Recording an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station contact / 2014-06-22

Friday evening I recorded the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact between the International Space Station in space and Focus Camp, Candriai, Italy / Euro Space Center, Redu, Belgium. I used the Arrow satellite antenna on a tripod and my Commtel com225 scanner to tune in to the downlink signal since that scanner has both an internal speaker and a line output for a tape recorder.

Recording ARISS contact - Laptop, recording ARISS contact, scanner, Arrow satellite antenna on tripod

Recording ARISS contact - Laptop with gpredict, backup radio, scanner tuned to 145.800

I had a bit of a problem setting up my laptop to have the input in line input mode, but after I fixed that I was able to record audio from the scanner while listening. The results didn't turn out very well, the antenna was in our backyard between houses which means houses are always in the way of weak signals until the object is right overhead. And the antenna is quite directional on 2 meter, so an azimuth/elevation rotor would have helped a bit in getting the best signal.

But I do have audio of some of the answers. I edited the audio to lower the noise audio level and the recording is limited to the part where I successfully recorded audio. The voice of the astronaut sinking away in the noise at the end is a bit of a "Major Tom" moment.