Hi Alan!
Well done, Patrick! Lots of folks with much fancier stations do not have as much success.
Thanks!
I tried it this morning (1710-1720 UTC, a pass going to the west), and made 3 more contacts. It was a little easier to follow the satellite this time, since it wasn't the first time trying this out. :-) Any time I wasn't transmitting, I had my hand with the speaker-mic going to the VX-2R's VFO knob to adjust the receive frequency and occasionally move the downconverter so I could keep it pointing toward AO-51 (more or less).
Perhaps you could borrow a camera and perhaps write a short article for the AMSAT Journal? Always useful to inspire people to get on when they see how easy it is.
I don't have any "action photos" of me working the satellite, but I brought a small digital camera with me and took photos of my equipment on the roof of my car. I'll download those photos to my computer later tonight or over the weekend. As for writing an article... hmmm..... something to think about.
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/