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[andfly]

I finally "felt something"!

This morning, coinciding with the scheduled contact between the Space Station and a school in Rome (IT), I set up the connection to an Open Web Rx Station (CISAR in Assisi, Perugia (IT)) which is "in the right place" for receive the broadcast.
The radio was phenomenal and picked up the radio signal very well.
I was a little less good and, perhaps thanks to the emotion, I was not able to capture everything but equally I hope that the resulting video gives an idea of what can be obtained from these online radio stations and stimulates others to try the same thrilling experience.

Good simulation, in OUTERRA, everyone! 

[aWac9]

magnificent.. another step for humanity

[aWac9]

[andfly]

Very nice 
and ... what music !!

[PytonPago]

ISS FM RADIO LISTENING MODE 145800 Khz Using SDR radio online

I realized that manual radio listening operations are quite complicated because the high speed of the ISS requires rapid changes of radio receiver station.
So I tried to automate the operations by introducing a new simulation mode.
You enter "radio listening" mode with the combination of the keys Ctrl + A.
The program probes the positions of the set receiving stations, chooses the one closest to the Space Station and automatically opens a new page of the brownser with the site of the chosen SDR radio.

At this point it will be up to the user to manually complete the settings that cannot be controlled automatically.

+ Enable audio (not all brownsers do this automatically, often you have to click on an "audio on" or "start audio" button or something similar.
+ Make sure that the listening frequency is the right one (145800 Khz, 2MT band): it should already be set automatically but ... not all SDR radio managers are the same.
+ Set frequency modulation reception (FM button).
+ Adjust the listening volume.
+ If necessary, insert the squelch to eliminate background noise in the absence of signal.

It sounds complicated but, with a little practice, it only takes a few seconds.
Now you can return to the simulation of the ISS by clicking on the Outerra screen that is still open below or on the relative icon in the status bar.
The audio signal of the listening station will be the "background" to the simulation.

Every ten seconds a new check is carried out on the radio closest to the ISS: if the radio is already in use, nothing happens, if the chosen radio is different, a new window will be opened in the brownser with the new radio and the user will repeat the procedure just illustrated, remembering, first of all, to delete the window with the old radio.

In these days of rehearsals to refine the procedures of the program I have not yet received any transmission but, from the readings on the Web, it seems that, sporadically, in the free moments, some astronauts delight in amateur radio broadcasts towards the earth so ... every time could be the good one!
By consulting the calendar of scheduled broadcasts with schools
https://www.amsat-on.be/ariss-calendar-with-scheduled-contacts-by-the-ariss-operation-team/
however, one should have the guarantee of pick up something by listening at the right time.

And now my due thanks to fly77 who, with its Worldradio program, has inspired my work. 
I blatantly copied his method (which I did not know) of storing radio station data in a separate json file from the main script, obtaining a file that can be easily edited by anyone without the risk of touching the program.

In this regard it is really advisable, for those who have experience in radio reception, to take a look at the file of the radio stations set (radio_SDR.json in the ISS / Script folder) because the criterion with which I compiled it only takes into account the coverage while it would be preferable to also consider the "performance" of the receiving station based on the equipment and antennas.
It is possible to replace the stations set with other more "performing" ones or add them for better coverage (there are still many free places).
At the site: http://websdr.org/ you can find the list of SDR radios available on the Web.

You can download the updated version of the ISS at the usual link.

IMPORTANT
Copy the NEW Andfly_plugin.dll located in the data plugins folder
in the plugins folder of the Outerra program
 
Once again ...

Have fun !!! 

I have been going hinking with my firend with a TRX for years now .. this is a beautifull adition to Outerra ! ... was sometimes tuning to the open ISS ferquancy ( US and Russian ) lots of times and had them caught even on spacewalks. Its fantastic to get a signal like that in real life, sometimes, even in your own garden.

In the radioamateur circles, they often use repeaters to push signal further and that friend of mine talks like this often with other guys this way. I plan to make one myself on my roof one day and i just got a really interresting idea/question - would it be possible to relay the signal into Outerra ? I mean, the repeater at my roof would send the sound to my PC, and that would relay it to an outerra location like this ( could make a model for it later too ). Basically, you could listen to it trough OT online, if having the mod and being close to it. Dont thing it be good to put a two way comm into it, but im fairly sure if this would work, one could send audio the other way out too - to the real life repeater as well ... It would be interresting to comunicate with someone from/to OT by a real TRX station.

[andfly]

Hi  PytonPago !

First of all it is a great pleasure to hear from you here on the forum !   

You have highlighted a very interesting aspect about the possibility of receiving communication, from space, with online radios.
There is not only listening on the amateur frequency of 145800 Khz, used for scheduled transmissions between the ISS and schools.
The space station and, in general, all space missions are continuously in communication with the earth on other frequencies which are most likely available on online radios.
If we are not dealing with encrypted transmissions, it would be very interesting to investigate the possibility of "witnessing" these communications that would allow you to feel emotionally involved with astronauts in intense moments such as spacewalks or in the more normal ones of routine activities.
It is definitely a topic that deserves further investigation!

As for the possibility of connecting Outerra users with a MOD created for this purpose, I too think it would be possible (the existence of countless voice chats and environments created for this specific purpose, such as Skype, confirm this).
Even the possibility of channeling the audio stream on a TX used for this purpose would certainly be feasible ...
But this is a job absolutely beyond the capabilities of a normal modder and would require precise knowledge and specific skills.

In fact, in the ISS MOD, the program is able to simply choose the online radio closest to the location of the space station (from a pre-built database) and open the corresponding Web page on Brownser. It cannot interact directly with the radio settings because I have no idea how it can be done ...
However, listening to radio communications in the background when "flying" with the ISS in Outerra should add a little excitement to the simple graphic interaction.

This was the goal I had set myself and the only possible one for my current abilities.