Johnson Space Center
Amateur Radio Club
W5RRR Station Page

W5RRR Operator Photo Album

Notice: This page is under construction.  Pictures, links and other fun stuff
will be put in place over the next few weeks.  Bear with us.  73 de kg5u

Station Overview Welcome to the W5RRR/JSC Amateur Radio Club station page.  The station was located in Building 207a at Johnson Space Center. Bldg 207a was located at the east end of the north parking lot of the Gilruth Center, the employee's recreation center. There were two rooms located in the north end of building 207a: One occupied by the Lunarfins-the SCUBA club, and the other by JSCARC. The club room has 450 square feet of floor space.

About mid-March 2007, the building housing W5RRR station and the JSC Lunarfins scuba club was demolished, the slab broken up and removed. A building is now under construction. Due to a very spring and summer of very heavy rains, the construction has been progressing as best it can. Click here to see pictures of the progress of to new building.

The W5RRR station had four main operating positions: 3 HF consoles and 1 VHF/UHF console. The club has been very fortunate as much of the radio equipment was provided to the club either on a permanent basis or on indefinite loan by the manufacturers in appreciation for our work with the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX). We are deeply grateful for their benevolence and kindness.

Back to top

The HF Stations The first station seen when walking in the door was the Icom 781 station. When we had a working Icom IC-4KL amplifier, the station was the 'workhorse' HF station, most operated and favored by the operators. The amplifier developed a problem which Icom could not fix and so refused to return it to us.

Next was the Yaesu FT-1000D/FL-7000 station. This station was a great CW station to operate. Semi-automatic antenna tuning of the transceiver and the amplifier made this station an easy and reliable station to operate.

Last, but not least in our HF station inventory, is our Kenwood TS-950SD/TL-922A station. A super performer on CW and SSB, it also did very well with the digital modes. With an AEA PK-900 TNC we acquired a few years ago, it was THE 'digital station' on the HF side of the station, while still dishing out CW and SSB QSO's.

Back to top

The VHF/UHF Stations Because of our involvement with Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) and Amateur Radio onboard International Space Station (ARISS), the VHF/UHF satellite console received quite a bit of the interest, activity and attention in the station. The console housed three transceivers, a couple of power supplies, VHF/UHF amplifiers, TNC's, the AZ/EL rotator controller, etc. Our satellite VHF/UHF radios are IC-275 and IC-475 transceivers. For terrestrial use, we installed a Yaesu FT-736R, VHF/UHF/SHF all-mode transceiver.

The VHF/UHF console had a lot of history associated with it. It was from this console that the first earth-space amateur radio contacts are made during SAREX-manifested Space Shuttle flights. Typically, one or two radio checks are made with the astronauts prior to their onboard amateur radio operations: contacts with the scheduled school groups and general DX-style contacts.

Since those early days of SAREX with Drs. Owen Garriott, W5LFL, Tony England, W0ORE, and Ron Parise, WA4SIR, many, many contacts were made with astronauts and cosmonauts from this console. During the times when U.S. astronauts were stationed aboard the Russian Space Station Mir, there were almost daily contacts with Mir from W5RRR. The astronaut got a chance to speak with family members, friends, and co-workers staying up with what was going on on the ground in their absence.

Future activities from this console, or whatever it may evolve to in the future, will certainly include communications with the International Space Station crewmembers. The equipment is assembled, the antennas have been designated, constructed and assigned their OUTSIDE mounting locations, and the astronauts/cosmonauts have received or will receive their licenses.

Back to top

The Antennas/Towers We have been blessed with three great antenna tower systems. The first, is our 80' Rohn 45G tower. It's a rock. It's been through hurricanes, thunderstorms, and, we believe, micro-bursts or mini-tornadoes (we had a 51' crank up tower at one time which we lost in a sudden thunderstorm which reportedly contained microbursts and may well have caused the tower's failure--but, the 80' Rohn 45G tower suffered not a whit.).

The 80' tower supports a Hy-Gain 204BA, 4-element, 20m beam at the base of the mast and a Cushcraft 1504, 4-element, 15m beam at the top of the mast, about 10' above the 204BA. The tower also has a 40m sloper, one leg of an 80m dipole (the other leg runs out to the other tower), and a 160m half-sloper. The beams are turned by Ham-II rotator.

Up until the fall of 1998, the 15m beam was fine; the look of the two 4-element beams was a truly a thing of beauty and a wonder to behold--classic antenna art. Then a small tropical storm came through and we lost half of one half of a director element and the rear third of the boom containing the reflector. So, while the 15m beam is now a 2.75 element beam, it still works! SWR is nominal and there seems to be directivity and gain in the direction it's pointing.

The second tower is a 50' ex-military tower, three legs with a 6-8' spread at the ground and tapering to a couple of straight sections at 30 or so feet. It's an extra-heavy duty, freestanding tower and is home to one VHF/UHF antenna and two HF triband beam antennas.

At the bottom of the mast is a Cushcraft A3S, a 3-element, 10-15-20m beam. About 8' above the A3S is a Cushcraft A3WS+30m add-on, a 3-element, 12-17-30m beam. Mounted on the very top of the mast is a dual-band VHF/UHF vertical. The rotator is a Ham-II*.

*Both rotator control boxes have had Brake-D-Lay's installed. If you don't have one installed, you should. They are well worth the $25 price, especially if you have guests come in to operate who are not really up on the correct fingering of the brake and motor controls. It's cheap insurance.

The third tower was one straight section and one pointy-top section of Rohn 45G. This was our satellite antenna tower. The rotator was a Kenpro xxxx. The 2m antenna was a 24-element, cross-polarized, beam antenna. The 70cm antenna was a 36-element, cross-polarized, beam antenna. The Satellite tower and antennas have been removed. The Tower will be replaced and relocated to a pad next to the building. The antennas are stored away and will be replaced on the tower once the club moves into the new building and the station becomes operational.

Plans are in place for antenna removals, moves and additions involving the antennas on the 50' and 80' towers. That work is in hiatus until the new station building is open and functional.

Back to top

Miscellaneous Station Equipment Two-Meter Repeater The JSCARC supports an open 2m repeater (146.64r/.04t - no tone). The repeater is located in the rooftop penthouse (equipment room) of the 9-story JSC Project Management building, Building 1, at Johnson Space Center.

The Spectrum Communications SCR-500 repeater has a power output of 25 watts. The antenna, a Diamond G7-144, provides approximately 6db gain, giving an effective radiated power (ERP) of 100 watts and providing coverage to a radius of approximately 30 miles (downtown Houston-Downtown Galveston). The antenna is mounted atop the Building 1's penthouse roof (effectively, the 11th floor).

The repeater has survived two hurricanes, tropical storms, and numerous Texas-sized thunderstorms. It has a back-up battery system designed to provide repeater operation for at least 36 hours. The repeater ID changes to "W5RRR BAT" when it is on battery power.

The JSCARC repeater carries the International Space Station (ISS) air-to-ground audio for local hams and non-hams. During shuttle flights, the mission audio is given over to the space shuttle mission audio. On landing, audio is switched back to ISS audio.

Because of the repeater's wide-area coverage of the NASA-Clear Lake area and the JSCARC's commitment to fulfill its public service obligation, the repeater is frequently used to provide communications for the many and varied public service events.

Back to top

Station Pictures/Posters Arrayed around the walls of the station were numerous pictures and posters. Most all of the pictures and posters have been stored away until we can start moving into the new shack. The space shuttle crew pictures were designed by the crews as mementos and tokens of thanks to those organizations and folks who supported them in their flights. Some of the posters are those which are used during public events such as space-related and ham-related conventions, in which SAREX (and now ARISS) project was presented.

Back to top

Webmaster note: The 204BA, 20m, 4-element beam has an interesting history. Back in the early 70's, I was working in the communications center at here at JSC (back then, it was called Manned Spacecraft Center--MSC). One of our tasks in the commcen (mostly teletype and facsimile) was to operate a couple of Collins-equipped HF stations on the NASA Emergency Radio Network and perform weekly radio checks with the other NASA Centers around the country.

A scientist working on a joint U.S. Dept of Agriculture-NASA-Mexican Dept. of Agriculture-Mexican Space Commission project in Mexico had been making daily telephone calls back to JSC to file his activity report. After a few monthly bills had been received in the Telephone Office for the long distance phone calls, someone suggested that the scientist should be provided a radio with which to files his reports.

It was decided that sending someone (me) down to his location and setting him up with some Collins radio equipment and antenna/tower hardware would be cheaper in the long run.

So, with a KWM-2A, Power Supply, a 30L1 amplifier, a 204BA antenna, fifty feet of Rohn 45G, guy wire, guy anchors, and other hardware, KG5U spent a total of four weeks (two two-week trips) working in and around the small town of Fortín de las Flores (Fountain of the Flowers). Fortín is an absolutely beautiful, 'typical' Mexican small-town, located halfway between Veracruz and Mexico City.

While there, I and some local hired helpers to help me, installed the tower and antenna (no rotator was needed), shopped for needed, additional hardware in the nearby cities of Orizaba and Cordoba. I quickly got accustomed to the Mexican afternoon siesta time, late dinners, wonderful people, great food, beautiful countryside, and the overall lifestyle. Once the station was all set up and ready to operatoe, it was a matter of waiting on the license to come through from the Mexican 'FCC'.

Because it was going to take a while, I was recalled to Houston until the license arrived. Once it arrived, I flew down to Veracruz, drove out to Fortín and trained Dr. Broce on the operation of the radio equipment. After a week and a half there, making sure Dr. Broce was comfortable with the procedures and operation of the radio and amplifier, I returned to Houston.

Until the project was over a couple of years later, Dr. Broce filed his daily reports via the radio station and the HF station in our commcenter office where we phone-patched him through to his JSC secretary.

After the project was over, the antenna and other hardware returned to JSC and was given to the JSC Amateur Radio Club for it's use.

Cool, huh? 73, de dale/kg5u)

Back to the top

This page is maintained by Dale Martin, KG5U.

Comments, suggestions and contributions (images, links, articles) are solicited and welcome.

Last update: November 30, 2007