International Space
Station Reference
Ham
Radio
Antennas
 | | ISS
Science Officer and Expedition Five Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson
holds one of the two amateur radio antennas in the Unity node
on the International Space Station. |
There are four
amateur radio antennas on the International Space Station. The Expedition
Four crew installed the WA3 and WA4 antennas in January 2002, and
the Expedition Five crew installed WA1 and WA2 in August 2002. Each
of the four antennas can support amateur radio operations on multiple
frequencies and allow for simultaneous automatic and crew-tended
operations. Having four antennas also ensures that ham radio operations
can continue aboard the station should one or more of the antennas
fail.
Three of
the four antennas are identical and each can support both transmit
and receive operations on 2 meter, 70 cm, L band and S band. They
also support reception for the station's Russian Glisser TV system,
which is used during spacewalks. The fourth antenna has a 2.5-meter
(8 foot) long vertical whip that can be used to support High Frequency
(HF) operations, particularly on 10 meters.
In the near
future, the space station ham shack will install a dual-band,
2 meter/70 cm radio and a 70 cm radio that will use the downward/Earth-facing
WA1 and WA2 antennas, respectively. HF operations will use the
WA4 antenna. There is no L or S band equipment currently under
development, but several ideas are in the works.
The entire
International ARISS team worked together to bring these antennas
to fruition. The Russians provided the feedthroughs and supported
the spacewalks, the U.S. team did the equipment integration and
certification, and the Italian, U.S. and Russian teams all developed
portions of the equipment. | 
