In this video I'm listening to the amateur (ham) radio repeater on the International Space Station (ISS). This is pretty easy to do with just a $20 radio, and is really quite fun!

I don't often do pure "how-to" videos, since I'm usually filming myself learning a new skill or process and I'm not an expert at most of the stuff I do. However, a bunch of people asked if I could make this simple and understandable, so that's what I've tried to do!

I'm also trying out some slightly more complicated space radio things, such as a directional antenna and an antenna aiming system. These aren't really needed for listening to the ISS, but I'm hoping to use them on some other things like cubesats in the future.

Here are some additional helpful resources:

ISS frequencies and operational status: https://www.ariss.org/current-status-...

Station tracking and pass prediction: https://www.n2yo.com/

Station tracking on Android phone, with live AR view: https://play.google.com/store/apps/de...

Info on amateur radio, a great way to learn more about topics like this:
http://www.arrl.org/what-is-ham-radio

More info about listening to the ISS (on another frequency) with a scanner or ham radio: https://swling.com/blog/tag/how-to-li...

Radio programming software: https://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/...
(Requires a USB programming cable)

Antenna tuning with NanoVNA:    • #480 NANOVNA Made Simple  

And here are some links to some of the equipment I used (these aren't sponsored and I'm not getting a cut from any of these, you may be able to find them cheaper on eBay or other sources as well!).

Cheap handheld radio (Please note its usually illegal to transmit with these without a license, depending on frequency / location)
https://www.amazon.com/BaoFeng-UV-5R-...

Nagoya antenna: https://www.amazon.com/Authentic-NA-7...

Directional Yagi antenna:
https://www.amazon.com/HYS-Antenna-40...

NanoVNA: https://www.ebay.com/itm/175675394706


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