{"id":177672,"date":"2026-04-27T23:13:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T23:13:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/177672\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T23:13:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T23:13:17","slug":"making-connections-around-the-world-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/177672\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Connections Around the World and Beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n \"PARC <\/p>\n


\n PARC office \n <\/p>\n


\n <\/a> <\/p>\n

\u201cFor the past few months, we\u2019ve been building the antenna, the dish, and the helical feed. We\u2019ve been getting all the software to work with software-defined radios,\u201d said Wendt. \u201cIt’s given us a chance to work with new equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team has used AI to develop a tool to track Orion in relationship to Pitt and another to interpret any data they receive. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe signal could be so low we won\u2019t know if we\u2019ve even received anything,\u201d Shaffer said.<\/p>\n

After the mission launched, PARC members and Pitt faculty would meet on the roof of Benedum Hall, sometimes in the early morning hours of 4:00 a.m. They would work to locate Orion and position the dish and antennas to receive a signal.<\/p>\n

Beyond connections<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have a ham radio and a license, wherever you go in the world, you have friends,\u201d Manfredi said.<\/p>\n

When PARC members hear from people visiting Pittsburgh, they reach out. They\u2019ve provided advice about places to stay and sights to see. Sometimes they share a meal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never talk about politics. We never talk about religion. We talk about radios instead,\u201d said Manfredi. \u201cWe talk about food.\u201d<\/p>\n

The club now has something else to talk about: the remarkable work Pitt students did to connect with Orion during its historic mission.<\/p>\n

While Manfredi\u2019s fascination with ham radios first led him to advise the club, it\u2019s the students who keep him there. \u201cI like to be surprised by the students,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd they are always doing something new and exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" PARC office \u201cFor the past few months, we\u2019ve been building the antenna, the dish,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177673,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3892,3893,25758,3895,73,75,74,13148],"class_list":["post-177672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-banner","tag-dept-banner","tag-electrical-computer","tag-pitt-swanson-school-of-engineering","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-student-profiles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}