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Please Support Our Advertisers Your Guide To Monitoring The Space Shuttle Over the years I've been into radio monitoring (since 1976) probably the question I hear most often is "Can I listen to the Space Shuttle?". Over the past few days I've been asked the same question from several of our readers. So I thought that I would put together a quick page of infomation on how you can monitor the Shuttle. The easiest way which anyone with HF receiving equipment can receive the shuttle is by tuning into WA3NAN, this is the Goddard Space Center Amateur Radio Club. WA3NAN is the club station which is operated from the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. This station rebroadcasts Shuttle communications during Shuttle missions. WA3NAN does a pretty good job. They only broadcast during times while the crew is awake. Usually if you're up early enough you will get to hear the weak-up call. Since WA3NAN is operated by volunteers, they only operate when volunteers are available. Their station is located just outside of Washington, DC, so if you hear of thunderstorms in the area you may not hear their transmission til after the storm has passed. WA3NAN usually startes broadcasting about 1 hour before launch time which is really neat because you'll be able to hear the final countdown and communications as the Shuttle "Clears the Tower". Below is a list of frequencies which WA3NAN broadcasts on. WA3NAN Shuttle Retransmission Frequencies.
Besides the above table of frequencies there are many 2-meter repeaters around the country which will relay WA3NAN's transmissions. Check with your local radio club, or put your scanner in search mode between 144.000 MHz - 148.000 MHz and you might luck into hearing one. Believe it or not that is how I heard my first Shuttle Transmission, totally by luck I was just searching and heard this thing which sounded like the shuttle. One advantage of monitoring the Shuttle via WA3NAN is you don't need to worry about the position or tracking the shuttle. If you were attempting to receive the shuttle via direct frequencies, you would only be able to receive the shuttle when it was within line-of-sight. However, there are times when this is possible. If you visit www.amsat.org, you will find various satellite tracking programs which will help in this feat. Below you'll find a list of frequencies used by the Shuttle. Shuttle Frequencies Used During Mission
NOTE 1: Used from prelaunch to T+1hr 40min. Used in-flight to conduct in-orbit radio checks with Edwards and KSC one day before landing. Used for radio checks with landing site on final fly-over before deorbit. Used for landing from 2hr 25min before landing to touchdown. If all else fails you can receive live Shuttle Communications here via RealAudio. I've also compiled a list of VHF frequencies used at the Kennedy Space Center. You can find them HERE. If you're in the area of KSC it would make for some fun listening to put these in your scanner. NASA uses many frequencies everyday, not just when there are shuttle missions. HERE you can find a table of frequencies used world wide by NASA. This includes HF, VHF, and UHF freqs.
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