Thanks to everyone who called in to work K8YSE portable at the Orlando Hamcation. We had a great time working everyone on SO-50 and FO-29. The crowds were big and the weather outside was sunny and warm
Although there was a lot of interest in seeing our station, 9 year old Hope, KM4IPF operating W1AW/4 on SO-50 definitely stole the show.
Before the pass I watched her pull the compass out of a bag and tell her father where to point the antenna at AOS and where it would finish up at LOS. She used two HT's for the operation. Dad held the antenna for her as she made contact after contact. She had a crowd around her and we had the IC910 set up about 40' away and our crowd was listening to her on our setup. Steve, N9IP, was the antenna man at our station. Near the end of the pass I called her on the 910H and got a confirmation from W1AW/4! We had a signal path hundreds of miles long but were only 40' apart!
Rick WA4NVM provided a recording of the pass and it is up on my website: http://www.papays.com/sat/general.html
Frank K9CIS also sent in some recordings of our FO-29 passes which I'll put on the website later. Anyone needing confirmation of a Hamcation contact with K8YSE on LOTW, just send me the qso details and I'll upload it. I can also do a qsl card on request.
There is nothing like a good demo to generate interest in satellites. Just set up a station and the crows starts gathering. Thanks to everyone who helped with the effort.
73, John K8YSE