The international year of astronomy inspired a few scout guides from Maur near
Therefore they planned 3 Saturdays, where about 100 active Pfadi Muur scouts
have the possibility to visit one of the above named workshops. The event's
highlight was the ARISS contact this morning, where children got the
opportunity to talk to an astronaut. There will be more workshops later on such
as a planet route, a telescope made out of a drain (astronomy) or a
broadcasting local UKW radio station (journalism) as well as a self-constructed
aircraft radio receiver in a second event open for public on September 19. The
Swiss astronomy expert Bruno Stanek will hold a speech and together with people
of a local observatory the scouts will have a look into the sky.
The contact coordinator Rolf Eberhard HB9TSO and his technical team under the
supervision of Mario Malacarne HB0IRM set up a satellite station with automatic
antenna tracking as well as a backup vertical antenna.
Graham Lawton, G7EVY, helped the technical team in feeding into the AMSAT
Echolink server.
Due to unknown communication problems contact between HB9TSO and OR4ISS was
established at
The questions were read by the scouts. Astronaut Frank DeWinne answered 12
questions in the remaining time slot. He explained for example that the
astronauts onboard the ISS always have the meal together sitting around the
table and discussing what happened during the day.
The audience was about 100 listeners: scouts, mass-media representatives,
parents and interested parties. The signal from the ISS was clear and loud, but
during the second question contact was interrupted for a moment due to the
Doppler-effect.
TV channel TELETOP, radio stations DRS-3, DRS-1 Regional, Radio Energy, Radio
24, Radio Zrichsee and the newspaper Sonntagsblick covered the event.
ARISS is an international educational outreach program partnering the
participating space agencies, NASA, Russian Space Agency, ESA, CNES, JAXA, and
CSA, with the AMSAT and IARU organizations from participating countries.
ARISS offers an opportunity for students to experience the excitement of
Amateur Radio by talking directly with crewmembers onboard the International
Space Station. Teachers, parents and communities see, first hand, how Amateur
Radio and crewmembers on ISS can energize youngsters' interest in science,
technology and learning.
73, Peter Kofler, IN3GHZ, ARISS mentor