Hi!

Even though we were not permitted to record our presentations during the ARRL Centennial Convention just over a week ago, I was able to record the satellite demonstrations done outside the convention center over those three days. I had attempted to work SO-50 on Friday (18 July) and Saturday (19 July) afternoon from outside the convention, but could not get through during those passes. AO-7, on the other hand, saw more success.

This video is a combination of the audio from the AO-7 downlink with photos from the demonstration and AMSAT's presence at the ARRL convention. This pass was on Thursday, 17 July, at 2026 UTC - as our day-long training seminar wrapped up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5TjXbuLv5s

On Saturday (19 July) morning, I was able to have a short contact with astronaut (and US Navy Commander) Reid Wiseman. Again, I did not have a video, but took the audio from the contact and added a photo slideshow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoFbhPXsUx0

The ISS was passing to the southwest of Hartford, in the direction where I had the easiest time hearing it. An earlier pass that went across the northern sky was harder, dealing with the tall buildings in that direction.

The last video is an actual video of an AO-7 demonstration later in the day on Saturday. The convention had officially closed about 20 minutes before the start of this video, and there was a nice crowd that stopped by to take in the demonstration:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHd91H_t88o

This video shows an example of AO-7's recent behavior, where it will switch from mode B to mode A during a pass. Unfortunately, this switch took place around the time AO-7 was directly over Hartford.

All 3 demonstrations, along with the unsuccessful SO-50 demonstrations, took place on the plaza in front of the Connecticut Convention Center, in grid FN31ps. From this location, there was good visibility to the south and west, and not so much toward the east (looking at the convention center and its parking garage). The two AO-7 passes had very high elevation as the satellite passed from south to north, and the ISS pass was a high pass across the southwestern sky.

If you want to see what was being presented during the day-long training seminar, and talked about during the rest of the convention, please visit:

http://www.amsat.org/?page_id=2914

The slideshows from those presentations are available in PowerPoint and PDF formats.

73!

Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/