Operation First Contact - Humber students build antenna

[stingray743]

This was at college level??? I'd be more amazed if this was middle school level lol

[KJ4SQP]

umm not impressive, ham radio has been doing this since the thing was first built the antenna they built is just another cross axis yagi antenna to contact the iss. I beleve i could probly look on the internet and build one for less than $200 in a weeks time. welcome to ham radio guys, 5w and a 7 elemet yagi does wonders

Contacting the ISS these guys are doing it the hard way

[toiosoiovoio]

?!?!?!I do not get it... $3.000...2 months to finish...huge project ? Why the approval from NASA ? For sure I've missed something because you can do that for less the $150. And everyone is doing it every day....all over the world.

[newsforyou1]

You call that a antena to contact nasa? Shit, my tv antena was bigher then that.

[ludovicotech]

but can i use it to boose my wifi signal at home?

[jaspernewboy]

How is this a worlds first, I mean, its pretty cool but hardly a worlds first. Students, some as young as primary school, contact the International Space Station every week via the ARISS program...what, exactly did these guys do that was any different? Great publicity for the college even if it is deceptive.

[jeffwimbush]

@jaspernewboy , The students' contact at NASA assured us it was the first time this project has been done at the college level. I don't think the ARISS program involves building your own antenna.

[jaspernewboy]

@jeffwimbush While I appreciate that this may be the first time it was done at the College level, its done by amateur radio operators all the time and those amateur radio operators assist primary and secondary schools all the time. The ARISS program certainly can involved building your own antenna. A high gain yagi antenna suitable for contact with the ISS is an easy build, plans using aluminum arrows as the driven element, reflector and directors are readily available on the internet.

[mrcrud5]

@jaspernewboy Yes your right... people listen and recieve signals from the space station all the time but its rare that they transmit signals powerfull enough to contact the space station. But this was one of the first time a school has been able to create a transciever that contacts the space station. Meaning they were ablle to send and recieve signals from them. If you watch the other videos about it they had a 10 minute long conversation with someone in the space station.

[jaspernewboy]

@mrcrud5 its not rare at all and it does not take a powerful signal to contact the space station. A simple off the shelf transceiver does the job and they did not build the transceiver, they bought it. No big deal, it happens at schools all over the world through the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station program. Look it up, its actually quite cool. Meaning that schools all over the world are able to send and receive signals from the ISS.

[crylo2000]

Good luck on the project. KC0LRM

[TUNEDOCTAZ]

Wow - interesting info - quite a project/ Not afraid to dream big!