I was working on my chainsaw this morning when I decided to turn on my 2m rig and put it in VFO scan mode. I went back to the workbench and the radio stopped scanning -- on a shuttle retransmission channel. Someone within range of my home QTH was retransmitting the final moments as the ground crew was closing up the shuttle and getting ready to pressurize the cabin. The signal I had was fairly weak but perfectly readable, so I left the radio sitting there for the next few minutes as I wrapped up my work.
After I finished up my business outdoors and the temperature had hit 100 degrees, I went back in the house to see if I could find out online who was the source of that shuttle retransmission on 147.56. The only reasonable explanation is it was coming from a station in Beaumont, 140 miles south of me. They used to retransmit the shuttle missions years ago and I would occasionally hear them. It was really cool to hear this station on the air again. I listened to them years ago via another similar band opening.
If someone on this list is part of that group in Beaumont who setup the station, thank you. It was a pleasant blast from the past.
73 Clayton W5PFG