Thanks' for sharing your experiences. I'm inspired! W1GMA

Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2013 15:31:54 -0500 From: les@highnoonfilm.com To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] The "Good Ole Days" are now

Like many hams (I suspect), I dreamed of working satellites for decades. Followed them with at least a passing interest but always seemed to put them off till "someday". Even during the craze of the "work satellites with your handheld", I was distracted by other priorities. When I got involved in VHF/UHF a few years ago, and purchased an Icom IC-910H, I kept thinking I'd finally pull the trigger. But years passed without anything other than weak-signal contacts being made on that rig.

A few months ago, I finally decided to give it a try. Downloaded SATPC32, and updated my keps. FO-29 was the next satellite coming my way, so when I was inside the footprint, I tuned around a bit, and found some stations coming in. Cool! I was actually hearing hams on satellite---next up was answering a CQ...nervously I pushed the PTT on the mic.

82 grids and a few hundred contacts later, I'm having a ball!

I don't miss the birds that came before, but just enjoy what we have now. My only complaint might be that more folks are not active on F0-29 and VO-52. Even SO-50 can be nearly empty after midnight.

My understanding is that within the next year we'll have 2 or 3 more linear LEO satellites, and possibly another FM bird, right? While we may not work a lot of DX on those, we should get to the point where no one has to wait long for "something" to be overhead. That's exciting to me!

AMSAT is staffed with wonderful volunteers, and seems to be doing great work. I'm thrilled to be a member, even if it is #38965.

The good ole days are now. Get on the birds and make some contacts. I need your grid! (ha, ha)

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73,

Les Rayburn, N1LF 121 Mayfair Park Maylene, AL 35114 EM63nf

6M VUCC #1712 AMSAT #38965 Grid Bandits #222 Southeastern VHF Society Central States VHF Society Life Member Six Club #2484

Active on 6 Meters thru 1296, 10GHz & Light

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