[sarex] Re: Weekend MIR report from EU

["C.M. vd Berg" <cmvdberg@xxxxxx>]

Pse QSP Francisco Costa:

Hello Francisco.

1. As far as the Ham-work of Haignere on board is concerned I have the same
experience.

But there is in my opinion one problem:   discipline by radio-amateurs means
that they have to listen before calling.  During QSO-activities done by
amateurs on earth they are supposed to hear each other. But when there is a
MIR-pass only those amateurs can hear each other when they are in range of
each other. Haignere hears them all and so he gets a enormous pile up, which
is not the case at the people on earth.

Of course they have to wait until a convernient opportunity to call, but the
question is:
When?   If they hear Haignere calling specific amateurs (mostly by using the
2 last letters of the call) they of course have to keep quiet. But when
Haignere says:  Spacestation MIR  QRZ,  this means that he is waiting for
spontanuous calls.

I heard some Dutch amateurs (PA0BAY, PA3GXJ, PA0CVL, etc.) reacting after
they heard: R0MIR QRZ. During these calls I did not hear other stations, but
I realise that at that moment several amateurs in England, Belgium, France
and possibly already Italy were calling. So indeed a heavy blow to the
patience of Haignere and I also admire the way in which he tried to please
as many persons as possible, but the amateurs trying to get at least a reply
are not to blame.

At least he tried to create some order in the chaos by asking for calls from
only one country, for instance Great Brittain or Germany. May be this helped
somewhat, but I can understand that also amateurs in other regions were
waiting for the moment that it was their turn.

The reproach of Haignere to amateurs which showed a lack of discipline is
only right if this concerns those amateurs who could hear each other.

2. About the definitive closure of the hatch of Priroda. (Indeed the module
of which Haignere spoke was the Priroda), Avdeyev got an answer on a
question he had asked to TsUP.   The closure of that hatch was scheduled for
23.08.99, but there might be a delay, but the ultimate date would then be
25.08.99. Avdeyev had to know this, because they had to stow a lot of
equipment and other goods in that module before closing. He also asked what
they had to do if, after closure, they had to switch on units in that
module.  TsUP said that they had this matter under control.

73-s,   Chris.






 >Francisco Costa
 >Sent: zondag 15 augustus 1999 23:50
 >To: sarex@AMSAT.Org
 >Subject: [sarex] Weekend MIR report from EU
 >
 >
 >Hi MIR fans
 >
 >During all this weekend, 14 orbits were over Europe.
 >I was able to monitor all them, and only on 4 I didn't
 >heard Jean Pierre doing QSO's! Outstanding!!!
 >It's even more than outstanding if you think the amout
 >of work he has to do, and the efford he does to work
 >all hams he can.
 >
 >Radio work:
 >===========
 >Unfortunatly the "pile-up" don't help him at all,
 >and only a person with strong motivation would keep
 >one doing QSO's in such unpleasant circustancies.
 >I've seen experienced HF operators on Dx'peditions
 >going QRT, or insulting the crowed. JP never done it!
 >He ask's for silence, for cooperation, but never gave up!
 >He knows he has a limited window and he does the impossible
 >to maximize the number of stations he can work per orbit.
 >Particulary during this weekend, when many stations knew
 >this was their "last chance", he had to put to pratice
 >all he has learned (the hard way) during the past months.
 >So, on several orbit's he swithched beetween frequencies.
 >During one orbit (Aug 14, 1432-1441z) I heard him on 4
 >different frequencies! But on most ocasions he switched
 >beetween 145.985 and .940! Today at 13.20 ('till 1321z)
 >he switched beetween that 2 frequencies everytime he did a qso!
 >Another method he used to control the pile-up was to do
 >a "blackout" to all stations until he worked a particular
 >one. Yesterday he got the "last 2" from a GI station, and
 >before he got the full call, he said NO to (at least) 6 stations.
 >Of course all this is very tiring, and he his no "super ham"!
 >Today, beside the usual demands for silence and discipline,
 >for the first time he said "Sometimes it's desesperating
 >and I have no pleasure". It's very sad...
 >
 >
 >News
 >====
 >He said they were planning to close "the module" (Priroda, I think)
 >until the end of next week, but he expects to keep hamradio station
 >working on the "other module" (Core, for sure).
 >On several ocasions he said his return to earth is scheduled
 >to happen next 28th.
 >
 >
 >SSTV
 >====
 >Only one pic was heard yesterday (during last orbit), but
 >today he sent several. The first 2 were at 1008-1015z, and
 >the image was his ride home (Soyuz ship). The next orbit
 >(1145-1151), unexpectedly spent the full pass on 145.940,
 >and sent 3 pic's to his french friends! I didn't heard
 >any other activity.
 >
 >With all said above, there is no doubt he was the most
 >active space ham ever! I also want to stress his strong
 >personality and determination! Only that can push him
 >doing the tremendous job he has done for ham radio since
 >he arrive on MIR.
 >
 >Unfortunatly I will not be able to follow his last days on space.
 >By coincidence, I scheduled my "travel holidays" during this period.
 >Hopefully I'll monitor some activity with my HT :) on CU (Azores Is.)
 >See you in 2 weeks.
 >
 >Best 73
 >F.Costa, CT1EAT
 >
 >
 >


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