On 24 February 2024, TARC teamed with the SC Department of Employment and Workforce (DEW) and the following four area middle schools to write a winning proposal resulting in receiving an opportunity for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on 2 December 2024.
- Hillcrest Middle School in Dalzell, SC
- Lake Marion Middle School in Santee, SC
- Dr. Ronald E. McNair School of Digital Communication and Leadership in Lake City, SC
- Woodland Middle School in Dorchester, SC
The challenge the team faced was choosing one of the four schools to host the contact, and choosing a small group of students out of a pool of over 500 to ask the astronaut their questions during the contact. This required that over the next 8 months that we perform site surveys, develop lesson plans and run student competitions, and conduct set-up and testing prior to the actual contact.
An ARISS contact is a voice-only communication opportunity via Amateur Radio on two meters between astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station and classrooms and communities. ARISS contacts afford educational audiences the opportunity to learn firsthand from astronauts what it is like to live and work in space and to learn about space research conducted on the ISS.
Students had the opportunity to learn about satellite communication, wireless technology, and radio science via a pre-recorded series of six lessons plans, prepared Steve Behr (K4OPZ) and Jim Wasson (KO4MNB), which was presented in the classroom at each of the four schools on their own schedule. We also demonstrated various Amateur Radio modes and a Yagi antenna tracking a satellite.
The teachers were provided educational kits for the students to build crystal radios, robots and other circuits for students to validate what they had learned in the classroom. There was a point system used to select the host school, which was Woodland Middle School (WMS) in Dorchester, and to select the 31 students from all four schools who would speak to the astronaut.
On 1 December, a group of TARC and ARISS members worked with SC DEW and school officials in setting up the equipment and conducting rehearsals for the anticipated ISS contact. The next day, school busses arrived from the other three schools to fill up the gym with 470 students, 22 teachers and administrators, and 120 community members.
Then at 11:22am (16:22 UTC) the ISS came over the horizon and Mrs. Pam Rhode, WMS Science Teacher, keyed the microphone and said “NA1SS, NA1SS, this is N4EE for scheduled school contact”. She repeated the call several times until Astronaut Nick Hague said “N4EE, this is NA1SS. I read you loud and clear.” The whole gym exploded in excitement as the students lined up to ask their questions and the astronaut provided answers. This will truly be a day that the students will always remember. Hopefully, it will instill in them the desire to pursue a STEM-related career and/or become a licensed ham radio operator.
