[amsat-bb] Thinking and thanking...Tony AA2TX

[Jerry Buxton]

Thanks for sharing some memories and history Mark, and fittingly, on
Tony's birthday. 

It is a weird coincidence, as I was not online today to see anything
mentioning Tony until just now.  This morning I thought of Tony and
wondered how many members have the recollection or knowledge of what
Tony did to bring AMSAT into the CubeSat era.  Much of the discussion of
Fox-1 birds seems to be related or remembering of events of the past
year or maybe two, and some of what is said seems to have no
understanding of how we got here.

My thoughts were of his family as well, looking forward and waiting to
let them know that the bonus satellite brought about by Tony's work was
headed out of my hands and up to orbit  Although it lacks "Veronica" as
the previous four had/have, it is still a Fox-1.  Many of Tony's family
were with us at the launch of Fox-1A almost five years ago now and that
was a feeling of family that also shows a part of the overall commitment
that goes into making the satellites that is never publicly mentioned or
seen, but is important in fueling the work we do.

A photo of the launch party can be seen in the gallery on my website,
and I put it up here too:
http://home.n0jy.org/images/Fox-1A_Launch_Party.jpg

Jerry Buxton, NØJY

On 8/14/2020 13:43, Mark L. Hammond via AMSAT-BB wrote:
> About a week ago, Facebook alerted me that it was Tony AA2TX Monteiro's
> birthday.  I'll admit it caught me off guard, yet it was really fun
> thinking about the wonderful work he did for us, AMSAT, as the "father of
> the Fox satellite family."  He was such a neat and brilliant guy.   So over
> the past several days I have been thinking of him, and being thankful for
> him.  It brought back memories of a HamRadioNow.TV interview from Dayton
> Hamvention in 2013, where Tony was VP for Engineering, and I was the first
> VP for Educational Relations.   This is before any of the Fox birds were
> built and buttoned up for launch.   If you're curious, and you never had
> the chance to meet Tony (or even if you did!!) you might enjoy watching the
> video and hearing about the vision and planning; note that the interview
> starts about 5 mins into the recording.   It was touching for me,
> personally.
>
> https://www.amsat.org/hamradionow-amsat-fox-1-interview-now-online/
>
> It took Jerry N0JY Buxton as the "new VP" and friends stepping up to
> fulfill Tony's vision.   So I'm thankful for all of you that did all of
> this.  Far too many to count.  And the "bonus bird" Fox-1E wasn't even part
> of Tony's original vision...but I can't wait to have that one flown and
> operational "someday soon" as well!
>
> If you work AO-91 or AO-92 this weekend, maybe you'll also be "thinking and
> thanking" Tony AA2TX, too!
>
> 73,
>
> Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]
> AMSAT Director and Command Station
> _______________________________________________
>