Anybody ever done any ISS spotting? Used this site to find a time and location and watched it track across the night sky. Pretty cool to see with the naked eye!
https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/
https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/
Spot the Station (ISS)
- Thread starter RyanB
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denverpilot
Tied Down
Sure. You can get better satellite prediction software than that, though.
Search “Iridium Flares”. Very cool stuff. You almost won’t believe it when you see it.
Search “Iridium Flares”. Very cool stuff. You almost won’t believe it when you see it.
denverpilot
Tied Down
My grandfather before he passed was a huge space fan, but in a little kid excitement sort of way. He owned a Model T and grew up during the Great Depression by way of providing history on what he’d seen in his life.
My local ham radio club for decades played the Press approved mission audio from NASA over our three linked repeaters that covered the Front Range from Pueblo, CO to Cheyenne, WY. We had built a linking system for that audio such that it would play on the repeaters unless there was any local radio traffic and then it would pause for a minute or two and resume. People loved it. (And we had tricks up our sleeves for interesting launches or landings where morons would key a radio just to interrupt it. We’d flip the system into an audio mixing mode for an hour or so at the beginning and end of those “high interest” missions like Discovery’s Return to Flight, ISS spacewalks, stuff like that. But we never told anyone. Behind the scenes fun.)
Anyway my dad and I later in both grandpa’s and dad’s life were pretty active ham operators and we got grandpa a scanner and set it up with the local ragchew repeaters and busy stuff. He loved to listen to things and he’d hear us commuting and talking to someone and call us a few minutes later. Was cool.
When Shuttle was up, he never missed a minute of mission audio unless it was middle of the night stuff, and probably listened some even then. When dad and I realized how fascinated he was by “people being up there” one night I whipped out my smartphone and checked pass predictions and saw there would be a double opportunity. Shuttle had undocked from ISS and was slightly behind it like always.
So we take grandpa outside in the twilight (sunset and sunrise would illuminate the station and shuttle very well but it would be mostly dark outside on the ground) after dinner and pointed to where he should watch for both. And there they came, right on cue of course.
He just watched and stared all the way across the sky until they “set” in east. He looks at us and says, “That’s amazing. The people I’ve been listening to all week were right up there and we could see them.”
One of the coolest things I ever remember being able to do for him, versus the other way around. He did so much for all of us, it was always nearly impossible to do something nice for him.
He told us he called all his old friends and out of town family and explained how he had stood in the street in front of his house and “watched all those kids flying in space go over” for about a month. Everyone he talked to, he told them about it.
I’d seen both ISS and Shuttle numerous times at that point and had even tried to batter my way through the pile ups to work Shuttle and ISS both on voice and packet radio via SAREX (Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment) and owned a number of (still do) the software customized General Electric MP-A hand held brick radios that were originally used for SAREX on Shuttle.
They’re still in my ham shack albeit with very dead or dying NiCD battery packs that are getting expensive to replace. But I have a hard time selling them off due to the association with some very good times in my hamming hobby. A full set... 2m, 440, and 900 MHz.
Dad was also pretty happy and amused about that whole evening. He never knew his dad was such a little kid at the candy store excited by space stuff until then.
Good memories, watching ISS and Shuttle. I may have finally worked ISS on packet, I don’t remember, but I don’t think so. That 8.5 x 11 QSL card would be hanging on the shack wall with the other interesting stuff. And it’s not.
My local ham radio club for decades played the Press approved mission audio from NASA over our three linked repeaters that covered the Front Range from Pueblo, CO to Cheyenne, WY. We had built a linking system for that audio such that it would play on the repeaters unless there was any local radio traffic and then it would pause for a minute or two and resume. People loved it. (And we had tricks up our sleeves for interesting launches or landings where morons would key a radio just to interrupt it. We’d flip the system into an audio mixing mode for an hour or so at the beginning and end of those “high interest” missions like Discovery’s Return to Flight, ISS spacewalks, stuff like that. But we never told anyone. Behind the scenes fun.)
Anyway my dad and I later in both grandpa’s and dad’s life were pretty active ham operators and we got grandpa a scanner and set it up with the local ragchew repeaters and busy stuff. He loved to listen to things and he’d hear us commuting and talking to someone and call us a few minutes later. Was cool.
When Shuttle was up, he never missed a minute of mission audio unless it was middle of the night stuff, and probably listened some even then. When dad and I realized how fascinated he was by “people being up there” one night I whipped out my smartphone and checked pass predictions and saw there would be a double opportunity. Shuttle had undocked from ISS and was slightly behind it like always.
So we take grandpa outside in the twilight (sunset and sunrise would illuminate the station and shuttle very well but it would be mostly dark outside on the ground) after dinner and pointed to where he should watch for both. And there they came, right on cue of course.
He just watched and stared all the way across the sky until they “set” in east. He looks at us and says, “That’s amazing. The people I’ve been listening to all week were right up there and we could see them.”
One of the coolest things I ever remember being able to do for him, versus the other way around. He did so much for all of us, it was always nearly impossible to do something nice for him.
He told us he called all his old friends and out of town family and explained how he had stood in the street in front of his house and “watched all those kids flying in space go over” for about a month. Everyone he talked to, he told them about it.
I’d seen both ISS and Shuttle numerous times at that point and had even tried to batter my way through the pile ups to work Shuttle and ISS both on voice and packet radio via SAREX (Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment) and owned a number of (still do) the software customized General Electric MP-A hand held brick radios that were originally used for SAREX on Shuttle.
They’re still in my ham shack albeit with very dead or dying NiCD battery packs that are getting expensive to replace. But I have a hard time selling them off due to the association with some very good times in my hamming hobby. A full set... 2m, 440, and 900 MHz.
Dad was also pretty happy and amused about that whole evening. He never knew his dad was such a little kid at the candy store excited by space stuff until then.
Good memories, watching ISS and Shuttle. I may have finally worked ISS on packet, I don’t remember, but I don’t think so. That 8.5 x 11 QSL card would be hanging on the shack wall with the other interesting stuff. And it’s not.
robert lomax
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just bought 6329R 66 PA 28 Im a plane owner mpg
I recommend a much better site for the station... http://www.isstracker.com/
customize it with your lat and long.
I live at 48 deg n lat, and during prime viewing I have been able to see it 5 times in a night!
P.S. couple years ago I get to watch as it was trailed by a Japanese supply ship that
was catching up for docking,,, in my minds eye, they seemed to be linked by a Spider thread..
also in 1958 or was it 9, my family and all the neighbors looked in the night sky and watched as Sputnic glided overhead!
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Let'sgoflying!
Touchdown! Greaser!
Yes we do, a lot, Ryan. Thanks.
Brad Z
Final Approach
I use an app called "ISS spotter".
It will alert you to high quality viewing flyovers and shows the location on a world map. Pretty nifty.
I've gotten my three year old in on the action and he loves going out to watch the space station fly over. He usually brings his toy STS with him to the viewing so he can fly with them. Who knows, maybe one day he'll be on the crew to Mars.
It will alert you to high quality viewing flyovers and shows the location on a world map. Pretty nifty.
I've gotten my three year old in on the action and he loves going out to watch the space station fly over. He usually brings his toy STS with him to the viewing so he can fly with them. Who knows, maybe one day he'll be on the crew to Mars.
Becky
Line Up and Wait
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Becky
Oh, this is so cool that other people do this. I like to check the website and watch the ISS go over, but I suspect the rest of the family, and yes, friends and neighbors, think I’m crazy. They look at me funny, you know? I’ve managed to lure some of them outside to share my excitement at seeing the ISS, but they don’t seem impressed.
I also like to watch the videos of the astronauts floating around in the ISS, and telling us what it’s like up there.
Thanks! I’m not weird after all!
I also like to watch the videos of the astronauts floating around in the ISS, and telling us what it’s like up there.
Thanks! I’m not weird after all!