First school ham TV ISS link

The UK ARISS team achieved a world first at the Royal Masonic School for Girls, Rickmansworth on Thursday, by receiving live ATV video from the ISS during the contact.

Using the HamTV transmitter, which has recently been commissioned on board the ISS, Tim Peake was the first astronaut to use this equipment during a two way schools contact.

The next UK school contact will be with Oasis Academy in north Bristol, on Friday, 19 February.

The 10 minute window opens at 1423UTC.

Students there have already completed a Buildathon, thanks to Shirehampton ARC, and are looking forward to the actual contact.

After that, The City of Norwich Schools have a contact scheduled between 22 and 28 February.

The exact dates and times are only notified by NASA about 10 days beforehand, but will be publicised via GB2RS, the RSGB website and social media once available.

All school contact transmissions from the ISS can be heard on the usual downlink frequency of 145.800MHz.

Category: ARISS, Front Page News, GB2RS Headlines, Principia Mission