Space contact postponed

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
“Despite the contributions of several HAM radio operators, NASA and the International Space Station, our efforts to contact the ISS were foiled by the dastardly plots of an inanimate coaxial cable connection,” said junior Travis Scribner, following a failed attempt to contact the space station via amateur radio.  
The unsuccessful call at Newcastle High School occurred on Jan. 28 through the ARISS program, also known as the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station program. Science instructor Jim Stith discovered the ARISS program through his interest in amateur radio, more widely known as ham radio. This is a radio frequency spectrum for purposes of noncommercial exchange or messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting or emergency communication. 
The school will use a downlink frequency, the frequency that is used for transmission of signals from the satellite to the earth station receiver, of 145.800 megahertz. The ARISS team in Belgium will use call sign ON4ISS, the amateur radio telebridge groundstation, to serve as the relay amateur radio groundstation, Stith explained. 
“No downlink signal was heard during the contact. The crew radioed down ‘no joy’ on the contact about halfway through the contact and the Newcastle High School, Newcastle, Wyoming, USA contact attempt ended,” said a press release dated Jan. 28 from ARISS. “Clearly there is an issue. More troubleshooting will be required.” 
After troubleshooting the issue involving the coaxial cable on the space station, Stith reported that the communication has been rescheduled for the first week in March, although the exact date and time is yet to be determined. 
“It is much sooner than I had expected,” Stith said.
Following what would have been a Wyoming school’s first communication with the space station, students said they were disappointed that the attempt to talk to astronaut Mike Hopkins was unsuccessful but were hopeful the issues could be resolved. 
“While disappointing, I was still excited to have a chance at the meeting. I am looking forward to our rescheduled contact. Overall, I am pretty happy,” senior James Cox said. 
“Well, it was disappointing, of course. We’d all gotten so excited for such an amazing opportunity, only for it to not come to fruition yet. But, hey, that’s how this sort of thing works. So now we’ll just have to start getting ready for our next chance, whenever it may be. We’ll get this chance again, and we’ll make the most of that chance,” junior Toby Johnson said.