[amsat-bb] Re: First week as a satellite newbie

[Gordon JC Pearce MM3YEQ]

Bryan Green wrote:

> This is fun. It's inspiring! I keep imagining the science curriculum  
> that could be written around this! I want to show it to my high-school  
> age cousins!

It's great, isn't it?

> Of course, I aspire to a lovely ground station with a wonderful  
> computer-controlled high-power VHF/UHF transceiver and a fabulous  
> antenna array mounted on rotors on a tower. But this manual operation  
> makes it fun! I walk around outside on the sidewalk, moving the tripod  
> so it has the best view of the pass. I make a complete fool of myself  
> as I juggle the HT, the notebook with coordinates, the flashlight, and  
> my cellphone to check the time. (Note to self: petition Icom to put a  
> clock chip in their HTs -- obvious?) What a hoot!

Heh.  I think handheld operation is the best, especially if you get a 
couple of good clear passes and AO-51 in QRP mode.  While I'd like to 
have a whole load of steerable aerials and all the goodies, standing 
there with a handheld and a homebrew cross dipole just seems more 
hardcore ;-)

Gordon