Good morning,
Thanks to all for the many QSOs on several passes of SO-50, AO-73,
AO-7, and FO-29 from the DC Mini Maker Faire at Yards Park (named for
the nearby Washington Navy Yard, which used to also occupy the area
that is now a park) on the Anacostia River waterfront in Washington,
DC. I got quite sunburned and will not be updating my log tonight, so
I'm not 100% sure how many QSOs were made. Despite some technical
problems on my end (didn't remember I had to turn my demo speaker on
to charge it's battery), we were able to demonstrate ham radio and
amateur satellites to many people. Being a Maker Faire, this was not
your normal hamfest crowd, and there was a good crowd of especially
younger people, who already possess some interest in electronics and
technical projects. Some have licenses but haven't done anything with
them, others have had licenses but have not been active in a while,
and still others indicated that they were thinking about getting their
license. Hopefully some will follow through with it and hopefully some
will get involved in amateur satellites and join AMSAT!
If there are any Maker Faires in your area, consider setting up
amateur radio and AMSAT exhibits. It is a good way to make
demonstrations to a different, but potentially interested crowd. After
all, the 2014 AMSAT apparel is branded "AMSAT: The Satellite Makers."
Thanks to Lee Ciereszko, N4TCW, for deciding to setup an amateur radio
exhibit at the outdoor faire (a last minute decision he made on
Thursday). He brought a TS-2000 (which we could have used for
satellites, but I used my normal 2 FT-817 setup), a solar panel,
batteries, and HF/VHF/UHF antennas. We also made a few HF QSOs during
the day.
By the way, the 436.795 MHz birdie on the TS-2000 is so strong, I had
to turn that radio off while working SO-50, despite being a good 10-15
feet away from it.
73,
Paul Stoetzer, N8HM
Washington, DC
