Hi All,
You know, I feel so guilty...
After goodness knows how many years, I decided to try satellite work again. I read around, I took advice, and I purchased a nice new Kenwood TH-D72. It arrived a couple of weeks ago, so I took it with me on vacation, programmed the memories for Doppler and persuaded my XYL that what she really wanted to do each afternoon of her holiday was listen to AO-51 passes... That was fine. Using just the rubber duck, I copied every pass without trouble and no divorce proceedings ensued. She's very tolerant after all these years...
We then returned home to find the shiny new Elk that I'd ordered from AMSAT-UK waiting for me. Eagerly, I screwed my courage to the sticking point and attempted to work the bird. (Without a great deal of success, I have to admit, hopefully because the only two chances I've had so far have been Sunday afternoons, when every amateur in Europe seems to be on..)
But, horror of horrors! As soon as I pointed my Elk at AO-51, this BBS started filling up with messages about how the bird was going down all the while!
I'm sorry, folks. I know it was my fault. I really meant to take my Evil Genius' Prototype Satellite Killing Death Ray out of circuit before transmitting. It was a honest mistake that could have happened to anybody.... I promise not to do it again... :-)
73 Nick MW0JGE P.S. Seriously, many thanks to all those who labour long and hard to make satellites available to the likes of me. It is much appreciated.
----------------------------------- Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2011 09:11:19 -0400 From: "Mark L. Hammond" marklhammond@gmail.com Subject: [amsat-bb] AO-51 reported down 27 April 2011 1200utc To: Amsat - BBs amsat-bb@amsat.org Message-ID: BANLkTikhdW4-Emx_e9wsUhhcUzC52YCwog@mail.gmail.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Hello AO-51 Users,
We are receiving reports that AO-51 is down. It will be several hours until a command station is in the footprint. We'll do try and get it active as soon as possible.
73,