KUALA LUMPUR: Using nothing but ham radio technology, several enthusiasts had planned to make a voice call to the International Space Station orbiting the earth.
But the members of the Malaysian Amateur Radio Emergency Service Society (Mares) had to scrub the mission at the eleventh hour due to a miscalculation and logistical problems.
“The 4pm time slot we were given (for the demonstration yesterday) was no good because the station would not be overhead then,” explained Salleh Huddin Abdul Rashid, one of the enthusiasts.
Also, some vital equipment that they were expecting to be brought up from Johor did not arrive.
The demonstration would have been one of the many highlights of the Hack in the Box Security Conference 2009, which ended yesterday.
“We will try again next year,” said Salleh.
According to him, Mares had hoped to show the extreme range of the ham radio by calling the station.
“Amateur radio enthusiasts have the potential to communicate beyond the perceived limits of our equipment,” he said, adding that this may be useful in an emergency.
Mares is sometimes called upon to provide communication for rescue services during a disaster that has rendered regular phone lines and other connections inoperable.
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