According to NASA ISS Ham Radio Project Engineer Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO, the crew on board the International Space Station (ISS) could very well be on the air for ARRL Field Day, June 25-26.

“The ISS will be supporting ARRL Field Day as long as mission events permit,” Ransom told the ARRL. “The crew will activate one of the automatic modes (crossband or packet digipeater) to allow ground stations to use the ISS as a relay.”

Ransom said that the crew may also be available to support direct contacts: “The crew could operate either or both call signs -- RS0ISS and NA1SS -- and would send ‘2 Alpha DX.’ Listen for them on the downlinks of 145.80 and/or 437.55 MHz.”

Potential configurations are:

• Packet -- 145.825 simplex
• Voice VHF -- 144.490 up and 145.800 down for ITU region 2
• Voice UHF -- 437.550 simplex
• Crossband voice repeater (U/v) -- 437.800 up and 145.80 down

Currently, there are four hams on board the ISS: Ron Garan, KF5GPO (NASA), Mike Fossum, KF5AQG (NASA), Sergei Volkov, RU3DIS (RKA), and Satoshi Furukawa, KE5DAW (JAXA). The other two cosmonauts -- Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyaev -- are not licensed.