Subject: RE: Thinking and thanking...Tony AA2TX Date: Fri, 14 Aug 2020 23:09:28 -0400 From: Michael Tondee mat_62@charter.net To: amsatbb@amsat.org

It was Tony who told me where to get the out of production and hard to find OR-360 rotors that I used in my fist sat station with my homebrew SAEBRETrack box. I had tapped out my hobby finances just getting a sat capable rig and if not for that circuit and those rotators, I might not have gotten any further. As disillusioned as I am with where this side of the hobby seems to be headed now, thanks to you, Gene and Tony, I'll always have the memories of working AO-7 which is something I had wanted to do since I was a teenager and first saw it on the cover of QST. Unfortunately I missed AO-40 by a few years but the times I spent with AO-7, AO-51, FO-29 etc. using that rotor setup topped with some homebrew WA5VJB "cheap yagis" were some good ones and I miss them. MY thanks to all you guys! 73, Michael, W4HIJ

Message: 11 Date: Fri, 14 Aug 2020 14:43:00 -0400 From: "Mark L. Hammond"marklhammond@gmail.com To: Amsat - BBsamsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Thinking and thanking...Tony AA2TX Message-ID: CAPRXzyr-_EKNqELfMkgmfW1-JH3zk_5qmtJPV2ihwFW-4+J0Sw@mail.gmail.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

About a week ago, Facebook alerted me that it was Tony AA2TX Monteiro's birthday. I'll admit it caught me off guard, yet it was really fun thinking about the wonderful work he did for us, AMSAT, as the "father of the Fox satellite family." He was such a neat and brilliant guy. So over the past several days I have been thinking of him, and being thankful for him. It brought back memories of a HamRadioNow.TV interview from Dayton Hamvention in 2013, where Tony was VP for Engineering, and I was the first VP for Educational Relations. This is before any of the Fox birds were built and buttoned up for launch. If you're curious, and you never had the chance to meet Tony (or even if you did!!) you might enjoy watching the video and hearing about the vision and planning; note that the interview starts about 5 mins into the recording. It was touching for me, personally.

https://www.amsat.org/hamradionow-amsat-fox-1-interview-now-online/

It took Jerry N0JY Buxton as the "new VP" and friends stepping up to fulfill Tony's vision. So I'm thankful for all of you that did all of this. Far too many to count. And the "bonus bird" Fox-1E wasn't even part of Tony's original vision...but I can't wait to have that one flown and operational "someday soon" as well!

If you work AO-91 or AO-92 this weekend, maybe you'll also be "thinking and thanking" Tony AA2TX, too!

73,

Mark L. Hammond [N8MH] AMSAT Director and Command Station