ARISS US Team Successfully Complete Kenwood D700 Checkout Pass<br />July 22, 2004, Silver Spring, Maryland<br /><br />The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) USA team <br />successfully completed a comprehensive checkout pass today with Astronaut <br />Mike Finke, KE5AIT. Utilizing ground stations in Greenbelt, Maryland, <br />Orlando, Florida and Houston, Texas and linking team members in Kansas, <br />Colorado, Maryland, Florida and Texas, the ARISS USA team performed voice <br />and packet radio uplink tests to fully validate the Kenwood D700 system for <br />future school group operations.<br /><br />"We were able to really ring out the D700 radio system in the Service <br />Module today, clearing the way for future use of the radio system with <br />schools," said ARISS International Chairman, Frank Bauer, KA3HDO. During <br />the East Coast pass, the ARISS team were able to perform signal strength <br />measurements and voice quality checks on 2 meters and 70 centimeters using <br />the Kenwood D700 radio and the ARISS-built WA1 antenna system. "Mike Finke <br />provided the on-board feedback to the team to help us understand how the <br />radio sounds on-orbit", said ARISS team member, Mark Steiner, K3MS. He <br />continued, "Mike said that the signals from the 70 cm uplink were <br />especially booming."<br /><br /> From Orlando, Florida, ARISS Hardware Specialist, Lou McFadin, W5DID, <br />uplinked a special APRS message to the ISS ham radio station. Mike Finke <br />enthusiastically read back the message to the ARISS team, confirming the <br />message uplink capability.<br /><br />All in all, the test pass was a tremendous success. All stations <br />(Greenbelt, Houston, Orlando and ISS) reported excellent signals on 2 <br />meters and tremendous, 40 over S9, signals on 70 centimeters. The NN1SS <br />station in Greenbelt noted that the team needed to be especially <br />disciplined to track the fast moving doppler on 70 centimeters.<br /><br />During the test pass, KA3HDO conveyed his thanks to Mike and ISS Commander <br />Gennady Padalka, RN3DT for their outstanding support to the field day event <br />and the general contacts that Mike has performed recently. Using the NA1SS <br />amateur radio station, Mike said he is really enjoying the contacts with <br />the ham community and expects to be on more in the future.<br /><br />The control operators at the three ground stations included Gil Carman, <br />WA5NOM at the W5RRR station in Houston, Lou McFadin, W5DID at his station <br />in Orlando, and Dave Taylor, W8AAS at the NN1SS station in Greenbelt.<br /><br />ARISS is an international educational outreach program with US <br />participation from NASA, AMSAT and the ARRL. For more information on the <br />ARISS program, please go to URL: www.rac.ca/ariss