. I just need the correct freq to LISTEN ONLY. I also do not know how to programme the tone. My local fire agencies use repeaters, but I didn't need its tone to listen.

I am including my search results below, written in this colour.

Thank you all. Be safe! Cheers!

iss radio frequency - Google Search
iss radio frequency - Google Search

I live on the East Coast of the US, and I have a BC345CRS inside the bottom floor of a 2 story house, sitting near a window, with a back of set, Radio Shack telescoping antenna, the one with the center coil, fully extended, and one frequency I have punched in is 145.800. In the past 3 years I think I have heard 3 school contacts.

The setup is not ideal, but I mention the specifics to show that it is possible to receive ISS transmissions on the same scanner you have on 145.800 even under such conditions.

When they are transmitting right above you any scanner with the right frequency and a coat hanger jammed in the center conductor hole is usually sufficient.

 

[citygirlleosprtr]

Thanks for keeping me in line with your comment! 😃

That is definitely not what I was trying to do, Kilo 4 Echo Echo Tango. I meant exactly zero disrespect.

I have a learning disability and was only trying to be sure what you meant. Please do not apologise because there is no need. ^_^

Thank you for your advice, mate. Maybe we can discuss further into what we both would enjoy listening to if you would like. I like listening to new things, but I have no one to assist me to be sure I do things correctly and obviously safely. I would appreciate if you could help. Either way, I understand.

Cheers!

 

[KJ4DHF]

Here is a recording I made a couple years ago from the ISS School contact while it was passing over Va. The school contact was in Mid West so I could only hear NA1SS side.

Astronaut.mp3

drive.google.com

 

[RichM]

Using one of the ISS prediction apps or websites (I like Gpredict app and Heavens Above website) find out when the ISS will be over you with a fairly high azimuth - 50° and above. Use a record feature on your phone (I use voice memo on iPhone) to record the beeps of the SSTV transmission. Just set your recording device in front of the scanner speaker. You can then play the recording into a SSTV decoder, free for windows or buy the phone app, and it will decode and show the pictures they are transmitting. They are only transmitting SSTV through Monday morning so you might have around 4 or more chances to receive.

There are other ways to achieve this but I think it’s easiest to be able to hear what you are recording and then use the recording at your leisure to experiment with decoding. I‘ve gotten about a half dozen pictures this past week using this method.

To hear the astronauts talking to students (the last 2 were this past week) you need the same relatively high pass over your location during one of their planned school contacts that are listed on the ARISS website. I have recorded a few of these using the same method.

Frequency for SSTV and school contacts is 145.800 FM. Catching these transmissions takes planning and patience. Keep checking the ARISS website for future events and use the predictions for your location to plan ahead and you will eventually be successful. Good luck.

 

[electronix_tech]

There is a YouTube channel called saveitforparts and he explains how to decode SSTV images on 145.800 MHz. I posted how I used an old Uniden scanner connected to an old Larsen magmount antenna and recorded the tones as ISS was passing overhead and played them back into my cellphone's mic using the Robot36 app. I also used an app called ISS Detector to notify me when ISS is close to my location. The image I got was pretty low quality, so I have a homemade yagi I can cut for that frequency to try to get a better quality signal when I try again.

 

[K4EET]

That is definitely not what I was trying to do, Kilo 4 Echo Echo Tango. I meant exactly zero disrespect.

I have a learning disability and was only trying to be sure what you meant. Please do not apologise because there is no need. ^_^

Thank you for your advice, mate. Maybe we can discuss further into what we both would enjoy listening to if you would like. I like listening to new things, but I have no one to assist me to be sure I do things correctly and obviously safely. I would appreciate if you could help. Either way, I understand.

Cheers!

Hi Chloe,

I’ll comment on all three of your paragraphs…

1. You were not disrespectful and I didn’t take it that way at all. I knew that you were being sincere. By “keeping me in line”, all that I meant was making me aware that I used jargon/slang without defining what I was talking about. I try not to let that happen but once in a while jargon/slang will creep into my sentences without me noticing.

2. I always apologize when I’m wrong or misspeak about some topic. It is the polite thing to do. 😃 As for the learning disability, I can relate. I have MELAS Syndrome (you can Google that for more information) where the “E” stands for Encephalopathy which means brain dysfunction due to many Strokes which is the “S” in MELAS. A real bummer of a disease but I press on each and every day. Short replies like this post takes me upwards of an hour to write.

3. It would be my pleasure to assist you in getting set up for Satellite Communications (SatCom) and knowing what to expect, when to expect what, and where to look when to hear what. I’m also suspecting other forum members will also chime in to help you out too. Feel free to post up here in this thread or shoot me a private message if you like. This forum is all about helping each other out! 😃

73, Dave K4EET

 

[citygirlleosprtr]

Thank you, Kilo Four Echo Echo Tango. I am working online at the minute, but will direct message you soon.

 

[oaktree_b]

There is a YouTube channel called saveitforparts and he explains how to decode SSTV images on 145.800 MHz. I posted how I used an old Uniden scanner connected to an old Larsen magmount antenna and recorded the tones as ISS was passing overhead and played them back into my cellphone's mic using the Robot36 app. I also used an app called ISS Detector to notify me when ISS is close to my location. The image I got was pretty low quality, so I have a homemade yagi I can cut for that frequency to try to get a better quality signal when I try again.

I used exactly what he suggested, just the Robot36 app and a handheld radio. Takes a bit to get the radio signal, but when it comes in, you'll know with the loud boop boop boop. The Robot36 decodes as soon as you load it, you don't have to set anything up. Turn the squelch down to zero and just wait, you'll hear it when it passes over and the app decodes the image. Pretty fun to do.

 

[citygirlleosprtr]

Thank you all for all your replies and help! Happy Holidays! Cheers!

 

[millrad]

[ANSWERED]

Hi, my name is Chloe. I live on the East Coast of the US. I am not a HAM nor am I licensed at all BUT I have an Uniden BC345CRS and access to a Baofeng BF-F8+. I am wondering how to listen only to- I know I cannot legally make contact with- the ISS HAM frequency. I looked it up, but there are so many frequencies, I do not know which one I need to programme.

I usually listen only to public safety in my area and on Gordon Edwards' Scanner Radio, but would love to add the ISS HAM freq to my scanlist. I just need the correct freq to LISTEN ONLY. I also do not know how to programme the tone. My local fire agencies use repeaters, but I didn't need its tone to listen.

I am including my search results below, written in this colour.

Thank you all. Be safe! Cheers!

iss radio frequency - Google Search
iss radio frequency - Google Search

I hear hams attemptng to work each other via the ISS repeater several times day, for a few minutes at a time. I can copy the downlink, 437.8 FM with a basic antenna and really don't care about the uplink unless I'm trying to get into the system. I hear hams from a few hundred mile radius frantically giving their callsigns and grid squares to each other. The repeater IDs as NA1SS in Morse.