Hi all
I'd like to float an idea related to my hobby as a ham radio operator.
The ISS has a ham radio on the 2m band (I have communicated with it and have the QSL card to prove it) that can be used to communicate with the ground.
How about, in the next Chinese visit to Tiangong-1, if they were to carry a 2m ham radio with them (including antenna) and at some point try to communicate with the ISS via 2m?
This would be the first space to space ham radio contact which I think would be pretty awesome.
Now before anyone says it can't be done there will be short periods of time when the two spacecraft, despite being in different orbits, are in line of sight to each other. Also whilst Tiangong-1 doesn't have an external antenna it might be possible to rig up some sort of short antenna and transmit through a window.
AS for the low power 5-10 watts will easily bridge the gaps between the spacecraft and although the doppler shift will affect the frequency a little in practice the capture effect of FM counteracts this and in any event one can manually tune a few kilohertz along to recapture the signal.
I doubt that the Americans would be enthusiastic about the idea but the Russians might be amenable to using the ham radio to talk to the Chinese.
cheers Peter (VK3PB)