[Music] On Earth thousands of amateur radio operators, hams, prepared for their first man in space.

On orbit day three, excitement peaked amon hams all over the world.

And then amateur radio’s man in space went on the air: Astronaut: This is W5LFL in Columbia W5LFL orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 135 nautical miles passing over the US west coast and calling CQ so W5LFL in Columbia is calling CQ and standing by go ahead.

Lance: W5LFL WA1JXN WA1 Japan X-ray Norway Frenchtown Montana WA1JXN standing by Astronaut: Hello WA1JXN this is W5LFL Picked up your signals fairly weakly I think our attitude is not really the best as yet but you’re our first contact from orbit WA1 Juliet X-ray Ripper.

[Music] One of the degrees that I got in college was in physics, so I’ve always been interested in science and I’ve always been interested in nature My activities in ham radio have really kept my interests in technical things and in natural phenomena going throughout my life even though my work life may have been involved in marketing or business and things like that, so it’s been a great outlet for me that way [Music] [Radio Chatter] It seems to bring the news or the world right here I can hear that right now I can hear the emergency action messages from the air force to our nuclear forces Airliners overseas flying over the ocean that sort of makes me feel like I am back in the airplane again That’s what I did, same frequencies, same reports, and just sometimes just to see what’s out there [Music] I’ve only been here for five years All of the amateurs that I have met in my time here are fantastic people They are giving, they are welcoming, they are they share the whole fraternity camaraderie but I’ve tried to do the same thing Some of these are people that are new into the hobby and I’ve tried to help them find equipment, help them with antennas I’m trying to promote amateur radio I'm not involved in an amateur radio club mainly because I can’t keep the schedules I don’t want to be involved in something that I know I’m not going to be faithful to There are about one million and a half radio amateurs in the world all licensed by their government to operate on assigned frequencies that are agreed to internationally The advantages of course of being able to do this is that we radio amateurs are the only group of citizens in the world who can communicate freely across international borders speaking with one another from the privacy of our own homes using our own equipment [Music] [Radio Static] Hello Moon Hello Moon There’s very very small sections of ham radio like I’m interested in moon bounce and for years I’ve bounced radio signals off the moon to contact people on the other side of the Earth Moon bounce has always been intriguing to me even when I was a teenager, I thought wow that’s amazing to send a signal to the moon and have it come back two and a half seconds later When I finally moved out of Cleveland and bought a house in Vermont, I actually put up an antenna for moon bounce and made my first contacts The people who are mentors, we call them elmers What I’ve tried to do is be an elmer and help other people who are interested in six meter and explain the best way for them to get going on six-meter moon bounces This is Grace.

Goodbye moon!

I’ve had fun ever since [Radio Chattering] Alpha Lima 7 Kilo Charlie Okay, Alpha Lima 7, go ahead Alpha Lima 7 Kilo Charlie, hello Yeah, hi AL7 Kilowatt Charlie, Alpha Lima 7 Kilo Charlie this is KR7Q you are five and seven in western Montana My park reference is K0402 and I hope that you’re probably in Alaska over Ah well I hate to let you down but yes, I’m in Alaska!

Yeah, I’m not one of the spoofers You’re about five and four, fifty-four Alaska Okay, thank you for the Alaska contact 73 AL7KC KR7Q Yeah, okay very good Thanks a lot for the activation Appreciate it 73 and enjoy the activation [Morse Code] Geez!

That’s Lance again.

Geez Louise!

[Morse Code] Continuous wave propagation is morse code We call is CW I got to the place where using a microphone and talking to other people I got disenchanted with it It’s like it just kind of lost its pizzazz I yeah just so you know you know how when you’re in something and you can get to a level where been there done that and I need something more and that’s where this came in: morse code And that’s the only thing you hear that are you send that Generally, because of what it takes to operate a CW station, CW operators or morse code operators are far more experienced and better at what they do They’re better radio operators and when the guy in Russia I’m talking to wants to tell me what the weather is, he’ll say WX and he’ll say 32 or meaning 32 degrees F Fahrenheit or minus 2C rig You’ll go R I G, rig is 100 100 W 100 watts antenna is three He’ll just say three E L E meaning element yagi at 10 meters I know everything about his station, I know his weather blah blah blah and that’s pretty much the extent and I get it, I get it all via morse code and so that’s how I got into amateur radio and that’s what has kept me in amateur radio I you know what it’s like certain times when I point that to antenna northeast all of those European signals come over the pole and as they do they have a warble to them It’s like you know they don’t sound the same as some guy in Virginia or something The guy in Virginia his no his tone is going to be solid and no warble or anything but that on, that’s DX A lot of time DX meaning long distance A lot of time it’s because the signal has skipped twice and we make the contact with people all over the world and I really got into it New Caption QSL cards and that type of thing Ham radio operators after they’ve talked on the air, sometimes not always, exchange QSL cards in the mail and has information about the event, who made the contact, where, the time, frequency and sometimes people can use these as proof that they actually had contact with a rare country.

All these QSL cards are from places where I’ve operated moon bounce like this: you hear you can see Karen In this one she’s snorkeling that was in New Way and Clipperton is the only D expedition that I’ve done where I operated from an uninhabited island [Birds Chirpping] When a ham radio person or group of people go out to activate a spot that’s long way away The trip, the expedition to go do that we call it D expeditions These D expeditions that people do that ham radio people do are just either, just to have fun or to activate a state or to activate a new country In 2007 after I recovered from a near-death experience with cancer, I decided it would be fun to give back to the community by activating some of these rare countries that have never been activated, that people were interested to contact Those activations have been very exciting It’s very exciting to be able to give people these contacts whether they’re rare grids in the United States or whether you’re going to do moon bounce from a strange island in in the Pacific or the Indian ocean It’s just neat to be able to be connected with people that way It is a technical hobby but it’s not one that is that really should scare people away Most amateurs today are using equipment which is manufactured They assemble it in into a station which meets their particular needs but this isn’t any different than for example the hi-fi enthusiast who has a wide variety of equipment available and puts together the components that meets his particular needs and I don’t think most of us regard hi-fi as being that technical that we that we would shy away from it for that reason [Music] There you go, I just made my first transmission The radio was waiting for the sig- the frequency to be clear for me to make a transmission Okay he didn’t answer me so I will call, I’m calling him again now Now this guy is on 14347 I have to change the antennas I’m going to move my antenna One thing that concerns me is that when you go to ham radio events like swap meets or go to amateur radio clubs The overwhelming majority of people are probably over 65 That’s him but it’s not working Well, signals look terrible that’s why Often the signals just if they’re if you’re too close to them they’ll skip over you and that’s what’s happening here I’m trying to find a good example for you but Every time you operate the radio it’s a training exercise so that you can do it better each time For some reason it’s not keying the radio I’ll have to work on that on my own and tear everything apart and find out why it’s not working anymore We’re all getting gray and getting new people in the hobby is, there’s kind of a tough sell There’s a lot of other competition with internet and cell phones and cell phone apps Well, it doesn’t look like I’m being successful here folks Oh, there we go I got the VA too Well now everybody wants to talk to me People get the idea that amateur radio is dying Some of us are, we’re you know we’re gonna to die eventually but hopefully we have left a legacy of interest maybe not like what I do but in other areas that technology affects amateur radio I am not ready to say that amateur radio is dying I will say that it is evolving [Music] I have friends that I made, uh, 45 years ago that are still very close friends Even though I’ve moved we communicate via radio, we keep in touch That’s a big deal I’m hoping that we can pass that spirit of fraternity and community and friendship on to the next generation and usually everybody understands that that to get here you had to make some kind of investment an investment of your time to get your license and then the first time you get on the air and you pick up the microphone that’s an intrepidating experience I remember a man these all these other guys have been in forever what if I make a mistake, what if I say something stupid and they think- Well you got to put all that in your hip pocket Hello CQ, this is KR7Q That’s where you start and from that point relationships start building Let me see Anybody listening on five two simplex today KR7Q static That’s Lance!

W7GJ is that you Lance KR7Q Let me see if I can get the house turned around here a little bit and pointed at you Are you copying me Lance over Okay, I think I’ve got the antenna pointed on you now, I’m in the Bitterroot valley as you know and I have the film crew here We’ve been using your name in vain on a couple of topics over Exactly right, exactly right, well we’re having a great time and let’s see you are in Frenchtown, is that right?

The reason our signals are not real good between us is we have a very big ridge between me and Missoula and that makes it difficult to be able to get a signal to where you are at on the life of sight I’m using a five-element cubicle quad that I built and without that I would never ever be able to hear you on the vertical antenna so this is great that we’re able to make contact Okay, Lance, very good thank you I’ve got a real good copy on you now a little bit of static but a good copy I enjoy the work that you do I can’t even spell EME us so I’m it’s always fascinating but anyways thanks for being there for us W7 Grape Juice W7GJ KR7Q 73 That might stir up somebody else Anybody else listening on frequency KR7Q There’s the old dog himself How you doing K7MSO I’ll see if I can turn the house around a little bit, I got all your friends from the college here over Very good well thank you for putting us in contact together anyway Mike we’re going to make sure that Grace here follows through with her commitment to get her license, okay Thanks again for your input on this 73 K7MSO KR7Q see you later Okay, that’s it for me KR7Q clear and listening Well, that was kind of cool Yeah, that’s a lot of fun and you see what I mean this is fun Lance (VO): It is fun it is fun It’s amazing you know the friends that you have from all over the world I presented at a conference outside of London 10 years ago or so and I roomed in England with a friend of mine from South Africa and we still keep in touch and we still make contacts on moon bounce when I go out on D expeditions You know it’s just so wonderful to have these friends everywhere You know it is a worldwide community and we do feel close ties to our friends in other countries It’s a wonderful way to to bring the world together [music]