Tim Peake - first UK schools contact on 2m from ISS

ESA astronaut Tim Peake. Image: Steve Nichols

Tim Peake, the UK ESA astronaut, made his first schools contact this morning, 8th January 2016.

The ISS appeared over the horizon here in eastern UK at 08:49hrs and vanished at 08:55hrs. I monitored the downlink signal on 145.800MHz and it appeared at about 08:52hrs. Tim appeared to be having problems with the original uplink frequency and so they switched to another.

It was a short pass, but the school - Sandringham School in Hertfordshire - still managed to ask some questions. Unfortunately, they lost the ISS signal before they finished and were able to say goodbye.

I've attached an audio recording of the pass as captured via a 2m Slim Jim in the loft and an Icom IC-7400. The recording was made with RecAll and processed with Audacity.

I also heard him at times on a 2m handheld, but I wouldn't recommend it as it was not as strong.

I'm very proud to be be part of the team that will enable the next schools contact in late February 2016 when Tim will talk to the CNS School in Norwich. The exact date and time has yet to be decided.

I was lucky enough to interview and photograph Tim professionally for "ADS Advance" magazine last year.

Download the MP3 audio file of Tim Peake