Hurray! First Contact With Sri Lanka (4S7NDR) Through Space Station

I have been hearing 4S7NDR on the FM Repeater of Amateur Radio on International Space Station a few times over the past few days. Once it was while I was using 40/10m antenna on experimental basis for Space Station contact and it was a faint and partial copy. Yesterday morning I could hear him loud several times, as it was a high elevtion pass here, but he could not hear me. Finally, today morning, it was only a pass of about 17 degrees maximum elevation here. Yet I could hear him and he could hear me and it was our first two way contact. That makes Sri Lanka the second country I am able to contact through ARISS. First was a contact with HS8MOM from Thailand on ARISS. Though I hear several Indonesian stations on IO-86, I have not been able to have two way contacts yets, in spite of some of them hearing me and calling back.

This is the audio recording of yesterday’s pass of International Space Station when I could hear 4S7NDR several times.

Here is the audio recording of today’s pass of ARISS when I could establish the first two way contact with 4S7NDR.

Though Sri Lanka is not far from my region, there are only very few LEO satellite operators there and I have not heard anyone other than 4S7NDR during the past one year of LEO satellite operations. Some of my friends have been able to contact 3B8FA from Mauritius on other satellites. We are interested in working LEO satellite operators from other Island Nations of the Indian Ocean, which are the nearest DX stations for us. But the number of LEO satellite operators in those regions is very few. Some of my friends have reached out to the amateur radio societies in those nations and we do hope that Amateur Radio LEO satellite activity from those regions will improve soon. On a personal level, I have also talked to 8Q7PR from Maldives over ham radio and he might also take up LEO satellite operations soon.