Hi!
Yesterday's (8 November) Tucson Hamfest in Marana, Arizona, was a good morning for AMSAT. Between a larger crowd than at last year's hamfest, good weather, and two complete satellite stations for demonstrations - AMSAT did very well. Many thanks to the Oro Valley Amateur Radio Club for providing AMSAT with space for our booth. I also have to thank John Papay K8YSE/7, who helped me with the AMSAT booth at the hamfest.
Not only did I have my portable all-mode satellite station at the hamfest, John brought his portable station (Icom IC-910H, Arrow Antennas 2m/70cm Yagi on tripod, laptop with SatPC32). I worked early passes on FO-29 and the ISS, and John worked the later passes, doing demonstrations of satellite operating through much of the morning. One of the passes John worked, on SO-50, can be seen in a video at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-1sokpmnw0
I can't attach photos to this post on the AMSAT-BB list, but you can see some photos I took at the hamfest on my @WD9EWK Twitter feed. To get to the photos, along with a link to the same video I referenced above, please visit:
https://twitter.com/WD9EWK/media
To view my @WD9EWK Twitter feed in a browser, including photos and videos I post, please use this link:
Some of the satellite operators we saw at the hamfest included Jack KC7MG, Larry WA6DIR, Ron W6ZQ, and Larry W7LB. Hams from all over Arizona, along with a few from northern Mexico, attended the hamfest.
Thanks to everyone who called WD9EWK or K8YSE/7 on the various passes yesterday morning! It's nice to know that we can count on having good demonstrations with lots of stations. We worked stations from all over the USA and Mexico on those passes.
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/