Listen to the Space Shuttle Discovery with your police scanner

I haven't mentioned this before but one of the reasons that I tinker so much with computers is that a long time ago in a galaxy far, far way I liked to tinker with electricity something that I probably acquired from my father. In those days if you wanted to play with wires and tubes and other electronic parts and build things the natural path lead to radio. If you got deep enough into it you found yourself wanting to become an amateur radio operator. Better known as “ham radio” operators these guys knew enough about radio to build and operate their own radio stations talking to people all over the world. To a teen ager this was nothing short of awe inspiring. Taping on their Morse code keys and talking into microphones they communicated with other hams both near and far.

One of these operators took me under his wing and became my mentor helping me learn to send and receive Morse code and pass the rigorous written examination given by the Federal Communications Commission to obtain a license. My involvement with amateur radio has introduced me to many wonderful people over the course of the years and also sparked my interest in other areas of electronics. This is the reason that I wanted a computer in my home long before it was financially or technically practical to have one. I'm also sure it is one of the main reasons that I now make my living with computers.

Ham radio operators have frequency bands that are adjacent to those used by public safety and business two way radio users in the Very High Frequency spectrum also know as VHF. Because of this if you have a radio scanner that lets you listen in on your local police and fire departments you can also listen in on the ham radio operators. Some ham radio operators have special permission from the FCC to rebroadcast the audio from NASA when the space shuttle is orbiting the earth as the Discovery is now. Did you know that almost all of the astronauts are licensed amateur radio operators? They use ham radio to talk with school children in the class room as they circle the earth. There is even a permanent “ham station” aboard the International Space Station.

If you have a police scanner that is programmable you can put 145.6200 into one of your channels and hear NASA talking with the shuttle Discovery live while this mission lasts. If you would like to lean more about amateur radio follow this link to the American Radio Relay League, a nation wide organization of ham operators.