On Sat, Mar 15, 2008 at 10:57 AM, Bob Bruninga [email protected] wrote:
I am looking for power point presentation suitable for a hamfest forum..
The #1 point I make at hamfests are:
- You dont need special antennas
- You dont need elevation rotatros
- You dont need tracking software
- Just operate from your mobile FM or APRS rig anytime you are commuting or otherwise in the car.
AO51 sked repeats every 5 days, and GO-32 every 9 days. A simple table on your dashboard will give you pass times for months... See http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/MobileLEOtracking.html
But there are a few more slides in my general APRS presentation at the end that also show why elevation is simply not required. In fact, I should cut them out into an AMSAT presentation just for this purpose.
get the power point link at the top of this page: http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/aprs.html
If you'd like a video to demonstrate Bob's point (but with respect to CW birds), see:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1251407580465862002
You can remind them that a whack of such birds are likely to be launched in April. Old hands at CW might be interested in helping out international university students as they make their first steps into space.
If you can bring along an FT-817 with a homebrew groundplane antenna fixed to a BNC or PL259 connector, and if any of the louder CW birds is coming by during the event, then set it on the desk tuned to the d/l frequency with the volume turned very low. If you get reception in the building in which you're doing the class, then turn up the volume and let people have fun tuning doppler, etc.
I second the comments made further down the thread about the ARRL Handbook. Could our board members make a friendly offer to ARRL to rewrite that section of the Handbook in light of the current LEO situation?
73, Bruce VE9QRP