Monitoring the Russian Space Station MIR can be very exiciting but also, you must be very patient.
First of all you can receive MIR on all but the most basic scanners. You can receive signals with the telescopic antenna that comes with the scanner but for the best results use a outdoor antenna.
The easiest frequency to receive MIR on is 143.625 which is active durring passes over North America Mir uses relay on the east and west coast to relay information back to Russia, but the language will be Russian.
The time spand to receive signals from MIR is small it will only be over you for 5 to 10 minutes its best to use a sat tracker so you know exactly when it will be over your area.
MIR also uses ham frequencies to talk to hams on earth, also they are now starting to send sstv signals.
Commonly Used Frequencies for Mir Radio Traffic (MHz = mc):
Amateur radio:
145.985 MHz 2 metre simplex (voice and packet radio)
145.550 MHz simplex
435.775 MHz uplink/437.975 MHz (Also try 145.980) downlink (Packet)
435.725 MHz uplink/437.925 MHz downlink (QSO duplex mode)
435.750 MHz uplink/437.950 MHz downlink (repeater)
NOTE: Packet and QSO apparently require a tone at 141.3 Hz to open repeater squelch.
Cosmonauts also use:
145.200 MHz uplink/145.800 MHz downlink
143.625 MHz (VHF-1, Mir to TsUP Moscow)
130.165 MHz (VHF-2, Mir to Shuttle)
121.750 MHz (JSC/MCC to Mir)
