Time is quickly approaching for the upcoming AMSAT Symposium to be held November 4-6. This year's Symposium marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of the first amateur radio satellite into space. The Symposium is being held in San Jose, CA which is the home of Project OSCAR, the organization that built amateur radio's first satellite. As part of our commemoration, the ARRL is bringing an OSCAR 1 prototype which has been refurbished to help highlight this significant milestone. Our banquet speaker, Lance Ginner, K6GSJ was a member of the team that built OSCAR 1; he subsequently was involved with a number of follow-on amateur radio satellite projects. Lance's presentation promises to be a fascinating look at the early days of amateur radio in space as well as perhaps some lessons learned.
Along with recognizing this significant milestone, the Symposium is an excellent opportunity to learn about the success of ARISSat-1 as well as AMSAT's latest project, Fox and the steps that we're taking to continue to keep amateur radio in space. There are some excellent presentations scheduled that will cover the gamut from satellite engineering to satellite operations to education outreach. This year's "Proceedings of the AMSAT-NA Space Symposium and Annual Meeting", which is provided to every Symposium attendee contains 21 papers and is over 250 pages in length. While not all papers will be presented, there are also several presentations scheduled to be presented where the material was not finished in time for publication.
Along with the outstanding materials presented, Symposium offers a great opportunity to meet the AMSAT leadership (the Board of Directors members as well as Senior Officers), other satellite enthusiasts, and interact with our volunteers who are involved with our engineering projects. Symposium is both a presentation/educational opportunity as well as a social event.
If you haven't yet registered for this year's Symposium, please consider joining us. Details on the Symposium and registering can be found at: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/symposium/2011/index.php Please note that deadline for taking advantage of the block or rooms that AMSAT has reserved expires on October 24, so time is indeed running out for making your arrangements. The last time that AMSAT held a Symposium in California was in 2006; this may be the best chance for AMSAT members and others living on the West Coast to participate in a Symposium and have direct interaction with the AMSAT leadership for some time. Hopefully, those of you living in the Bay Area will take full advantage of this opportunity. Alan Bowker, WA6DNR and his team have done a great job preparing for an outstanding weekend in San Jose.
See ya in San Jose!
Barry Baines, WD4ASW President-AMSAT