The NASA Langley Amateur Radio Club
(NLARC)

The Impact Dynamics Research Facility (IDRF) shown in the picture above was originally known as the Lunar Landing Research Facility (LLRF) in the 1960s. This was one of the locations where NASA utilized tethered landers to train the Apollo astronauts for moon landings. If you visit the image links below you will learn that this facilty has a rich and varied history. The LLRF is one of several National Historic Landmarks at NASA Langley Research Center.

All photos are courtesy of the NASA Image Exchange (NIX).

• (1964) An early photo of the LLRF.
• (1967) A progression of Landing Simulator photos.
• (1967) The Pogo Test Vehicle at the LLRF.
• (1968) An Apollo Program Image.
• (1968) The United States Flag against the backdrop of an Apollo Saturn 5 rocket launch.
• (1968) Earthrise as seen from lunar orbit.
• (1969) Astronaut Neil Armstrong training at the LLRF.
• (1970) The late Astronaut Alan Shepard training at the LLRF.
• (1972) The Lunar Rover on the moon.

Radio Systems Status as of 2004.04.14 at 1400 EST.

Call Sign	Modes	Input/Output	Propagation Model	Status/Options
KG4NJA	VHF FM Voice	146.07/146.67 (-600 kHz)	Coverage	Operational 24 hours Rcv PL 173.8 Hz = ON Tx PL 173.8 Hz = OFF "67" 3 min PL defeat = ON Autopatch = ON
KG4NJA	UHF FM Voice	448.65/443.65 (+5.0 MHz)	Coverage	Inactive Repairs in progress.
KG4NJA (LARCND)	1200 BPS Packet Digipeater	145.73/145.73 Simplex	Coverage	Operational 24 hours

Notes:

• All frequencies are listed in MHz.
• Please read the NLARC Repeater Guidelines & Commands document for complete information on approved operating procedures.

• 2004.04.14 - A 4 bay phased dipole antenna was installed by Addison Inge and Jim Byrd. Initial reports indicate the repeater range on the fringe has inproved significantly, and is much more in line with the originally predicted theoretical coverage.

For previous items, check the history list.

Active News and Information Sites

• The Spaceflight Now news site.
• Space Science News.
• Shuttle Status Reports from the Kennedy Space Center.
• Find out what's happening Today@NASA.
• The NASA Television home page for program schedules and news.
• The National Weather Service Forecast Office, Wakefield VA.
• The latest USA Radar image courtesy of Intellicast. Click your area of interest for a closeup.
• The latest Norfolk Surface Weather Forecast courtesy of Intellicast.
• The latest Norfolk Radar image courtesy of Intellicast.
• Space Weather.
• The Tropical Prediction Center of the National Hurricane Center.
• Today's Space Weather from the Space Environment Center.
• Jonathan's Space Report. A weekly synopsis of space activity.
• The SPACEWARN Bulletin. Official bulletins for desiminating information about satellites and space probes.

Announcements

• You are invited to join the York County/Poquoson ARES net that meets on Monday nights at 2000 hours on 146.07/67. Most of the time the repeater will be on carrier access only. If not, remember to use a PL frequency of 173.8 Hz on transmit.

For previous announcements, check the previous announcements list.

Additional NLARC Information

• The NASA Langley Amateur Radio Club (NLARC) is sponsored by the Langley Research Center Exchange. Resources to support the NLARC are derived from it's membership and other parties interested in supporting Amateur Radio operations.
• NLARC membership is open to all NASA employees, their spouses, retirees, LaRC contractors and in some instances, dependents. If you would like to join the NLARC and receive a NLARC roster, please contact Jim Byrd or call 757.864.5961.
• The NLARC has a long history beginning in 1962.
• The 2002 NLARC Bylaws.
• The NLARC Club License.
• The NLARC repeater systems are installed on the IDRF gantry that is used by the Impact Dynamics Research Branch.
• Here is an aerial view of NASA Langley Research Center. The NLARC repeaters are located on the IDRF gantry, about one mile distant in the center of the image.
• A southeast Virginia regional map position of the NLARC repeaters.
• For items of broad interest you may email everyone who has an email address in the NLARC membership list at one time.

NASA Recognition of Amateur Radio

• A listing of Amateur Radio Clubs at each of the NASA Centers.
• A discussion of Amateur Radio in the International Space Station Reference.
• The Amateur Radio Satellite Station KE4ZXW at the Virginia Air and Space Center.

Weather Resources

• The The National Weather Service Forecast Office in Wakefield Virginia.
• The National Skywarn homepage.
• The Tropical Prediction Center of the National Hurricane Center.

Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Services

• The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES).
• The Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) of Virginia.
• The Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES).
• The Virginia Digital Emergency Network (VDEN).

Regional Amateur Radio Pages

Local (within 30 miles)

• The Peninsula Amateur Radio Club (PARC) of Newport News, VA.
• The Peninsula Electric Amateur Radio Society (PEARS).
• The Amateur Radio Group, Inc. at the Virginia Air and Space Center where Amateur Radio communications with earth orbiting satellites occurs on a daily basis.
• The Williamsburg Area Amateur Radio Club (WAARC).
• The Eastern Virginia APRS Group (EVA).

To the North:

• The Middle Peninsula Amateur Radio Club (MPARC) (the Gloucester/Middlesec Co. region).

To the East:

• The Easton (Maryland) Amateur Radio Society (EARS).
• The Virginia Beach Emergency Amateur Repeater Society (VBEARS).
• The Virginia Beach Amateur Radio Club (VBARC).
• The Eastern SHore Amateur Radio Club (ESHARC).
• Tidewater Radio Conventions Inc. of Virginia Beach.

To the South:

• The Portsmouth Amateur Radio Club (PARC).
• The Chesapeake Amateur Radio Service (CARS).
• The Northeastern North Carolina Amateur Radio Homepage.
• The Fessenden Amateur Radio Society (Buxton, NC Outer Banks).

To the West:

• The Western Tidewater Radio Association (WTRA).
• The Richmond Amateur Radio Club (RARC).
• The Albamarle Amateur Radio Club (AARC) of Charlottesville VA.

Amateur Radio Frequency Coordination Organizations

• The SouthEastern Repeater Association (SERA)

Amateur Radio Communications with the International Space Station

The International Space Station Reference page explains how Amateur Radio is involved in the International Space Station.

For those who wish to hear Amateur Radio communications with the ISS, check the ARISS home page for current news and frequency information. For Amateur Radio use:

• ITU Region 1 is generally all of Africa, Europe, Northern and Central Asia.
• ITU Region 2 is all of North and South America.
• ITU Region 3 is Southern Asia, Australia, including most of the Pacific Islands.

A great page describing how to digipeat via UI frames with the ISS is Miles Mann's How to Use the ISS Chatroom.

As of 2001.04.19

Amateur Radio Modes	ITU Region 1 uplink/downlink	ITU Region 2-3 uplink/downlink	Status
VHF FM Voice	145.200/145.800	144.490/145.800	Occassionally active
VHF FM 1200 BPS Packet	145.990/145.800	145.990/145.800	Active

Amateur Radio Equipment Resources

• The Eham.net page. See the classified section.
• The QTH.com page.
• The Computer Automation Technology (CAT) Repeater Controllers web site.
• The Repeater Builder's Technical Information Page.
• The Texas Towers page.

Amateur Radio Advocacy and Training Organizations

• The American Radio Relay league (ARRL).
• The Amateur Radio Education Alliance.
• The current methodology for how to obtain an Amateur Radio license.
• A listing of sites and contact names to take the Amateur Radio License Exam in the southeast Virginia area.
• A list of Southeastern Virginia Amateur Radio Clubs.

Amateur Radio Message Traffic Organizations

• Virginia Section Traffic Manager.
• The National Traffic System Training Manual by Bruce Winchell.

Federal Emergency Services

• The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Local/Regional Search and Rescue Organizations

• The Newport News Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol based at the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport.
• The Langley Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol based at Langley AFB, Hampton, Virginia.
• The Virginia Search and Rescue Council.

Southeast Virginia State and Regional Emergency Services

• The Hampton Roads Emergency Management Committee.
• The Hampton Roads Radio Broadcast Stations.
• The Newport News Emergency Operations Center.
• The Peninsula Local Emergency Planning Committee (PLEPC).
• The Virginia Department of Emergency Services.

Southeast Virginia Regional Disaster Relief Agencies

• The Hampton Roads Chapter of the American Red Cross.
• The York County Chapter of the American Red Cross.
• The Tidewater Chapter of the American Red Cross.
• The Portsmouth Chapter of the American Red Cross.

Southeast Virginia Regional Law Enforcement Agencies

• The Virginia State Police.
• The Newport News Police Department.
• The Hampton Police Department.
• Virginia Municipal Agencies Information Directory.

Southeast Virginia Regional Municipality Pages

• The City of Newport News.
• The City of Hampton.
• The City of Poquoson.
• The City of Williamsburg.
• The City of Norfolk.
• The City of Suffolk.
• The City of Virginia Beach.
• The City of Portsmouth.
• The City of Chesapeake.
• The City of Smithfield.
• The City of Hopewell.
• The Eastern Shore of Virginia Network.
• The City of Franklin.
• The City of Petersburg.
• The City of Richmond.
• The Town of West Point.

Southeast Virginia Regional County Pages

• Gloucester County.
• York County.
• James City County.
• Essex County and the Town of Tappahannock.

Specialized Amateur Radio Pages

• The findU APRS Database Page. Use "callsign*" in the search path to locate someone using APRS.
• Steve Dimse's Amateur Radio Stations Heard via the ISS (with embedded APRS data).
• Bob Bruninga's APRS page.
• Bob Bruninga's Mir/APRS page.
• The Houston AMSAT Net
• Orbitessera by Ken Ernandes.
• AMSAT-NA, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (of North America) involving personal satellite communications via amateur radio with current news of amateur radio space activity. To read about SAREX communications reports, you might consider subscribing to the sarex@amsat.org mailing list. Detailed instructions for subscription may be obtained by consulting the AMSAT.ORG Mailing Lists to discover several types of Email news services.
• The Goddard Amateur Radio Club where shortwave retransmission of space shuttle audio communications occurs.
• The Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX).
• W5AC, the Texas A&M University Club Station.
• Brian Webb's Rawhide Space Page.

Radio Communications Interest Pages

• A great page of broad interest to trunking radio scanners is the Trunked Radio Information Homepage.
• A great page of local interest devoted to scanner radio is the Hampton Roads Scanner Page.
• Rich Wells Strong Signals page.
• The Long Island Area Scanning Resources page.
• Richmond Virginia and Surrounding Area Military Frequencies.
• Public Safety, Aviation, Military, Federal Scanning & HF Information page.

Sites of Amateur Radio Links

• Amateur Radio Resources.
• K1DWU's Ham Links.

Sites of Educational Interest

• The Web66: International School Web Site Directory.
• The CERES S'COOL Project.
• The Langley Office of Education.
• David H. Ransom's Software Home Pages.
• The Basics of Space Flight learner's Workbook from the JPL.
• The Space Day home page from the Lockheed Martin Corporation.
• The educator's resource NASA Spacelink.
• The NASA Langley Educators'Resource Center.

Experimental

This section is set aside for Web experimentation.

Related Sites

The following sites are authored by the same individual.

• The Amateur Radio Satellite Communications Station KE4ZXW located at the Virginia Air and Space Center in Hampton, Virginia.
• The Amateur Satellite Observers of Southeast Virginia (ASOSV) where predictions for visual observations of notable satellites are posted.

Utility and Searching Sites

• The Bobby Worldwide home page for checking the accessability features of webpages.
• The Google search engine.
• Email address searching provided by Four11.
• The Callsign Database Server located at the University of Arkansas (at Little Rock) Club Station.
• The National Address Server.
• The Alta Vista search engine.

An important reminder about this page:

You are encouraged to ask questions, suggest changes, or report difficulties with the server or items offered. The author attempts a reasonable effort to ensure the accuracy and appropriateness of the posted information though omissions, errors or links which change to inappropriate topics not under the author's direct control may develop without the author's knowledge. Your acceptance, use, or the communication of information or software from this home page for any reason is solely at your own risk. Links which feature commercial products for sale are provided on an "information only" basis and do not represent an endorsement of the products or sellers.

Information provided by the NASA Langley Amateur Radio Club home page must not be confused with official NASA information which is available locally from the Langley Office of External Affairs at 757.864.6124.

Web page operations: James E. Byrd
Responsible NASA Official: Richard S. Eckman