Patrick, your emory is a little hazy regarding the history of this publication.
As an AMSAT area coordinator, and with AMSAT-NA's blessings, I released the AMSAT-approved "Work AO-51" tutorial on September 3, 2007, to the world.
That grew to "Work Satellites With Your HT" tutorial I produced in January, 2008 - again with AMSAT-NA's blessings.
Then other variants began to appear ...
BUT THE BOTTOM LINE - in my mind - is getting the information out. And as accurately and timely as possible. Over the years, my tutorial has been revised / amended / improved more than 20 times - to keep up with changes and new info.
No problem ... ancient history, actually, in the scheme of things. Many thousands of my tutorials have been downloaded and handed to convention attendees and club members, and I hope the AMSAT-NA download page gets promoted with updated and current info for all, too.
Clint Bradford K6LCS http://www.work-sat.com
Clint,
Patrick, your emory is a little hazy regarding the history of this publication.
My memory is not "hazy" about the history of your flyer. I didn't know it. I knew you had one back then, and for a while you allowed me to use it as a handout at the hamfests or other events I attended representing AMSAT, until we had a different flyer created for AMSAT at the end of 2008. I had only been an AMSAT Area Coordinator for a few months as of September 2007, and not in the discussions where your flyer received AMSAT "approval".
What I didn't mention in my post last night is that Gould had intended on having another person work on the AMSAT flyer with Tim and me - you. Gould asked for a flyer that could be distributed in the packets sent to new AMSAT members. Gould had some suggestions of additional items that should be in an AMSAT flyer, and you had objections to a few of them in one of the drafts:
1. SatPC32 2. Elk antennas 3. A photo with someone using a tape-measure Yagi
(The last item is a humorous point now, considering you used one with your FT-60R to work the ISS last summer.)
You also questioned only referring to the AMSAT web site as an online resource for obtaining satellite pass information, and made some other comments. At that point, Gould directed Tim and me to proceed with creating an AMSAT flyer, including the references to the items above. Since then, we have gone in different directions with our respective flyers, which isn't a bad thing. This information has also been in Gould's "Getting Started with Amateur Satellites" books available from AMSAT, and in lots of other places on the Internet.
BUT THE BOTTOM LINE - in my mind - is getting the information out.
Yes! Thank you for acknowledging that, after the brief history lesson. :-)
With the current web site, it is easier to make this information available. AMSAT has been doing a lot of that with the Fox project, and the "Station and Operating Hints" page is a nice, one-stop, way to gather up this sort of useful information. Throwing in comments like "I hope AMSAT-NA doesn't wait 12 years after launch of FOX-1A..." aren't productive, given that you're an AMSAT supporter.
You have been talking up Fox-1A for the past few months, and AMSAT has been talking about Fox-1A - along with the other Fox-1 satellites and the Fox project in general - for longer. We're all hoping for successes, as each satellite is launched. The recent news about Fox-1A passing its final checkout at Cal Poly last week is a good thing.
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK
-
Clint Bradford -
Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)