Hi!
On Saturday, 2 May 2015, I had an AMSAT table at the Cochise Amateur Radio Association's annual hamfest in Sierra Vista, Arizona. This hamfest is held at the club's property on the edge of Sierra Vista, where there are a couple of buildings, some towers, and an empty lot that was divided between parking and space for sellers to display their equipment. In past years, the lot had lots of empty space. This year, it was almost full. A good turnout for the half-day event.
During the morning, I had satellite demonstrations on SO-50, AO-73, and the packet/APRS digipeater on the ISS. There were good crowds for the passes I worked - three on SO-50, two on AO-73, and one ISS pass. It is always nice to have AO-73 available for daytime passes on the weekends, since that helped to show the differences between working it and FM satellites - in particular, equipment and operating techniques. Thanks to everyone who called and worked WD9EWK during those passes. For the ISS, I was able to complete two quick QSOs using APRS messages from my TH-D72A HT with KO6TZ in southern California and N7NEV near Phoenix. I'm finding that there are some who actually are at their keyboards/radios for ISS passes, beyond the automatic beacons that seem to dominate the passes.
I wasn't the only satellite operator at the hamfest. Leo W7JPI had a table set up to sell some old gear. John K8YSE was also at the hamfest, and he worked WD9EWK from each of his stations (K8YSE in Ohio/EN91, K8YSE in Arizona/DM43) using a laptop and a WiFi hotspot not far from my table. It was fun - and funny - to point him out to the crowd ("Did you hear K8YSE/7 and K8YSE on that pass? He's sitting over there, using each of his stations remotely.").
Talking about the recent announcements for the transponders on all 5 Fox-1 satellites, plus the plans for a geosynchronous payload, made for great conversation throughout the morning. With Fox-1A's launch approaching, the Fox-1A flyer was a popular item at my table. My "job" is much easier with all of these satellite projects to talk about. :-)
Thanks to Kurt Edelman KF7PDV and the Cochise Amateur Radio Association for their hospitality. I have been making the trip to Sierra Vista and hosting an AMSAT table at this hamfest since 2008, and it is nice to see the hams in that part of Arizona every year. Thanks also to John K8YSE for using both of his stations to work me during that SO-50 pass.
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK