To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first human spaceflight by

cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the ARISSat-1 satellite aboard the

International Space Station will be on the air using the station’s

external antenna. Transmissions will begin on Monday, April 11, at

14:30 UTC and continue until 10:30 UTC on April 13.

To preserve the satellite’s battery, transmissions will cycle on and

off. ARISSat-1 will transmit for 40 to 60 seconds, and then remain

silent for 2 minutes.

The FM transmissions on 145.950 MHz will alternate between a voice

ID, telemetry values, SSTV images and audio greetings in 15

different languages. One of the transmissions will contain audio of

a conversation between Gagarin and ground controllers that was

recorded during the historic flight.

A CW beacon will be heard on 145.919 MHz cycling between the

ARISSat-1 call sign, telemetry and call signs of individuals

involved in the ARISS program.

BPSK-1000 telemetry transmissions will also take place on 145.920

MHz SSB using the new 1kBPSK protocol developed by Phil Karn, KA9Q.

AMSAT will issue commemorative certificates to listeners who receive

the ARISSat-1 transmissions. Reports can be e-mailed to

Gagarin@arissat1.org or yuri@arrisat1.org. Include your name, call

sign, a description of what you heard and the UTC time you heard it.

Recording the battery voltage telemetry values and the UTC time you

received them will be especially helpful.

You can determine when the International Space Station will be

passing overhead by using the AMSAT-NA online pass prediction tool

at, http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/predict/.