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Comment by _whiteCaps_ | Hacker News Reader

If anyone is interested in satellites, check out your options for amateur radio licensing in your country. The ISS has a repeater that even the most basic license holder is able to use. It's using VHF/UHF frequencies, and a low power 5W radio is enough to work it.

Occasionally the astronauts will get on the radio as well and chat with you! I haven't been lucky enough to do that yet. But I have heard them talking when passing overhead.

https://amsat.org has more information.

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Yes the repeater has several modes by the way. Amsat shows which is active. There's also APRS and sometimes SSTV. When the astronauts are on air there's a strict protocol, they will generally call for people in a certain area. Of course the ISS has a pretty huge footprint so radio discipline is very important.

When it's a scheduled contact, yes, strict protocols are used, but I've heard them on their downtime making contacts, it basically goes:

ISS: NA1SS is listening HAM: NA1SS this is whiskey one alpha whiskey in Hartford, Connecticut ISS: W1AW, welcome board the ISS! HAM: 73

repeat for everyone trying to make a contact :-)

Are the any options that are small enough to make a remote contact radio ?

Basically something I can take with me while hiking, and have somebody else in civilization listen and have some conversations with ?

Yes, lots! Depends on what you want to do. For satellites, any dual band VHF/UHF radio will work. A cheap Baofeng from aliexpress can get you started: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004895672032.html. You'd likely want to get a programming cable for it as well. They also can use Resource Road frequencies if you're going anywhere with radio controlled roads.

Ideally a radio for satellites is full duplex (you can hear simultaneously while transmitting). Those radios cost much more though. Many people just use two radios.

For shortwave radio, you could use something like the trusdx: https://dl2man.de/

Note that in both of these cases, to transmit, you'll need a license... and if you want to talk to someone specific it may be hard to do. Talking to random amateur radio operators is much easier.

The options I posted are cheap - you can easily spend tens of thousands of dollars on radios, antennas, amplifiers, towers, etc.

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