[amsat-bb] Re: The "Good Ole Days" are now

[Dale Hershberger]

I did the same... I worked the the FM sats.  I started with a IC 821 
until it crapped out on me.  I was on AO40 and it worked well until the 
radio went south.
I got a IC910H and I already had SatPC32 so the two worked very well 
together.
I have a second IC910H that I use for terrestrial comms. I have a 23cm 
module
  in the first one.
I have been having a great time working FO29, VO52, AO7 and SO50.
SatPC32 does great in controlling the radio and rotor.

73,
Dale-KL7XJ
AMSAT Area Coordinator Alaska
On 9/18/2013 12:31 PM, Les Rayburn wrote:
> Like many hams (I suspect), I dreamed of working satellites for 
> decades. Followed them with at least a passing interest but always 
> seemed to put them off till "someday". Even during the craze of the 
> "work satellites with your handheld", I was distracted by other 
> priorities. When I got involved in VHF/UHF a few years ago, and 
> purchased an Icom IC-910H, I kept thinking I'd finally pull the 
> trigger. But years passed without anything other than weak-signal 
> contacts being made on that rig.
>
> A few months ago, I finally decided to give it a try. Downloaded 
> SATPC32, and updated my keps. FO-29 was the next satellite coming my 
> way, so when I was inside the footprint, I tuned around a bit, and 
> found some stations coming in. Cool! I was actually hearing hams on 
> satellite---next up was answering a CQ...nervously I pushed the PTT on 
> the mic.
>
> 82 grids and a few hundred contacts later, I'm having a ball!
>
> I don't miss the birds that came before, but just enjoy what we have 
> now. My only complaint might be that more folks are not active on 
> F0-29 and VO-52. Even SO-50 can be nearly empty after midnight.
>
> My understanding is that within the next year we'll have 2 or 3 more 
> linear LEO satellites, and possibly another FM bird, right? While we 
> may not work a lot of DX on those, we should get to the point where no 
> one has to wait long for "something" to be overhead. That's exciting 
> to me!
>
> AMSAT is staffed with wonderful volunteers, and seems to be doing 
> great work. I'm thrilled to be a member, even if it is #38965.
>
> The good ole days are now. Get on the birds and make some contacts. I 
> need your grid! (ha, ha)
>
>