[amsat-bb] AO-51 reported down 27 April 2011 1200utc

[Nick Lewis]

Hi All,

You know, I feel so guilty...

After goodness knows how many years, I decided to try satellite work again.
I read around, I took advice, and I purchased a nice new Kenwood TH-D72. It
arrived a couple of weeks ago, so I took it with me on vacation, programmed
the memories for Doppler and persuaded my XYL that what she really wanted to
do each afternoon of her holiday was listen to AO-51 passes... That was
fine. Using just the rubber duck, I copied every pass without trouble and no
divorce proceedings ensued. She's very tolerant after all these years...

We then returned home to find the shiny new Elk that I'd ordered from
AMSAT-UK waiting for me. Eagerly, I screwed my courage to the sticking point
and attempted to work the bird. (Without a great deal of success, I have to
admit, hopefully because the only two chances I've had so far have been
Sunday afternoons, when every amateur in Europe seems to be on..)

But, horror of horrors! As soon as I pointed my Elk at AO-51, this BBS
started filling up with messages about how the bird was going down all the
while!

I'm sorry, folks. I know it was my fault. I really meant to take my Evil
Genius' Prototype Satellite Killing Death Ray out of circuit before
transmitting. It was a honest mistake that could have happened to
anybody.... I promise not to do it again... :-)

73
Nick MW0JGE
P.S. Seriously, many thanks to all those who labour long and hard to make
satellites available to the likes of me. It is much appreciated.

-----------------------------------
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2011 09:11:19 -0400
From: "Mark L. Hammond" <marklhammond at gmail.com>
Subject: [amsat-bb]  AO-51 reported down 27 April 2011 1200utc
To: Amsat - BBs <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
Message-ID: <BANLkTikhdW4-Emx_e9wsUhhcUzC52YCwog at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Hello AO-51 Users,

We are receiving reports that AO-51 is down.  It will be several hours
until a command station is in the footprint.  We'll do try and get it
active as soon as possible.

73,

-- 
Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]


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