[amsat-bb] AMSAT at ARRL Nevada State Convention last weekend - report

[Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)]

Hi!

Last weekend's ARRL Nevada State Convention, or "NVCON", in Las Vegas was a
great way to spend a weekend. A ham convention, located in a hotel/casino,
with lots of activities available to visitors in southern Nevada. Despite
a heavy rainstorm on Saturday, which wiped out my chances for satellite
demonstrations at the convention, it was a great weekend for AMSAT to talk
about amateur satellites.

AMSAT's long-time Area Coordinator in southern Nevada, Frank Kostelac
N7ZEV, along with his wife Linda KC7IIT, usually have a booth at these
events in Las Vegas and other locations in Nevada. With Linda working in a
variety of roles at the convention, Frank and I took care of the AMSAT
booth. Frank also had other convention-related tasks, and he was definitely
busy throughout the weekend. When I arrived at the convention Friday
afternoon, Frank had the booth ready to go. I set out some flyers, some
equipment, and spent most of the weekend around the booth.

The day before I arrived in Las Vegas, the region had a big rainstorm.
Another storm blew through southern Nevada on Saturday morning, which made
travel around Las Vegas a mess, and washed out my plans for demonstrations
at the convention. Instead of being outside in the rain, I had set up a
couple of tablets to run videos of past demonstrations, show off SatPC32,
and show what software-defined receivers can do. Frank and I talked almost
non-stop for the weekend. I posted photos from the convention throughout
the weekend on my @WD9EWK Twitter feed. If you want to see those photos,
but don't do Twitter, you can get to the photos with a web browser at:

http://twitter.com/WD9EWK/media

Just because there was rain that washed out the demonstrations I planned to
do at the convention, that didn't ruin plans for me to work satellites from
Nevada. I'll post a separate message describing my operating from around
Las Vegas and while driving to and from Las Vegas.

I have to thank Frank and Linda for letting me help with the AMSAT booth
over the weekend. I had asked Frank about this convention a while back, and
I am glad I made the trip. The NVCON organizers were all friendly, and the
crowds were good, despite the Saturday rain. There were a bunch of people
who came over from California, and a few from Arizona that I also saw. I
will seriously consider heading back to Las Vegas the next time this event
takes place up there.

73!





Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK
http://www.wd9ewk.net/
Twitter: @WD9EWK