The MarconISSta experiment at the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Columbus module ham station will be decommissioned on February 9, about 3 weeks earlier than anticipated. MarconISSta is a radio spectrum analyzer on the ISS that monitors parts of the RF spectrum in VHF, UHF, L, and S bands in order to analyze current use and availability for satellite communication.

The project is conducted by a team of researchers and students from Technische Universität Berlin, with support of the German Aerospace Center, the European Space Agency, ARISS, and other partners. MarconISSta engineers are inviting all who possess a UHF antenna and can generate at least 30 dBW EIRP to attempt transmitting to the ISS. MarconISSta will record and publish all transmissions copied. Successful tests have been carried out with 50 W and 15 dBi antenna gain.

This experiment is ideal for testing your antennas and letting ARISS evaluate the VHF/UHF antenna pattern. Whenever the ISS is within range, transmit between 435 and 438 MHz, avoiding 435.95 MHz in Europe and 436.5 MHz (the receiver’s center frequency). Transmit a continuous carrier, and do not employ Doppler shift correction.

The MarconISSta hardware was launched last August and integrated with the onboard ARISS equipment. The experiment ended after collecting 9 GB of data, but in late December, the European Space Agency (ESA) funded it for another round, and the system was turned on again last month. -- Thanks to MarconISSta and ARISS