On Friday, October 18, students from the Oakwood High School Space Club successfully received radio transmissions from the International Space Station (ISS) as it passed over the school. This included a live question-and-answer session where astronaut Sunita Williams responded to inquiries from students at TEACH-NW in Springfield, Oregon during an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact. High school students Ryan Beaulieu, Brendan Lyle, Max Rhodes, Aakash Shakya, and Adhrit Sinha demonstrated initiative and technical skill by independently executing all aspects of the communication. Using the projected path of the ISS and a map of Oakwood School, they tracked the optimal heading and elevation with a directional Yagi-Uda antenna. The students tuned a handheld radio to maintain strong reception, accounting for the Doppler effect caused by the station's rapid relative movement. Congratulations to TEACH-NW for their successful ARISS contact. Oakwood School is looking forward to our own ARISS contact in early 2025.

Oakwood Students Receive Teach-NW’s ARISS Contact