10 June 2005

JOHN PHILLIPS TALKS WITH SWISS SCHOOL

Friday 10 June 2005 at 09:10 UTC, i.e. 11:10 local time, the Zurich International School in Horgen, Switzerland established a radio contact with US astronaut John Phillips, KE5DRY, onboard the International Space Station.

The Zurich International School is a day school for students from preparatory school aged 3 to graduation age 18. Zurich International School has more than 900 students located at four separate campuses in the Zurich area. The attendees come from countries around the world and come primarily from expatriate families. We believe the fact that Zurich International School is a truely international community reflecting the philosophy of the ISS. The Zurich International School Amateur Radio Club has been licensed by the Swiss telecom authorities as HB9ZIS.

Paul Schreier, AA1MI / HB9DST, the technical director and radio contact coordinator for this ISS contact did a very good job!

Bruno, HB9WAH, and his technical team of the amateur radio club set up a satellite station with automatic antenna tracking as well as a secondary backup station with an eggbeater antenna on the roof of the school.

Moreover they implemented an amateur television link to the assembly hall where all the students of the school could follow the contact on a big screen.

The audience in the school shack was about 50 listeners: 20 pupils, teachers, parents and representatives of the Board of Directors.

At exactly 09:10 UTC, right on schedule, contact with NA1SS was established. Astronaut John Phillips answered 20 questions on various topics. The astronaut replied for example that he was missing the good and the bad weather. The signal was all the time absolutely clear and loud. Then, after the 20th question the coordinator Paul Schreier let the astronaut listen to the applause of the audience.

The national TV channel DRS, the newspaper Neue Züricher Zeitung and the national radio channel Schweizer Radio DRS covered the event.

The National TV channel DRS is broadcasting the event this Friday in the programme "Schweiz Aktuell" at 19:00 local time.

73

Peter Kofler, IN3GHZ

ARISS mentor

audio

article Neue Zürcher Zeitung