Hi!
I have posted some videos from last weekend's Yuma Hamfest of some demonstrations, along with a non-ham-related video that might be of interest. The demonstration videos were all done on Saturday, 15 February. First, an SO-50 pass at 1444 UTC:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eHOGcrUVWM
followed by FO-29 about an hour later, at 1556 UTC:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlDf7WKLts8
Just after noon (1900 UTC), there was an AO-73 pass where I was outside copying the telemetry with my FUNcube Dongle Pro+, Elk log periodic, Dashboard software, and laptop:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO2HwBtsyJI
Thanks to Frank N7ZEV (AMSAT Area Coordinator from Las Vegas NV) and Israel AD7ND (AMSAT member from the Phoenix area) who were around during the AO-73 pass. Alex XE2BSS/N2IX from Calexico CA (west of Yuma) ran the camera for these three videos, and did a little bit of commentary in each.
On Friday (14 February) morning before the official start of the hamfest, I was outside watching the activity at the airfield across from the hamfest site. That airfield is a joint-use airfield, Marine Corps Air Station Yuma for the military, and Yuma International Airport for the civilians. As it was a weekday, there were Marine planes taking off for training. I saw AV-8B Harriers, F-5s (these are "aggressors", simulating the "enemy" for training Marine pilots), and even the new F-35 Lightning II which is going to eventually replace the Harriers in Marine service. I was not able to get a video of the F-35s, but caught a Harrier as it was landing. Even at a normal airfield, Harriers land vertically. This video shows a Harrier descending to its landing pad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGWwvuU1bkw
The radio traffic heard in this video was from the 119.300 MHz AM frequency used by the Yuma airport control tower. I was holding a receiver near my camera, and the camera picked up the radio chatter as I recorded the video.
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/