paulears Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 I thought it rather weird in a mega million dollar space craft to see the astronauts talking to CH4 on a plug in bog standard radio mic. I'd love to know what the receiver up there could here with the squelch backed off. It might have even been possible with a bit of gain from a ground antenna to hear the feed direct. Many years ago I had an interesting chat with an American guy on a low powered walkie talkie in the space shuttle when I was in my van driving locally - line of sight is an amazing thing, and 500mW from up there worked perfectly well - until he went below the horizon when it just snapped off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electrolytic Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 are you saying you've had a conversation .. with a man ... in space, whilst driving your van? How long was the preceding shift before this incident? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted March 16, 2014 Author Share Posted March 16, 2014 Yep - his name was Owen Garriott - Skylab 1 in 1983. Nasa let him take some low powered radio ham kit, and a little aerial he could stick on the window glass. He called and I answered - had a chat then he vanished over the horizon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electrolytic Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 the 80's sound so cool, so full of promise, such optimism. much anticipated nuclear annihilation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 If it was the same "Live from Space" programme we saw down here on Saturday, I loved the way they passed the microphone back and forth by floating it to each other! I wonder if they had a JFMG PMSE licence for the seconds they spent orbiting over the UK? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigclive Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 They apparently tried one of those throwable ball microphones and it's still in orbit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Well there are dvd and blueray regions that cover space so there must be some frequency, I guess its just who or more what controls them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted March 17, 2014 Author Share Posted March 17, 2014 Ch 69 and 38 in the license was strictly for ground use wasn't it? But the license exempt ch 70 didn't . With FM transmission the 'winner' is usually the strongest signal, so from space you'd get snippets from perhaps thousands of users. I wonder what it would sound like? I must admit I quite miss the civil defence stuff I was involved with in the 80s. Interesting places visited and some truly crazy Americans at the now derelict airbases in my region. It put dad's army into perspective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistermorton Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 the 80's sound so cool, so full of promise, such optimism. much anticipated nuclear annihilation. s/80/60 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleah Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 They apparently tried one of those throwable ball microphones and it's still in orbit. Thanks Clive. I ought to PM you my address so you can send me the replacement keyboard you owe me :D The current one is coated, sorry, sprayed with tea. :** laughs out loud **: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob_Beech Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 They apparently tried one of those throwable ball microphones and it's still in orbit. But will it mute itself in zero (very low) gravity. How do those things work again?It's a genuine question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew C Posted March 24, 2014 Share Posted March 24, 2014 Yep - his name was Owen Garriott - Skylab 1 in 1983. You're ten years late Paul! :P [Namedrop] I met him in 1971. [/namedrop] My father was at NASA teaching the Skylab crews to use one of the solar observation telescopes. Properly good times to be a small boy interested in science! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted March 24, 2014 Author Share Posted March 24, 2014 That's an amazing coincidence! Nice guy, I thought! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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