WEBVTT 00:00:10.599 --> 00:00:13.339 Thanks for tuning in. HamTalk Live will be on 00:00:13.339 --> 00:00:31.260 the air shortly. Please stand by. Thanks for 00:00:31.260 --> 00:00:34.020 tuning in. HamTalk Live will be on the air shortly. 00:00:34.299 --> 00:00:39.390 Please stand by. This episode of HamTalk Live 00:00:39.390 --> 00:00:43.009 is brought to you by Tower Electronics. For connectors, 00:00:43.369 --> 00:00:48.850 cables, and more, call 920 -435 -2973 or visit 00:00:48.850 --> 00:00:54.710 pl -259 .com. And by ICOM, heard it, worked it, 00:00:54.950 --> 00:00:59.990 logged it. Visit www .icomamerica .com slash 00:00:59.990 --> 00:01:03.810 amateur for more information about ICOM radios. 00:01:10.409 --> 00:01:37.939 Welcome. Good evening, everyone. It's time for 00:01:37.939 --> 00:01:43.379 HamTalk Live. It's episode number 143, AMSAT 00:01:43.379 --> 00:01:46.200 Through the Years, recorded live on Thursday, 00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:50.439 December 6th, 2018. I'm your host, Neil Rapp, 00:01:50.620 --> 00:01:54.340 WB9VPG. Thanks for tuning in to this episode 00:01:54.340 --> 00:01:58.219 of HamTalk Live. Tonight, we're joined by Keith 00:01:58.219 --> 00:02:02.599 Baker, KB1SF, and we'll take your calls live. 00:02:03.069 --> 00:02:05.510 in just a few minutes. Last week on the show 00:02:05.510 --> 00:02:09.289 Pete Thompson, KE5GGY was here to talk about 00:02:09.289 --> 00:02:12.389 the Santa Net over on 3916. Hope you've been 00:02:12.389 --> 00:02:16.069 enjoying that and if not stop by and if you missed 00:02:16.069 --> 00:02:18.830 that show you can listen anytime at HamTalkLive 00:02:18.830 --> 00:02:22.530 .com or on your favorite podcast app or we're 00:02:22.530 --> 00:02:29.120 also on our YouTube channel as well. The ham 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:31.960 talk live limited edition may the grid square 00:02:31.960 --> 00:02:36.900 be yours shirts Have gone over pretty well. We've 00:02:36.900 --> 00:02:41.060 mailed out all the pre -ordered shirts and Did 00:02:41.060 --> 00:02:43.819 get a few extras and we've sold a few of those 00:02:43.819 --> 00:02:46.000 as well That are going to be going out in the 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:49.159 mail here in the next few days, but there are 00:02:49.159 --> 00:02:54.479 a few remaining from sizes small to 2x. So if 00:02:54.479 --> 00:02:57.419 you want one of those you can go to our Google 00:02:57.419 --> 00:03:02.020 Forms and fill that out. There's a link on Facebook 00:03:02.020 --> 00:03:04.300 and Twitter if you look at the first post on 00:03:04.300 --> 00:03:08.479 there. Or you can go to HamTalkLive .com and 00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:11.780 then there's a link there for the show schedule. 00:03:12.719 --> 00:03:16.319 And the link is on that page. So take a look 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:19.500 at that and the instructions are there on how 00:03:19.500 --> 00:03:22.979 to order that and you can PayPal the cost to 00:03:22.979 --> 00:03:25.599 me. The instructions are there for that as well. 00:03:25.979 --> 00:03:31.759 And thanks to Tanner Jones, WE9TWJ. One lucky 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:35.840 caller will receive a free shirt tonight and 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:41.780 also... The ICQ podcast crew heard about this 00:03:41.780 --> 00:03:45.680 and they've decided to give away one as well. 00:03:45.699 --> 00:03:48.560 So we'll be giving away two of those shirts tonight. 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:53.580 So thanks also to the ICQ podcast crew for donating 00:03:53.580 --> 00:03:56.740 a shirt. We'll talk more about that during the 00:03:56.740 --> 00:03:59.580 call in time. So get your questions ready to 00:03:59.580 --> 00:04:03.039 go. After the interview, you can give us a call 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:05.439 and I'll give you the phone number now. It's 00:04:05.439 --> 00:04:15.590 812. Net Ham 1 812 -638 -4261 and it's not time 00:04:15.590 --> 00:04:17.930 to call just yet but you can have that number 00:04:17.930 --> 00:04:20.149 handy. I'll give it to you again here in a second. 00:04:20.709 --> 00:04:25.029 Have the number ready and call in and you'll 00:04:25.029 --> 00:04:28.470 win a shirt and have a chance to talk with Keith 00:04:28.470 --> 00:04:33.930 tonight again. The number 812 Net Ham 1 812 -638. 00:04:34.819 --> 00:04:38.300 4261. You can also tweet us if you'd rather not 00:04:38.300 --> 00:04:41.139 call in. You can tweet us. Our Twitter handle 00:04:41.139 --> 00:04:46.519 is at HamTalkLive. So I'll be back with Keith 00:04:46.519 --> 00:04:48.980 right after this word from Tower Electronics 00:04:48.980 --> 00:04:55.250 right here on HamTalk Live. I'm sorry to bother 00:04:55.250 --> 00:04:57.629 you, but I'm having an antenna party and I ran 00:04:57.629 --> 00:05:01.490 out of PL259s. Oh, come in. Thank you. Would 00:05:01.490 --> 00:05:05.129 silver -plated PL259s from Tower Electronics 00:05:05.129 --> 00:05:08.170 be too good for your guests? Those will be fine. 00:05:08.290 --> 00:05:11.790 Thank you. You saved my life the other night. 00:05:12.069 --> 00:05:15.889 Oh, the PL -259s from Tower Electronics? Yes, 00:05:15.930 --> 00:05:18.230 they were very successful at the antenna party. 00:05:18.629 --> 00:05:21.910 My antenna works like a charm. Then how can you 00:05:21.910 --> 00:05:24.370 ever thank me? I'll try to think of something. 00:05:24.670 --> 00:05:27.949 Don't be caught without PL -259s. Visit Tower 00:05:27.949 --> 00:05:30.810 Electronics at a ham fest near you or visit them 00:05:30.810 --> 00:05:36.259 online anytime at PL -259 .com. or call 920 -435 00:05:36.259 --> 00:05:40.139 -2973. They have adapters, cables, antennas, 00:05:40.439 --> 00:05:43.579 soldering supplies, and meters too. The early 00:05:43.579 --> 00:05:46.600 bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets 00:05:46.600 --> 00:05:49.399 the cheese. You're listening to HamTalk Live 00:05:49.399 --> 00:06:04.009 with Neil Rapp. Thanks to Scott and Jill at Tower 00:06:04.009 --> 00:06:06.629 Electronics for sponsoring the show once again 00:06:06.629 --> 00:06:08.889 tonight. They help bring you HamTalk Live each 00:06:08.889 --> 00:06:11.949 and every week. They're finishing up their HamFest 00:06:11.949 --> 00:06:14.670 schedule for this year. They're in Plant City 00:06:14.670 --> 00:06:19.189 near Tampa, Florida this weekend. That's tomorrow 00:06:19.189 --> 00:06:23.230 and Saturday. And they'll be taking some time 00:06:23.230 --> 00:06:28.639 off and then... Start back on January 5th at 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:33.379 Waukesha, Wisconsin, but you can visit them anytime 00:06:33.379 --> 00:06:41.560 you want at PL -259 .com. Keith Baker, KB1SF, 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:44.420 grew up in New Hampshire and attended the University 00:06:44.420 --> 00:06:47.800 of New Hampshire at Durham. And after graduation, 00:06:47.959 --> 00:06:50.019 he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 00:06:50.019 --> 00:06:54.100 United States Air Force. via the Reserve Officers 00:06:54.100 --> 00:06:57.620 Training Corps, or ROTC. He spent the next 20 00:06:57.620 --> 00:07:00.899 years as an Air Force officer, primarily in the 00:07:00.899 --> 00:07:04.220 Comptroller field, and over half his Air Force 00:07:04.220 --> 00:07:07.720 career was spent at Aeronautical Systems Division 00:07:07.720 --> 00:07:11.360 at Wright -Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, which 00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:14.379 many hams will recognize that that's... in the 00:07:14.379 --> 00:07:17.939 Dayton area and a lot of people go by there and 00:07:17.939 --> 00:07:22.879 tour the museum there during Hamvention. Well 00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:24.920 soon after his retirement from the Air Force 00:07:24.920 --> 00:07:29.399 he founded KCB Associates a highly diversified 00:07:29.399 --> 00:07:32.459 personal counseling business consulting and corporate 00:07:32.459 --> 00:07:35.959 training company and for nearly 25 years he and 00:07:35.959 --> 00:07:39.180 his staff professionally trained consultants 00:07:39.180 --> 00:07:42.800 and has provided helpful help in the form of 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:45.660 targeted training courses and hands -on consulting 00:07:45.660 --> 00:07:48.759 to a lot of small and medium -sized businesses 00:07:48.759 --> 00:07:52.819 throughout the US, Canada, and Mexico. He's now 00:07:52.819 --> 00:07:55.199 fully retired with the exception of a couple 00:07:55.199 --> 00:07:59.000 of volunteer positions. One thing I found interesting 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:03.439 was he's an occasional balloon artist. He fills 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:08.720 in for some balloon artistry and in the 90s he 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:12.100 served as a member of the AMSAT board of directors 00:08:12.100 --> 00:08:14.800 and later served as the executive vice president 00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:19.540 for several years and then was AMSAT's president. 00:08:20.009 --> 00:08:23.990 And in January 2010, he was once again asked 00:08:23.990 --> 00:08:28.069 to help out with AMSAT as the treasurer. And 00:08:28.069 --> 00:08:31.970 that's his other volunteer position that you 00:08:31.970 --> 00:08:35.429 never can get away from. So Keith, welcome to 00:08:35.429 --> 00:08:40.110 HamTalk Live. Ah, pleasure to be here, Neil. 00:08:40.509 --> 00:08:44.210 Absolutely. Pleasure to be here. You know, we 00:08:44.210 --> 00:08:48.809 started talking before the show and And we ran 00:08:48.809 --> 00:08:51.789 out of time for our personal conversation here. 00:08:53.429 --> 00:09:01.610 But we actually met at Hamvention in 1977. When 00:09:01.610 --> 00:09:06.350 you were being touted at that point as the world's 00:09:06.350 --> 00:09:10.309 youngest ham. I think you said you were nine 00:09:10.309 --> 00:09:13.190 or seven years old or something. I would have 00:09:13.190 --> 00:09:16.470 been six at that point. Six or seven, yeah. I 00:09:16.470 --> 00:09:21.730 vividly remember shaking your hand at that point. 00:09:22.110 --> 00:09:25.549 Wow, what a world this is. And then we just figured 00:09:25.549 --> 00:09:32.110 out that in, I think it was 2013, we were on 00:09:32.110 --> 00:09:35.009 the QSO radio show right after each other and 00:09:35.009 --> 00:09:36.629 we were sitting right next to each other and 00:09:36.629 --> 00:09:41.000 didn't even know it. That's it In that while 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:44.700 and they know that that's the wonder one of the 00:09:44.700 --> 00:09:48.940 wonderful things about this ham radio Activity 00:09:48.940 --> 00:09:52.059 is that you never know Who's gonna be on the 00:09:52.059 --> 00:09:54.940 other end of a conversation whether it's on the 00:09:54.940 --> 00:09:58.860 air or doing what we're doing or? At a ham fest 00:09:58.860 --> 00:10:01.720 or a hamvention or one of those type of meetings. 00:10:01.720 --> 00:10:06.389 It's just so interesting to run into the people 00:10:06.389 --> 00:10:10.549 that you run into who also share this fantastic 00:10:10.549 --> 00:10:15.549 hobby we call AMRADIO. Well, it's been nice to 00:10:15.549 --> 00:10:18.789 catch up on things with you here. And we want 00:10:18.789 --> 00:10:21.309 to talk a little bit about the history of AMSAT 00:10:21.309 --> 00:10:24.970 tonight. And we may get into some current things 00:10:24.970 --> 00:10:29.669 since there's some hot news here lately. You 00:10:29.669 --> 00:10:33.490 were involved in AMSAT back in the 90s and familiar 00:10:33.490 --> 00:10:38.470 with the history of starting AMSAT, so tell us 00:10:38.470 --> 00:10:41.250 a little bit about the challenges that AMSAT 00:10:41.250 --> 00:10:45.250 had getting started and getting the first satellites 00:10:45.250 --> 00:10:50.370 launched into orbit. Well, the AMSAT, which by 00:10:50.370 --> 00:10:53.250 the way stands for Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, 00:10:53.450 --> 00:10:57.860 we're a 501C3 non -profit organization. We have 00:10:57.860 --> 00:11:02.320 one full -time paid employee, and that's Martha, 00:11:02.659 --> 00:11:06.159 our office manager up in the DC area. But all 00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:08.799 the rest of us, from the president, the vice 00:11:08.799 --> 00:11:12.779 president, the treasurer, all the way down to 00:11:12.779 --> 00:11:15.919 the folks that are actually putting these satellites 00:11:15.919 --> 00:11:20.789 together, we're all volunteers. And that's an 00:11:20.789 --> 00:11:23.909 interesting story in and of itself. AMSAT was 00:11:23.909 --> 00:11:26.870 the follow -on organization to an organization 00:11:26.870 --> 00:11:29.230 which started on the West Coast called Project 00:11:29.230 --> 00:11:33.309 Oscar, which stands for Orbital Satellite Carrying 00:11:33.309 --> 00:11:38.509 Amateur Radio. And that came about as a result 00:11:38.509 --> 00:11:42.730 of a gentleman who was writing for CQ at the 00:11:42.730 --> 00:11:46.350 time, and they were just starting to test out 00:11:46.409 --> 00:11:50.370 some distance records or some distance activity 00:11:50.370 --> 00:11:54.110 on what was then, well, what is now two meters 00:11:54.110 --> 00:11:57.929 to see how far they could make two meters operate. 00:11:57.990 --> 00:12:04.009 Now this is back in the early 60s, late 50s when 00:12:04.009 --> 00:12:07.269 there wasn't, you know, transistors were basically 00:12:07.269 --> 00:12:10.090 in their infancy at that point. But anyway, this 00:12:10.090 --> 00:12:13.129 gentleman wrote a column. I believe it was Don 00:12:13.129 --> 00:12:15.070 Stoner. I'm not sure exactly who it was. But 00:12:15.070 --> 00:12:17.370 anyway, he wrote a column and said, you know, 00:12:17.950 --> 00:12:20.710 we can communicate on two meters over about 100 00:12:20.710 --> 00:12:23.710 miles. I wonder if we could do the same thing 00:12:23.710 --> 00:12:25.710 going straight up. You know, does anyone have 00:12:25.710 --> 00:12:29.990 a spare rocket for orbital purposes? Well, and 00:12:29.990 --> 00:12:31.990 that was exactly what he wrote. Well, it was 00:12:31.990 --> 00:12:34.190 a couple of folks out. Well, a couple. It was 00:12:34.190 --> 00:12:37.179 a group of people on the West Coast. That were 00:12:37.179 --> 00:12:40.740 at that time involved in a very top -secret project 00:12:40.740 --> 00:12:44.639 called Corona Which was essentially the very 00:12:44.639 --> 00:12:47.360 first spy satellites that we were launching at 00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:50.899 the time under the cover of a scientific program 00:12:50.899 --> 00:12:54.279 called discoverer But anyway one of the folks 00:12:54.279 --> 00:12:56.559 who was working on these or a couple of the folks 00:12:56.559 --> 00:12:58.919 that were working on these things Said yeah, 00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:01.039 we're we're getting ready to launch a whole bunch 00:13:01.039 --> 00:13:04.700 of satellites into orbit to go spy on what was 00:13:04.700 --> 00:13:07.620 at that time the Soviet Union. And yeah, there's 00:13:07.620 --> 00:13:10.120 some extra space in one of these upper stages 00:13:10.120 --> 00:13:13.919 that had all the cameras on it. Why don't we 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:15.779 see if we could build a satellite that would 00:13:15.779 --> 00:13:20.220 go in there? Well, there was all kinds of conversations 00:13:20.220 --> 00:13:25.039 and all kinds of issues going on. And eventually, 00:13:25.899 --> 00:13:30.360 yes, we ham radio operators were granted permission 00:13:30.360 --> 00:13:33.299 by the Air Force And you also have to remember 00:13:33.299 --> 00:13:36.279 that at that time, the only game in town was 00:13:36.279 --> 00:13:38.559 the Air Force. They were the only one. Well, 00:13:38.600 --> 00:13:41.460 it was the Air Force and the military. There 00:13:41.460 --> 00:13:44.259 was no commercial. There was no NASA at that 00:13:44.259 --> 00:13:48.080 point that was launching rockets at that point. 00:13:48.919 --> 00:13:52.750 So the upstart was And you stop and think about 00:13:52.750 --> 00:13:56.490 it. What a fantastic cover for a top secret project 00:13:56.490 --> 00:13:58.830 and to stick an amateur radio satellite in one 00:13:58.830 --> 00:14:03.129 of these upper stages. And that's precisely what 00:14:03.129 --> 00:14:08.409 happened. And Oscar one was launched. I believe 00:14:08.409 --> 00:14:13.789 it was on the 12th or 13th launch of the what 00:14:13.789 --> 00:14:16.509 at that time was Project Corona, but it was discover 00:14:16.509 --> 00:14:21.419 or something. In 1961, now this was only four 00:14:21.419 --> 00:14:25.399 years after the Russians had orbited Sputnik. 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:32.820 So amateur radio has been in space since basically 00:14:32.820 --> 00:14:38.700 the toddler stage of space exploration. And Oscar 00:14:38.700 --> 00:14:42.279 One was a battery -operated satellite. It ejected 00:14:42.279 --> 00:14:45.179 from the upper stage. And that's another thing. 00:14:46.649 --> 00:14:52.950 We amateur radio operators were the primary operators 00:14:52.950 --> 00:14:56.230 of a secondary satellite. Ours, that Oscar I 00:14:56.230 --> 00:14:58.570 satellite, was the very first satellite to be 00:14:58.570 --> 00:15:02.690 carried as a secondary payload on any rocket 00:15:02.690 --> 00:15:08.250 up to that point. And we also used a very sophisticated 00:15:08.250 --> 00:15:12.549 thermally balanced spring mechanism that consisted 00:15:12.549 --> 00:15:15.789 of a $1 .19 spring out of Sears and Roebuck. 00:15:16.889 --> 00:15:20.210 And so that sort of set the pace at that time. 00:15:20.590 --> 00:15:23.950 Now Oscar I, it had no solar panel, did not have 00:15:23.950 --> 00:15:25.909 a transponder, it was basically just a beacon. 00:15:26.789 --> 00:15:30.590 But it launched, it did work, and people heard 00:15:30.590 --> 00:15:35.370 it all around the world. And of course that same 00:15:35.370 --> 00:15:40.190 type of build it in your garage and basement, 00:15:40.350 --> 00:15:44.289 It lives on because that's exactly where, even 00:15:44.289 --> 00:15:47.129 today, our CubeSats, our little satellites that 00:15:47.129 --> 00:15:50.669 we've launched, and we just launched one earlier 00:15:50.669 --> 00:15:53.330 this week that made it to orbit. We can talk 00:15:53.330 --> 00:15:57.169 about that later on if you wish. But you might 00:15:57.169 --> 00:15:59.970 say we're the Jobs and Wozniaks of the satellite 00:15:59.970 --> 00:16:04.750 business because we really, we AMSAT, which was 00:16:04.750 --> 00:16:07.450 the follow -on to this organization called Project 00:16:07.450 --> 00:16:13.860 Oscar. We build and launch our satellites using 00:16:13.860 --> 00:16:19.139 predominantly leftover parts and donated labor, 00:16:19.320 --> 00:16:23.639 which presents a problem from a financial standpoint 00:16:23.639 --> 00:16:28.820 because we're essentially relying on donations 00:16:28.820 --> 00:16:33.159 from members and other ham radio operators to 00:16:33.159 --> 00:16:37.360 do what we do. And even though we've had, of 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:41.519 late, had some What you would call free launches 00:16:41.519 --> 00:16:46.159 given to us by NASA? We still have to build satellites 00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:48.659 and we still have to test them and those that 00:16:48.659 --> 00:16:52.440 can become very costly Particularly when you're 00:16:52.440 --> 00:16:54.539 buying solar panels and you're doing some of 00:16:54.539 --> 00:16:57.039 the testing that we have to do to certify to 00:16:57.039 --> 00:16:59.460 the main carrier That we're not going to make 00:16:59.460 --> 00:17:02.720 a mess of their multi gazillion dollar satellite 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:10.220 well, I'm looking at a picture of Oscar, one 00:17:10.220 --> 00:17:14.059 of the Oscar ones, the card next to it says that 00:17:14.059 --> 00:17:18.200 there were three of those that were built. And 00:17:18.200 --> 00:17:21.579 the one that I'm looking at is in the hallway 00:17:21.579 --> 00:17:26.079 at ARRL headquarters and when I walked into ARRL 00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:29.880 headquarters to go to Teachers Institute, that 00:17:29.880 --> 00:17:32.259 was one of the first things that caught my eye 00:17:32.259 --> 00:17:36.539 and I had to go look at it. Wow, here's one of 00:17:36.539 --> 00:17:41.160 those Oscar Wands and it's in the display case 00:17:41.160 --> 00:17:46.240 there. It was just so fabulous to actually get 00:17:46.240 --> 00:17:50.859 to see one of those. That has its own story because 00:17:50.859 --> 00:17:55.740 that was the backup to Oscar One that was donated 00:17:55.740 --> 00:17:59.559 to the league. It was used as a prop very soon 00:17:59.559 --> 00:18:02.809 after Oscar One was launched. and they used it 00:18:02.809 --> 00:18:05.369 as an educational prop. It went around the country 00:18:05.369 --> 00:18:08.609 touring with some hams and they were talking 00:18:08.609 --> 00:18:11.210 about, you know, here's the first amateur radio 00:18:11.210 --> 00:18:16.009 satellite. Along about five or six years ago, 00:18:16.809 --> 00:18:20.309 one of the engineers at the league decided to 00:18:20.309 --> 00:18:25.410 try and make that thing work. And so he reversed 00:18:25.410 --> 00:18:28.930 engineered it to try and get the beacon to operate 00:18:28.930 --> 00:18:32.079 on its frequencies. But he didn't have a schematic. 00:18:34.500 --> 00:18:39.039 So fast forward a little bit of time, we had 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:43.480 one of our MSAT symposia out in California in 00:18:43.480 --> 00:18:46.759 the Bay Area, which is where all of these engineers 00:18:46.759 --> 00:18:49.839 from Lockheed had first done the work on this 00:18:49.839 --> 00:18:56.259 Oscar I. And so the fellow was, the lab engineer 00:18:56.259 --> 00:19:00.049 was... saying lamenting that he didn't have a 00:19:00.049 --> 00:19:03.109 schematic to really set this thing up the way 00:19:03.109 --> 00:19:07.170 it was originally done. Until the gentleman that 00:19:07.170 --> 00:19:10.630 you've seen the picture of probably is Lance 00:19:10.630 --> 00:19:14.190 Gitter comes walking in, he was the original 00:19:14.190 --> 00:19:19.730 builder of Oscar One, and he handed a copy of 00:19:19.730 --> 00:19:24.920 the schematic to ... To the engineer. So yeah 00:19:24.920 --> 00:19:28.180 it again, you know, this is the nature of what 00:19:28.180 --> 00:19:32.099 we do in terms of building the and launching 00:19:32.099 --> 00:19:35.740 these satellites is that It's it's pretty heavy 00:19:35.740 --> 00:19:38.000 heavy stuff heavy stuff I guess would be the 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:39.740 way to put it But that's a little bit of the 00:19:39.740 --> 00:19:41.880 history and that's going all the way back. Well, 00:19:41.880 --> 00:19:45.700 of course now we're up to Well, we just hung 00:19:45.700 --> 00:19:49.039 the the AMSAT designator on the one that we launched 00:19:49.039 --> 00:19:53.930 earlier this week. We're up to AO 92 So, that 00:19:53.930 --> 00:20:04.529 means there's 95 satellites that AMSAT and our 00:20:04.529 --> 00:20:06.910 sister organizations around the world have launched. 00:20:06.970 --> 00:20:10.130 And this doesn't count what the Russians have 00:20:10.130 --> 00:20:12.369 launched or what our friends in China have launched. 00:20:13.009 --> 00:20:16.589 So, it's prolific. And we've kind of gone from 00:20:16.589 --> 00:20:20.950 famine to feast here. There's probably something 00:20:20.950 --> 00:20:23.170 on the order of 25 or 30 of these satellites. 00:20:23.430 --> 00:20:27.470 They're active right now in all kinds of modes, 00:20:27.789 --> 00:20:31.190 whether it's straight FM repeater type mode, 00:20:31.450 --> 00:20:34.490 which is one of the things that the satellite 00:20:34.490 --> 00:20:38.089 we just launched will do. But there's also what 00:20:38.089 --> 00:20:40.470 we call analog satellites, which you can send 00:20:40.470 --> 00:20:43.980 CW and Morse code through. We have a lot of digital 00:20:43.980 --> 00:20:47.200 satellites floating around with store and forward 00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:49.480 packet satellites, and it just goes on and on. 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:53.420 Beacon satellites goes on and on and on. So we've 00:20:53.420 --> 00:20:58.460 gone. Go ahead. Go ahead. That's that's that's 00:20:58.460 --> 00:21:01.680 going all the way back, Neil. Yeah. Well, let's 00:21:01.680 --> 00:21:08.339 forward a little bit to A07 because there's some 00:21:08.339 --> 00:21:13.220 cool story here with A07. One of those very early 00:21:13.220 --> 00:21:16.099 satellites, and I remember seeing it on the front 00:21:16.099 --> 00:21:20.380 page of QST on the cover when I was growing up, 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:24.859 and now it's come back to life. In fact, some 00:21:24.859 --> 00:21:29.839 of the Wimploda guys called it the zombie satellite 00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:34.380 because it's come back to life. So tell us a 00:21:34.380 --> 00:21:39.279 little bit about AO7. AO7 was launched in 1974. 00:21:40.339 --> 00:21:46.460 This was in the era when we, AMSAT, were getting 00:21:46.460 --> 00:21:51.640 NASA launches. That's because AMSAT became the 00:21:51.640 --> 00:21:55.519 East Coast version of the West Coast Project 00:21:55.519 --> 00:21:59.720 Oscar Group. A lot of the folks that founded 00:21:59.720 --> 00:22:03.440 and were working in the early days of AMSAT were 00:22:03.440 --> 00:22:06.700 NASA engineers, worked at Goddard Space Flight 00:22:06.700 --> 00:22:09.039 Center or worked in the headquarters in Washington. 00:22:09.839 --> 00:22:13.980 and they ended up having to, or got a hold of 00:22:13.980 --> 00:22:17.859 some launches with NASA as, again, secondary 00:22:17.859 --> 00:22:21.039 payloads. The other thing, as I said before, 00:22:21.259 --> 00:22:25.359 is that AMSAT has traditionally relied on leftover 00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:28.660 parts and donated resources and donated labor, 00:22:29.660 --> 00:22:32.359 and so some of the solar panels that went into 00:22:32.359 --> 00:22:35.880 Oscar VII were cast -offs or flight spares from 00:22:35.880 --> 00:22:38.759 another NASA satellite, I believe. But anyway, 00:22:38.819 --> 00:22:41.519 they were very powerful for the day. They were 00:22:41.519 --> 00:22:44.200 very powerful solar panels. So they assembled 00:22:44.200 --> 00:22:51.200 a satellite. It was a 2 -meter to 10 -meter and 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:58.480 70 -centimeter to 2 -meter transmitter, transponder, 00:22:58.980 --> 00:23:02.920 and batteries and so forth. They launched. It 00:23:02.920 --> 00:23:07.779 went up in 74. It lasted until about 1981. When 00:23:07.779 --> 00:23:12.740 it went silent, the batteries shorted, and that 00:23:12.740 --> 00:23:15.799 was the end of that. Well, a gentleman in England 00:23:15.799 --> 00:23:20.640 was tuning around, looking, as he said, for interlopers 00:23:20.640 --> 00:23:23.339 on the satellite bands, and that's another thing, 00:23:23.359 --> 00:23:27.279 is we do have portions of our frequencies set 00:23:27.279 --> 00:23:30.859 aside for satellite communications on two meters 00:23:30.859 --> 00:23:33.700 and 70 centimeters and on up the line. Anyway, 00:23:33.720 --> 00:23:37.380 he was tuning across the two meter downlink channel 00:23:37.380 --> 00:23:40.799 and he hears a beacon. Well, our beacons at that 00:23:40.799 --> 00:23:43.140 time were Morse code beacons. So he's hearing 00:23:43.140 --> 00:23:47.400 this Morse code coming across in the satellite 00:23:47.400 --> 00:23:50.339 bin and he's also hearing the Doppler shift and 00:23:50.339 --> 00:23:53.420 that's another characteristic of satellite operation 00:23:53.420 --> 00:23:56.920 is that very much like the train whistle exercise 00:23:56.920 --> 00:23:59.640 where you hear the train coming towards you, 00:23:59.700 --> 00:24:03.529 the pitch is higher as it goes by the horn. drops 00:24:03.529 --> 00:24:06.450 in pitch. Well, the same thing happens with satellite 00:24:06.450 --> 00:24:08.809 communications and satellite frequencies. Anyways, 00:24:08.890 --> 00:24:11.210 hearing this Doppler ship and this Morse code, 00:24:11.390 --> 00:24:13.950 you say, hmm, that sounds like a satellite. But 00:24:13.950 --> 00:24:17.269 which one is it? Well, it turned out it was Oscar 00:24:17.269 --> 00:24:24.049 7. Now, this is 1996. And sure enough, it was 00:24:24.049 --> 00:24:27.490 Oscar 7. And what had happened is that because 00:24:27.490 --> 00:24:31.259 those solar panels were so efficient, they had 00:24:31.259 --> 00:24:34.720 the ability to overcharge the batteries. But 00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:38.599 now that one of the batteries shorted in the 00:24:38.599 --> 00:24:42.339 open position, it meant that whenever the sun 00:24:42.339 --> 00:24:45.799 was shining on the solar panels, the transponder 00:24:45.799 --> 00:24:50.119 pops on. And that's what happened. So, Oscar 00:24:50.119 --> 00:24:53.839 7 now is semi -operational, I guess would be 00:24:53.839 --> 00:24:56.380 the way to put it. When it's in sunlight, its 00:24:56.380 --> 00:24:59.099 transponder pops in. Sometimes it comes up on 00:24:59.150 --> 00:25:02.369 one transponder the 2 to 10 meter transponder 00:25:02.369 --> 00:25:05.410 and the other time it comes up on the 440 to 00:25:05.410 --> 00:25:08.690 2 meter transponder and as long as it's in satellite 00:25:08.690 --> 00:25:13.130 launch it's in sunlight it works We kind of call 00:25:13.130 --> 00:25:16.410 it the Timex watch and those folks may remember 00:25:16.410 --> 00:25:19.069 the one of the Advertisings many years ago was 00:25:19.069 --> 00:25:22.130 the old Timex watch takes a licking and keeps 00:25:22.130 --> 00:25:27.549 on taking So that's really what Oscar 7. Now 00:25:27.549 --> 00:25:30.829 here's another little unknown fact. Not only 00:25:30.829 --> 00:25:35.150 did we amateurs produce the first satellite to 00:25:35.150 --> 00:25:38.410 be carried as a secondary payload, but Oscar 00:25:38.410 --> 00:25:42.230 7 right now has the record for being the longest 00:25:42.230 --> 00:25:46.730 living working satellite that's still in orbit 00:25:46.730 --> 00:25:52.470 of any satellite ever launched then or since. 00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:55.420 Now I'm not talking just amateur satellites. 00:25:55.440 --> 00:25:58.480 I'm talking about any satellite that's ever been 00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:04.299 launched Oscar 7 holds the record for Having 00:26:04.299 --> 00:26:07.700 their having the longest -living Satellite now. 00:26:07.700 --> 00:26:10.079 This is again something that was built in our 00:26:10.079 --> 00:26:14.079 one of our people's basements and garages So 00:26:14.079 --> 00:26:15.859 like I said, that's I said, you know where the 00:26:15.859 --> 00:26:21.119 was the accident the Apple founders Apple like 00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:23.779 founders I guess would be the way to put it for 00:26:23.779 --> 00:26:25.660 amateur radio but that's the story and it's a 00:26:25.660 --> 00:26:30.319 it's an interesting story of what we hams can 00:26:30.319 --> 00:26:34.059 do that's a great story well we're up for a break 00:26:34.059 --> 00:26:39.220 but first you're the treasurer so I have to throw 00:26:39.220 --> 00:26:43.140 in the fundraising plug here you bet this is 00:26:43.140 --> 00:26:48.019 this is not a cheap thing to do And so how do 00:26:48.019 --> 00:26:52.740 you get the money to pull this off? Well, it's 00:26:52.740 --> 00:26:56.380 donations. Membership, of course, in AMSAT is 00:26:56.380 --> 00:27:01.799 one way to support us. And we have several different 00:27:01.799 --> 00:27:05.240 ways that you can become a member of AMSAT. We'll 00:27:05.240 --> 00:27:08.339 talk about our website maybe a little later on 00:27:08.339 --> 00:27:13.980 in the program. It's www .amsat .org. But most 00:27:13.980 --> 00:27:17.259 of our funding comes directly from amateur radio 00:27:17.259 --> 00:27:19.960 operators and other donors who are interested 00:27:19.960 --> 00:27:21.839 in what we're doing. And we're not even talking, 00:27:22.420 --> 00:27:24.319 we haven't even talked about the work that we 00:27:24.319 --> 00:27:26.660 do with ARIS, which is the amateur radio in the 00:27:26.660 --> 00:27:29.279 International Space Station. And that takes a 00:27:29.279 --> 00:27:31.940 chunk of money as well because of all the interfacing 00:27:31.940 --> 00:27:34.720 we have to do with NASA and all the testing we 00:27:34.720 --> 00:27:39.089 have to do with NASA to get the equipment. tested 00:27:39.089 --> 00:27:41.970 and approved to fly on the International Space 00:27:41.970 --> 00:27:46.150 Station. So even though in some cases we're getting 00:27:46.150 --> 00:27:49.930 donated launches from NASA under a program called 00:27:49.930 --> 00:27:53.269 Ilana Educational Launch of Nano Satellites, 00:27:53.950 --> 00:27:57.609 it still costs us hundreds of thousands of dollars 00:27:57.609 --> 00:28:01.869 to build and test our satellites, and that's 00:28:01.869 --> 00:28:04.369 not counting the labor, that's just the out -of 00:28:04.369 --> 00:28:09.069 -pocket costs for testing, transportation, and 00:28:09.069 --> 00:28:13.589 parts to put them together. So yeah, we do have 00:28:13.589 --> 00:28:18.269 a funding campaign going on right now with the 00:28:18.269 --> 00:28:23.769 launch of now AO80, excuse me, 95, which you 00:28:23.769 --> 00:28:27.650 can partake of by going up on our website. We're 00:28:27.650 --> 00:28:31.210 offering at the moment a digital copy of our 00:28:31.210 --> 00:28:33.349 Getting Started with Amateur Radio Satellites. 00:28:34.430 --> 00:28:39.970 with any new or renewing membership. So that's 00:28:39.970 --> 00:28:42.910 kind of, it's an excellent book written by several 00:28:42.910 --> 00:28:46.750 of our people who are hand -schooled on operating 00:28:46.750 --> 00:28:49.009 amateur radio satellites. So if you're interested 00:28:49.009 --> 00:28:52.430 in getting started, that's a good way to do it. 00:28:53.549 --> 00:28:56.569 All right, well, we do need to take a break here, 00:28:56.569 --> 00:28:59.400 but we're gonna come back, we'll talk. little 00:28:59.400 --> 00:29:03.180 bit more about some of this stuff and Hopefully 00:29:03.180 --> 00:29:06.380 we'll sneak in a little update here on the latest 00:29:06.380 --> 00:29:11.200 on Fox one cliff or actually a o 95 I was talking 00:29:11.200 --> 00:29:13.599 to Drew while ago and it's like yeah, I keep 00:29:13.599 --> 00:29:17.099 flipping back and forth too, but a o 95 now we 00:29:17.099 --> 00:29:20.700 have to call it and We'll talk about that when 00:29:20.700 --> 00:29:22.599 we come back and we're gonna take your calls 00:29:22.599 --> 00:29:25.750 and give away some shirts. So We'll do that and 00:29:25.750 --> 00:29:27.890 be back with Keith right after this word from 00:29:27.890 --> 00:29:54.250 Icom America right here on HamTalk Live. even 00:29:54.250 --> 00:29:57.250 in the presence of stronger adjacent ones. The 00:29:57.250 --> 00:30:01.529 ICOM IC7610 is a direct sampling software -defined 00:30:01.529 --> 00:30:03.869 radio that will change the world's definition 00:30:03.869 --> 00:30:07.450 of an SDR transceiver. It has RF direct sampling, 00:30:07.829 --> 00:30:13.009 110 dB RMDR, and dual -digit cell. 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And we're here 00:31:56.480 --> 00:31:58.920 on the air every Thursday night at 9 p .m. Eastern 00:31:58.920 --> 00:32:03.940 Time, right here at HamTalkLive .com. Well, it's 00:32:03.940 --> 00:32:06.259 time for your calls now. If you have a question 00:32:06.259 --> 00:32:10.339 for Keith, give us a call at 812 -NET -HAM -1. 00:32:10.380 --> 00:32:16.130 That's 812 -638 -4261. Or you can tweet us at 00:32:16.130 --> 00:32:20.230 HamTalk Live and as advertised tonight, you'll 00:32:20.230 --> 00:32:24.069 also win a limited edition HamTalk Live grid 00:32:24.069 --> 00:32:27.250 square shirt just by calling in in the spirit 00:32:27.250 --> 00:32:30.170 of Christmas camaraderie between amateur radio 00:32:30.170 --> 00:32:34.009 podcasts. The ICQ podcast is happy to sponsor 00:32:34.009 --> 00:32:37.309 one HamTalk Live t -shirt for tonight's first 00:32:37.309 --> 00:32:40.910 audio caller. to HamTalk Live and wish all the 00:32:40.910 --> 00:32:44.009 HamTalk Live listeners a peaceful and calm Christmas 00:32:44.009 --> 00:32:48.710 holiday season. And Tanner Jones, W9TWJ also 00:32:48.710 --> 00:32:52.210 donated a shirt to give away along with the ICQ 00:32:52.210 --> 00:32:55.450 crew. So we're gonna give away two of those to 00:32:55.450 --> 00:32:58.950 audio callers tonight. So give us a call at 812 00:32:58.950 --> 00:33:07.650 -638 -4261. 812 -638 - 4261 to ask your AMSAT 00:33:07.650 --> 00:33:11.529 questions and comments about things going on 00:33:11.529 --> 00:33:18.950 with the satellites. So Keith, we were kind of 00:33:18.950 --> 00:33:21.849 teasing here that we might give a little update 00:33:21.849 --> 00:33:29.309 on AO95. So what's the latest on it? Well, as 00:33:29.309 --> 00:33:32.980 far as we know, it's progressing. The orbital 00:33:32.980 --> 00:33:37.640 checkout is progressing very very nicely One 00:33:37.640 --> 00:33:42.619 of the well we were one of 64 I believe satellites 00:33:42.619 --> 00:33:45.640 that were launched off of this single SpaceX 00:33:45.640 --> 00:33:50.140 Falcon 9 rocket out of Vandenberg, California 00:33:50.140 --> 00:33:56.779 and It took quite a while once the upper stage 00:33:56.779 --> 00:34:00.130 reached Its intended orbit it took quite a while 00:34:00.130 --> 00:34:04.089 to unload all those 64 satellites I'm not exactly 00:34:04.089 --> 00:34:06.650 sure where we were in the stack but the other 00:34:06.650 --> 00:34:10.989 part of the problem was is that When we are ejected 00:34:10.989 --> 00:34:17.250 from the launcher by decree It trips a timer 00:34:17.250 --> 00:34:20.610 that's on the satellite Because you don't you 00:34:20.610 --> 00:34:26.139 can't launch the satellites in a position because 00:34:26.139 --> 00:34:28.420 there's a concern that you would interfere with 00:34:28.420 --> 00:34:31.820 other payloads or the main payload. So there's 00:34:31.820 --> 00:34:34.500 a timer that's built into our little CubeSats, 00:34:35.179 --> 00:34:38.860 and they essentially, what that happens is as 00:34:38.860 --> 00:34:41.480 soon as it comes out of the little launcher box, 00:34:41.500 --> 00:34:43.460 which is very much like a jack -in -the -box, 00:34:43.519 --> 00:34:45.380 I don't know if you remember the little jack 00:34:45.380 --> 00:34:47.599 -in -the -box that we all had as kids, some of 00:34:47.599 --> 00:34:50.039 us had as kids, where you turn the crank and 00:34:50.039 --> 00:34:52.219 then the little pop comes up and the little guy 00:34:52.219 --> 00:34:55.429 comes out. Well, it's the same idea. These boxes 00:34:55.429 --> 00:34:58.250 that they launch are these little cube sets in, 00:34:58.510 --> 00:35:01.070 which, and that brings up another story, but 00:35:01.070 --> 00:35:03.769 it's very much like a jack -in -the -box. It's 00:35:03.769 --> 00:35:06.670 a big spring. You push the satellite down inside 00:35:06.670 --> 00:35:09.510 this box, and then you close the trap door, and 00:35:09.510 --> 00:35:11.789 then at the appropriate time, the trap door pops 00:35:11.789 --> 00:35:15.809 open and out pop the satellites. And as soon 00:35:15.809 --> 00:35:18.429 as that happens, there's a timer that kicks in 00:35:18.429 --> 00:35:21.550 for about 45 minutes to get you away from all 00:35:21.550 --> 00:35:24.260 of the other satellites. that are being dropped 00:35:24.260 --> 00:35:27.719 off in the same orbit. And at that time, it trips 00:35:27.719 --> 00:35:32.440 a little piece of monofilament line with a resistor 00:35:32.440 --> 00:35:36.880 that burns the monofilament line and it unfurls 00:35:36.880 --> 00:35:40.639 the two antennas that are on the satellite. And 00:35:40.639 --> 00:35:44.239 at that same time, it pops on with a beacon that 00:35:44.239 --> 00:35:49.460 says, this is Fox One Cliff in safe mode. Well, 00:35:49.460 --> 00:35:53.719 all of that happened down over the the ocean 00:35:53.719 --> 00:35:57.380 the southern Pacific Ocean Where there's no hams 00:35:57.380 --> 00:36:02.360 so it took us a long time for that first Word 00:36:02.360 --> 00:36:04.920 that we even had an operating satellite I believe 00:36:04.920 --> 00:36:07.539 the first person the first group group that heard 00:36:07.539 --> 00:36:10.400 it was right on the eastern tip of South America 00:36:10.400 --> 00:36:16.539 and another one of our engineers was the first 00:36:16.539 --> 00:36:18.960 to actually get telemetry, so we knew that it 00:36:18.960 --> 00:36:21.599 was working. So as far as we know, I was talking 00:36:21.599 --> 00:36:25.559 on our AMSAT meeting the other night. Jerry Buxton, 00:36:25.739 --> 00:36:29.139 our VP of engineering says all is well. They're 00:36:29.139 --> 00:36:32.440 progressing through their checkouts, extensive 00:36:32.440 --> 00:36:35.000 checkout to make sure everything is working properly. 00:36:35.780 --> 00:36:41.090 But so far, it seems to be doing just fine. And 00:36:41.090 --> 00:36:43.329 that's the other thing is that once the satellite 00:36:43.329 --> 00:36:47.010 achieves orbit and the builders ask for an Oscar 00:36:47.010 --> 00:36:50.409 number to be assigned once it achieves orbit 00:36:50.409 --> 00:36:54.090 and turns on it's eligible for an Oscar number 00:36:54.090 --> 00:36:58.670 and That person who's doing that assigning is 00:36:58.670 --> 00:37:04.090 is drew our ko4 ma Drew glass better who you've 00:37:04.090 --> 00:37:07.570 had on your program anyway, Drew is our keeper 00:37:07.570 --> 00:37:12.550 of Oscar numbers and He dubbed Fox One Cliff, 00:37:12.670 --> 00:37:15.929 which was named for one of our larger benefactors 00:37:15.929 --> 00:37:19.610 who passed away, Cliff Buttshart. But anyway, 00:37:19.670 --> 00:37:25.889 Fox One Cliff is now AO95. So, doing well as 00:37:25.889 --> 00:37:28.030 far as we know. It's going to probably take another 00:37:28.030 --> 00:37:30.590 two or three weeks before it's completely checked 00:37:30.590 --> 00:37:34.789 out. And at that point, it'll be announced that 00:37:34.789 --> 00:37:39.079 it's open for amateur radio conversations. And 00:37:39.079 --> 00:37:45.019 if you want the story behind the voice on the 00:37:45.019 --> 00:37:48.519 recording, tune in to Amateur Radio Newsline. 00:37:48.800 --> 00:37:52.000 I just finished up Amateur Radio Newsline before 00:37:52.000 --> 00:37:56.639 HamTalk Live and we've got a little story on 00:37:56.639 --> 00:38:01.320 AO95 in there and that comes out in the morning. 00:38:02.019 --> 00:38:07.409 So check out arnewsline .org. for a little bit 00:38:07.409 --> 00:38:12.710 more on AMSAT and this newest satellite, Fox 00:38:12.710 --> 00:38:18.889 One Cliff, now noted as AO95. I won't give it 00:38:18.889 --> 00:38:21.949 away. Yeah, I won't give it away. Don't give 00:38:21.949 --> 00:38:26.789 it away. It's an interesting story of how that 00:38:26.789 --> 00:38:29.889 was done and why it was done. the way it was 00:38:29.889 --> 00:38:32.449 done. So your audience is going to have to tune 00:38:32.449 --> 00:38:36.929 in to find out, as Paul Harvey used to say, the 00:38:36.929 --> 00:38:39.389 rest of the story. The rest of the story. Yep, 00:38:39.550 --> 00:38:43.530 that's it. Well, 812 -638 -4261 is the phone 00:38:43.530 --> 00:38:45.469 number to call, and we're giving away t -shirts 00:38:45.469 --> 00:38:49.289 tonight too to callers. So give us a call, 812 00:38:49.289 --> 00:38:56.050 -638 -4261. We've got Jerry KB1SF on the line 00:38:56.050 --> 00:38:59.489 for a little bit longer tonight, so give us a 00:38:59.489 --> 00:39:01.730 call. And I know there was something else you 00:39:01.730 --> 00:39:06.989 said we might get to later and escaped my mind 00:39:06.989 --> 00:39:12.550 to what it was. Yeah, I forgot to. I don't forget 00:39:12.550 --> 00:39:15.829 the things I remember, Neil, but we're getting 00:39:15.829 --> 00:39:19.010 to the point where things are just gone. If I 00:39:19.010 --> 00:39:21.889 don't write it down, it's gone. Yeah, so maybe 00:39:21.889 --> 00:39:25.889 we'll think of it. We'll think about it. Yeah 00:39:25.889 --> 00:39:31.929 some of the You know ways that people can help 00:39:31.929 --> 00:39:34.750 we've talked about the fundraising and donating 00:39:34.750 --> 00:39:38.789 and and of course Eris has the the whole other 00:39:38.789 --> 00:39:41.809 you know fundraising going for the power supply 00:39:41.809 --> 00:39:45.469 going up and and getting that all certified and 00:39:45.469 --> 00:39:48.820 everything and up there, but How are some other 00:39:48.820 --> 00:39:53.380 ways that you can help out with AMSAT about volunteering 00:39:53.380 --> 00:39:58.000 to do certain things? We're always looking for 00:39:58.000 --> 00:40:03.360 help. As I said, we're a totally, with one exception, 00:40:03.900 --> 00:40:07.659 volunteer organization. If you ever wanted to 00:40:07.659 --> 00:40:12.179 get into an organization and help out to do something 00:40:12.179 --> 00:40:15.940 that's very much on the cutting edge of what 00:40:15.940 --> 00:40:18.559 we do as ham radio operators, and that brings 00:40:18.559 --> 00:40:21.900 up another story too, is that a lot of times 00:40:21.900 --> 00:40:24.880 when, even though you may not be interested in 00:40:24.880 --> 00:40:29.179 satellites per se for your own operation, a lot 00:40:29.179 --> 00:40:32.539 of times when it comes time for international 00:40:32.539 --> 00:40:36.960 bodies to allocate frequencies that we all, some 00:40:36.960 --> 00:40:41.019 cabs, take for granted as part of our amateur 00:40:41.019 --> 00:40:44.630 radio heritage. There's a lot of pressure right 00:40:44.630 --> 00:40:47.349 now for frequency spectrum, particularly in the 00:40:47.349 --> 00:40:53.849 VHF and UHF and SHF realms from all of the proliferation 00:40:53.849 --> 00:40:56.170 of cell phones and all the rest of this stuff. 00:40:57.110 --> 00:40:59.570 But one of the things that's always held up at 00:40:59.570 --> 00:41:01.829 these international meetings when it comes time 00:41:01.829 --> 00:41:05.409 to justify our continued access to amateur radio 00:41:05.409 --> 00:41:08.670 frequencies is the satellite program because 00:41:08.670 --> 00:41:13.280 we can point to all kinds of things that we take 00:41:13.280 --> 00:41:18.679 for granted today were a direct result of the 00:41:18.679 --> 00:41:21.780 work that's been done by our experimenters in 00:41:21.780 --> 00:41:25.820 AMSAT and Project Oscar before us. Transponders 00:41:25.820 --> 00:41:29.559 on a satellite, you know, even these television 00:41:29.559 --> 00:41:31.719 satellites that are out at the geosynchronous 00:41:31.719 --> 00:41:35.619 that we watch on our TVs on, I mean all of that 00:41:35.619 --> 00:41:39.650 had its roots in amateur radio and in particular 00:41:39.650 --> 00:41:44.309 in amateur radio satellites. So there's a big 00:41:44.309 --> 00:41:50.510 heritage. We were the first to fly CMOS, CMOS 00:41:50.510 --> 00:41:54.449 transistors and that sort of thing into space. 00:41:55.190 --> 00:41:58.190 So you can go on and on and on carrying the secondary 00:41:58.190 --> 00:42:01.570 payloads which are taken for granted. The other 00:42:01.570 --> 00:42:05.250 thing is that this whole CubeSat, that may have 00:42:05.250 --> 00:42:08.260 been what we were, was going to talk about. Oh 00:42:08.260 --> 00:42:15.260 yeah, it was actually. The gentleman who invented 00:42:15.260 --> 00:42:18.300 that CubeSat standard, one of the problems that 00:42:18.300 --> 00:42:21.000 we were having for many many years was there 00:42:21.000 --> 00:42:25.400 was no standard for the size of a satellite and 00:42:25.400 --> 00:42:30.860 up until the early 2000s when we were building 00:42:30.860 --> 00:42:33.989 our amateur radio satellites the form of the 00:42:33.989 --> 00:42:37.550 satellite was based on what rocket it would fly 00:42:37.550 --> 00:42:41.269 on. You know, how we would tuck underneath into 00:42:41.269 --> 00:42:45.090 a space on a secondary payload launching platform, 00:42:45.090 --> 00:42:48.550 for example. But this gentleman, Bob Twiggs, 00:42:48.769 --> 00:42:51.050 is the gentleman's name. He got together with 00:42:51.050 --> 00:42:53.489 another gentleman out at Stanford University. 00:42:53.769 --> 00:42:57.090 He was working there in their space department. 00:42:58.230 --> 00:43:01.670 Bob's a ham radio operator. Bob is also or was 00:43:01.670 --> 00:43:04.519 an AMSAT member. But you know, he said you know, 00:43:04.539 --> 00:43:08.780 this is kind of silly because Why don't we standardize 00:43:08.780 --> 00:43:12.039 the size of these satellites? So that they will 00:43:12.039 --> 00:43:14.340 fit on a variety of different launchers and can 00:43:14.340 --> 00:43:19.260 go on a variety of different launches well fast 00:43:19.260 --> 00:43:23.380 forward and now this CubeSat standard which is 00:43:23.380 --> 00:43:26.500 about Three and a half inches on a side. It looks 00:43:26.500 --> 00:43:29.659 it's about the size of a liter of water if you 00:43:29.659 --> 00:43:33.849 would because it's exactly a liter volume These 00:43:33.849 --> 00:43:37.250 things are prolific and everybody's getting into 00:43:37.250 --> 00:43:39.730 the act now, whether it's a university or whether 00:43:39.730 --> 00:43:42.710 it's the government is actually flying these 00:43:42.710 --> 00:43:45.889 things now. We're talking about stacking two 00:43:45.889 --> 00:43:48.030 or three of them together and sending them out 00:43:48.030 --> 00:43:52.530 to the moon and beyond. And again, this all started 00:43:52.530 --> 00:43:56.570 in the brain of Bob Twiggs because Bob had been 00:43:56.570 --> 00:44:00.860 doing some work earlier. on some of the satellites. 00:44:01.320 --> 00:44:03.699 He and his team at Weber State University in 00:44:03.699 --> 00:44:07.159 Utah were working with a satellite called the 00:44:07.159 --> 00:44:09.280 WeberSat that was launched back in the early 00:44:09.280 --> 00:44:13.260 90s and was a small satellite for its time. It 00:44:13.260 --> 00:44:17.760 was nine inches on a side. But since we've come 00:44:17.760 --> 00:44:20.960 the next step with cell phone technology and 00:44:20.960 --> 00:44:24.699 all of these little teeny parts, a CubeSat now 00:44:24.699 --> 00:44:28.420 can do essentially what a microsat did back in 00:44:28.420 --> 00:44:32.260 the 90s in terms of its power and its ability 00:44:32.260 --> 00:44:38.719 to listen to and to transmit. So, yeah, there's 00:44:38.719 --> 00:44:42.960 another example of where AMSAT and amateur radio 00:44:42.960 --> 00:44:49.679 have really contributed to the radio art by inventing 00:44:49.679 --> 00:44:56.900 this standard. So, cool stuff. Sitting next to 00:44:56.900 --> 00:45:00.940 you there on Ted waiting to come on Ted Randall 00:45:00.940 --> 00:45:04.480 show with one of those Prototypes of a CubeSat 00:45:04.480 --> 00:45:06.619 and I was just amazed. You know, I could pick 00:45:06.619 --> 00:45:09.860 it up with my hand. I mean it just yeah, honey 00:45:09.860 --> 00:45:14.280 Yeah, yeah, and that's just amazing. That's that's 00:45:14.280 --> 00:45:18.039 that's the thing too. Is that the less mass you 00:45:18.039 --> 00:45:23.400 have the easier it is to find a launch. And if 00:45:23.400 --> 00:45:26.360 you have to pay for it, you're not sending up 00:45:26.360 --> 00:45:31.239 empty space and lots of mass. It's fairly light 00:45:31.239 --> 00:45:35.739 in that sense, which translates into less money 00:45:35.739 --> 00:45:38.320 that you have to pay if you're going to launch 00:45:38.320 --> 00:45:42.050 it. So this is why The CubeSats have been so 00:45:42.050 --> 00:45:45.730 prolific, is that universities and private organizations 00:45:45.730 --> 00:45:48.550 that want to do research in space, and that's 00:45:48.550 --> 00:45:52.869 how we've hooked our rides into orbit, is through 00:45:52.869 --> 00:45:56.750 this CubeSat initiative that NASA has offered. 00:45:57.750 --> 00:45:59.969 Essentially, if you look at the inside of those 00:45:59.969 --> 00:46:02.969 little CubeSats, they're built in a stack arrangement. 00:46:03.809 --> 00:46:06.690 One board is the transmitter, the one above it 00:46:06.690 --> 00:46:09.030 would be the receiver. The one above it would 00:46:09.030 --> 00:46:11.650 be the internal housekeeping unit, which is the 00:46:11.650 --> 00:46:14.030 brains, the computer. And then you've got the 00:46:14.030 --> 00:46:17.409 little batteries. And by the way, good old NICADs 00:46:17.409 --> 00:46:20.010 are what we use for batteries, because that seems 00:46:20.010 --> 00:46:23.050 to be the ones that tolerate the environment 00:46:23.050 --> 00:46:26.250 of space much better than anything else. So we 00:46:26.250 --> 00:46:29.429 fly regular old NICADs. And then above that, 00:46:29.449 --> 00:46:32.150 there's a couple of boards which we call TSFR, 00:46:32.369 --> 00:46:35.519 this space for rent. And that's where we will 00:46:35.519 --> 00:46:39.460 tuck in our university experiments. For example, 00:46:39.699 --> 00:46:43.300 Vanderbilt University in Nashville were carrying 00:46:43.300 --> 00:46:47.320 a couple of their experiments. They're measuring 00:46:47.320 --> 00:46:52.199 the radiation resistance to off -the -shelf electronic 00:46:52.199 --> 00:46:55.760 components. That's their experiment. We've flown 00:46:55.760 --> 00:47:01.639 a camera on one of our satellites from another 00:47:01.639 --> 00:47:04.670 university, from Virginia Tech. And in fact, 00:47:04.690 --> 00:47:07.030 there's a camera on board, the one that was just 00:47:07.030 --> 00:47:10.550 launched this last week that has a little bit 00:47:10.550 --> 00:47:14.250 better resolution than the first one. So, you 00:47:14.250 --> 00:47:20.070 know, this is how AMSAT cuts its costs and also 00:47:20.070 --> 00:47:23.730 has an opportunity to advance the state of the 00:47:23.730 --> 00:47:28.409 art in space and advance the radio art in space. 00:47:28.429 --> 00:47:32.349 And of course, measuring radiation tolerance 00:47:32.349 --> 00:47:35.980 for off -the -shelf components is directly related 00:47:35.980 --> 00:47:40.619 to communications in space. So again, here's 00:47:40.619 --> 00:47:43.059 an opportunity or here's a situation where amateur 00:47:43.059 --> 00:47:45.860 radio is not just a bunch of hobbyists sitting 00:47:45.860 --> 00:47:50.099 around talking. We're actually contributing to 00:47:50.099 --> 00:47:53.800 the future of electronics and the future of radio 00:47:53.800 --> 00:47:57.480 communication, not just in the US or North America, 00:47:57.519 --> 00:48:01.199 but throughout the world. That's some pretty 00:48:01.199 --> 00:48:07.099 cool stuff. Yes, it is Keith We're out of time 00:48:07.099 --> 00:48:13.719 It flies by so fast and and we didn't get any 00:48:13.719 --> 00:48:16.440 calls tonight, so we're gonna keep We're gonna 00:48:16.440 --> 00:48:20.300 keep the the prize booth rolling here. We're 00:48:20.300 --> 00:48:23.199 gonna we're gonna keep trying to give these shirts 00:48:23.199 --> 00:48:28.280 away. So next week maybe we'll get some calls 00:48:28.280 --> 00:48:31.719 and we'll give them away. But I did get a tweet 00:48:31.719 --> 00:48:36.500 here from, I want to mention, WI4T said, great 00:48:36.500 --> 00:48:39.760 show tonight. I did not know the history of AO7. 00:48:40.340 --> 00:48:44.460 So thanks for coming up with that and thanks 00:48:44.460 --> 00:48:49.500 for tweeting into us tonight. So yeah, it's just 00:48:49.500 --> 00:48:52.380 it's just a cool story. It just came back from 00:48:52.380 --> 00:48:57.179 from nowhere. Yeah Yeah, well and this and I've 00:48:57.179 --> 00:49:01.159 said this before is that Satellite operation 00:49:01.159 --> 00:49:05.000 is just one aspect of a fantastic hobby called 00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:07.699 amateur radio and if you get tired of doing one 00:49:07.699 --> 00:49:11.619 thing Whether you're chasing DX or you're working 00:49:11.619 --> 00:49:15.159 Community service or you're into contesting or 00:49:15.159 --> 00:49:18.579 whatever aspect it is that's your passion within 00:49:18.579 --> 00:49:22.119 this thing called amateur radio. Eventually, 00:49:22.179 --> 00:49:23.880 you're gonna get tired of maybe doing that. Say, 00:49:24.039 --> 00:49:26.679 gee, I'd like to try something else. Well, satellite 00:49:26.679 --> 00:49:30.780 operation is something else that you can try 00:49:30.780 --> 00:49:33.559 and see if you like it and see if it works and 00:49:33.559 --> 00:49:35.639 see if it's something that you'd like to do. 00:49:35.880 --> 00:49:38.079 And by the way, while we're, if we have a little 00:49:38.079 --> 00:49:40.260 bit of time, let me just give our website out 00:49:40.260 --> 00:49:47.880 again. It's www .amsat .com. AMSAT .org. And 00:49:47.880 --> 00:49:50.699 if you're just interested or just getting started, 00:49:50.880 --> 00:49:54.900 if you click on education, when you go up on 00:49:54.900 --> 00:49:59.000 our website, and then click on the submenu, there's 00:49:59.000 --> 00:50:03.780 four beginners. And I have posted up there nine 00:50:03.780 --> 00:50:06.860 articles which were in our journal, our AMSAT 00:50:06.860 --> 00:50:09.860 journal from years ago, that talks about how 00:50:09.860 --> 00:50:13.409 to get started. And even though some of the satellites 00:50:13.409 --> 00:50:16.650 that we were referring to at the time in those 00:50:16.650 --> 00:50:19.510 articles are no longer operating, the techniques 00:50:19.510 --> 00:50:22.489 are the same. So if you have any interest at 00:50:22.489 --> 00:50:25.510 all and just maybe just want to listen to our 00:50:25.510 --> 00:50:28.610 satellites, that can be done, believe it or not, 00:50:28.769 --> 00:50:31.590 with a handheld in your backyard. You don't even 00:50:31.590 --> 00:50:35.869 need a fancy antenna. You don't need a real powerful 00:50:36.090 --> 00:50:38.389 transmitter, receiver, you can just go out in 00:50:38.389 --> 00:50:40.590 your backyard with a handheld as soon as you 00:50:40.590 --> 00:50:43.230 know when the satellite's coming over and that 00:50:43.230 --> 00:50:46.570 can be done on our website as well. There's a 00:50:46.570 --> 00:50:48.889 tracking program built right into it where you 00:50:48.889 --> 00:50:52.449 just plug in your grid square or your latitude 00:50:52.449 --> 00:50:55.670 and longitude and you decide which satellite 00:50:55.670 --> 00:50:57.909 you want to listen to and it will print out, 00:50:58.030 --> 00:50:59.889 give you a whole printout of when that satellite's 00:50:59.889 --> 00:51:02.230 going to be in range of your station. So you 00:51:02.230 --> 00:51:04.469 can go out in your backyard and listen to the 00:51:04.469 --> 00:51:07.789 ISS or the International Space Station or one 00:51:07.789 --> 00:51:10.289 of our satellites can all be done on a handheld 00:51:10.289 --> 00:51:14.889 or any kind of other very low -power, if you 00:51:14.889 --> 00:51:21.829 will, receiver. Yep, sure can and I've started 00:51:21.829 --> 00:51:24.670 doing this in the last couple of years and really 00:51:24.670 --> 00:51:27.329 enjoying it. Oh, I do have one question that 00:51:27.329 --> 00:51:32.539 just came in here on Twitter also from WI4T, 00:51:33.019 --> 00:51:36.119 and it was on my phone, so let me pull it up 00:51:36.119 --> 00:51:39.360 here in front of me. Is there a good omnidirectional 00:51:39.360 --> 00:51:42.539 antenna that will not break the bank for base 00:51:42.539 --> 00:51:49.219 operation? Yes. There's a set of antennas that 00:51:49.219 --> 00:51:51.760 are built by Eden Squared, if you want to do 00:51:51.760 --> 00:51:55.920 commercial. They're called egg beaters, and you 00:51:55.920 --> 00:51:58.280 may have seen these advertised. They look like 00:51:58.280 --> 00:52:01.769 a big egg beater. but they're an omnidirectional 00:52:01.769 --> 00:52:05.190 satellite antenna. They're specifically designed 00:52:05.190 --> 00:52:07.730 for satellite antennas because at the horizon, 00:52:08.590 --> 00:52:14.989 they are horizontally polarized, but as the satellite 00:52:14.989 --> 00:52:19.710 comes up and overhead, they tend to be circularly 00:52:19.710 --> 00:52:22.670 polarized, which is great for satellite communication 00:52:22.670 --> 00:52:26.260 because our satellites tend to tumble. But if 00:52:26.260 --> 00:52:29.639 you you don't you won't really be able to work 00:52:29.639 --> 00:52:32.760 a satellite right down to the horizon But with 00:52:32.760 --> 00:52:35.199 an egg beater and I've got a pair in the backyard 00:52:35.199 --> 00:52:38.619 and I still use them if you've got a fairly high 00:52:38.619 --> 00:52:41.920 angle pass Where the satellite is going to be 00:52:41.920 --> 00:52:45.380 up above maybe 45 or 50 degrees at your location 00:52:45.380 --> 00:52:49.440 on from the horizon Those satellite antennas 00:52:49.440 --> 00:52:52.559 will work just fine for that If you really want 00:52:52.559 --> 00:52:54.960 to do horizon to horizon coverage, you're going 00:52:54.960 --> 00:52:56.559 to have to have something with a little bit more 00:52:56.559 --> 00:53:00.400 gain. Another way to do it is with an antenna 00:53:00.400 --> 00:53:03.820 called an Arrow that's built by a gentleman out 00:53:03.820 --> 00:53:09.639 in Wyoming at arrowantennas .com or we also offer 00:53:09.639 --> 00:53:14.039 them on our AMSAT store. These are handheld antennas 00:53:14.039 --> 00:53:16.300 that are made out of arrow shafts and I've got 00:53:16.300 --> 00:53:18.619 a couple of them and they work very, very well. 00:53:18.809 --> 00:53:20.809 give you a little bit of gain on the uplink and 00:53:20.809 --> 00:53:22.909 the downlink, more so than an egg beater, but 00:53:22.909 --> 00:53:25.630 an egg beater is really designed for permanent 00:53:25.630 --> 00:53:28.710 type operations. So I hope that answers the question. 00:53:29.170 --> 00:53:31.409 Okay, and we've got another one that came in 00:53:31.409 --> 00:53:33.889 here real quick, so. Wow. Go ahead and get it 00:53:33.889 --> 00:53:37.230 away. We're going overtime here. We may be in 00:53:37.230 --> 00:53:39.949 double overtime. I don't know. Anyway, Carl, 00:53:40.030 --> 00:53:44.309 KD9HQT says, my dad WB9EWF has an antenna rotor 00:53:44.309 --> 00:53:47.289 that was manufactured by Yezu, which was used 00:53:47.289 --> 00:53:50.429 for satellite communication, which I guess he 00:53:50.429 --> 00:53:53.809 had for years in the pole barn, but don't think 00:53:53.809 --> 00:53:57.579 he ever used it for... communicating to satellite 00:53:57.579 --> 00:54:00.440 but that was before you know the new ones the 00:54:00.440 --> 00:54:03.880 the Fox series yeah it is possible that hams 00:54:03.880 --> 00:54:06.039 can contact satellites with antenna rotors that 00:54:06.039 --> 00:54:08.940 are designed for satellite work since the design 00:54:08.940 --> 00:54:14.059 is more angled unlike most hams would use a handheld 00:54:14.059 --> 00:54:18.260 antenna like an elk so how is it different back 00:54:18.260 --> 00:54:22.159 in the day when satellite was new compared to 00:54:22.159 --> 00:54:27.380 now If it's it depends on the model I know I 00:54:27.380 --> 00:54:31.980 believe he's talking about a yesu as L as myth 00:54:31.980 --> 00:54:35.519 elevation rotor set There's been a couple of 00:54:35.519 --> 00:54:37.420 models of that idea. They think it's called a 00:54:37.420 --> 00:54:43.559 g5400 the current one is a g5500 very much the 00:54:43.559 --> 00:54:47.739 same I believe earlier models were made by an 00:54:47.739 --> 00:54:51.340 outfit called Ken pro which if I'm not mistaken 00:54:51.340 --> 00:54:56.550 Yezu bought But yeah, if they're still in operation 00:54:56.550 --> 00:54:59.650 and it's still usable, they would certainly work 00:54:59.650 --> 00:55:04.110 with the satellite. I'm using a pair of those 00:55:04.110 --> 00:55:08.590 on a MFJ tripod in my backyard, and if you want 00:55:08.590 --> 00:55:10.730 to see some pictures of what that looks like, 00:55:11.409 --> 00:55:14.090 you can go up on my personal website, which is 00:55:14.090 --> 00:55:19.789 KB1SF, my call sign, KiloBravo1SugarFox .com. 00:55:20.110 --> 00:55:24.150 and just click on station photos and there's 00:55:24.150 --> 00:55:28.250 a picture of my setup that I use. And that's 00:55:28.250 --> 00:55:30.110 the nice thing about satellite antennas is you 00:55:30.110 --> 00:55:33.530 don't need a whole lot of height. Because the 00:55:33.530 --> 00:55:36.690 satellite's at 500 miles and 50 feet is not gonna 00:55:36.690 --> 00:55:40.090 make a difference. So we have a lot of people 00:55:40.090 --> 00:55:42.769 who are restricted or in restricted covenant 00:55:42.769 --> 00:55:46.179 areas where they can't put up HF antennas. but 00:55:46.179 --> 00:55:49.300 you can certainly do something with satellites. 00:55:49.679 --> 00:55:52.099 One of our executive vice president lives in 00:55:52.099 --> 00:55:55.940 an apartment in downtown Washington D .C. and 00:55:55.940 --> 00:56:00.440 cannot put anything up at all. But he is absolutely 00:56:00.440 --> 00:56:03.800 active on the satellites using balcony antennas 00:56:03.800 --> 00:56:08.000 and one of these arrow type antennas. So, anyway, 00:56:08.000 --> 00:56:10.119 I hope that answers the question. It works. It 00:56:10.119 --> 00:56:13.860 works. And I know down at Kennedy Space Center, 00:56:13.900 --> 00:56:16.179 they have the egg beaters up on top of the building 00:56:16.179 --> 00:56:21.800 and they work. Yep. They do well. Well, I always 00:56:21.800 --> 00:56:26.719 say, try and use what you got. Yep. And I've, 00:56:26.719 --> 00:56:32.900 I've still, I've gotten narrow, but I still almost 00:56:32.900 --> 00:56:40.019 always. Just using the whip on the car Yeah, 00:56:40.579 --> 00:56:43.739 yeah, I only do you know, I can only do a o 91 00:56:43.739 --> 00:56:50.659 92 and be able to do 95 I assume 85 on the right 00:56:50.659 --> 00:56:56.619 day well, but it's a start and Yes, and that's 00:56:56.619 --> 00:56:59.199 what I use I use it while I'm driving because 00:56:59.199 --> 00:57:02.599 I'm driving all the time and so I can get on 00:57:02.599 --> 00:57:06.849 and catch a few passes isn't that slick driving 00:57:06.849 --> 00:57:09.510 down the road talking through a satellite yeah 00:57:09.510 --> 00:57:12.250 yeah craziest thing well you'd never think that 00:57:12.250 --> 00:57:14.949 but you'd be driving down the interstate and 00:57:14.949 --> 00:57:18.130 you're on a satellite yeah yeah absolutely it 00:57:18.130 --> 00:57:22.329 works such is our such is our hobby yeah well 00:57:22.329 --> 00:57:25.110 keith thanks so much for coming on i i hate to 00:57:25.110 --> 00:57:29.000 end this but it's it's past time. So we're going 00:57:29.000 --> 00:57:31.639 to end it there, but maybe we'll get you back 00:57:31.639 --> 00:57:35.019 on the show and we'll just kind of advertise 00:57:35.019 --> 00:57:38.900 here too. Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, the Vice President 00:57:38.900 --> 00:57:43.639 of Ops will be here on December 27th and we're 00:57:43.639 --> 00:57:46.960 going to talk about some courtesy and making 00:57:46.960 --> 00:57:50.500 the most out of your satellite pass and trying 00:57:50.500 --> 00:57:54.820 to be an efficient operator and use it to the 00:57:54.820 --> 00:57:59.920 best possible scenario. So that's coming up on 00:57:59.920 --> 00:58:04.239 December 27th. So we'll have some more AMSAT 00:58:04.239 --> 00:58:08.199 folks on soon. You'll enjoy listening and talking 00:58:08.199 --> 00:58:11.739 with Drew. He's quite the character. Yeah, we 00:58:11.739 --> 00:58:16.239 enjoyed having him on and Jerry and also the 00:58:16.239 --> 00:58:20.619 heiress folks and just real glad to have you 00:58:20.619 --> 00:58:23.960 all on and thank you for tonight and we'll have 00:58:23.960 --> 00:58:27.179 you back on. Absolutely my pleasure. Alright, 00:58:27.300 --> 00:58:30.980 well that is a wrap for this week's edition of 00:58:30.980 --> 00:58:34.360 ham talk live. Thanks to Keith Baker, KB1SF and 00:58:34.360 --> 00:58:37.239 everybody out there in cyberspace for listening 00:58:37.239 --> 00:58:39.840 and typing in tonight. And we're gonna have to 00:58:39.840 --> 00:58:41.960 get you calling. We're gonna give away these 00:58:41.960 --> 00:58:45.000 t -shirts. We gotta get you calling in. Well, 00:58:45.000 --> 00:58:47.579 we're gonna invite you back next Thursday night 00:58:47.579 --> 00:58:52.989 at 9 p .m. Eastern time. Steve Narducci, W9SN, 00:58:53.369 --> 00:58:57.550 and Fred Denon, WW4LL, will be here to talk about 00:58:57.550 --> 00:59:01.590 the Be Loud contest station that's in Maine. 00:59:02.130 --> 00:59:05.420 So we'll be talking contesting next week. For 00:59:05.420 --> 00:59:07.960 a list of all of our upcoming guests, be sure 00:59:07.960 --> 00:59:13.360 to visit HamTalkLive .com. And if you like HamTalk 00:59:13.360 --> 00:59:16.099 Live, consider leaving us a review on iTunes 00:59:16.099 --> 00:59:18.719 or wherever you listen. That helps others find 00:59:18.719 --> 00:59:22.920 us faster. So for now, this is Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, 00:59:23.039 --> 00:59:28.239 saying 7 -3, 7 -5, may the good DX be yours. 00:59:28.380 --> 00:59:30.139 And we're going to send you out with a little 00:59:30.139 --> 00:59:35.739 imperfect pall tonight. Echo halls with vows 00:59:35.739 --> 00:59:41.440 of holly. Fa la la la la, la la la la. Tis the 00:59:41.440 --> 00:59:47.320 season to be jolly. Fa la la la la, la la la 00:59:47.320 --> 00:59:53.840 la. Don we now our gay apparel. Fa la la la la, 00:59:54.019 --> 00:59:58.760 la la la la. Throw the ancient yuletide carol. 00:59:59.139 --> 01:00:04.150 Fa la la la la, la la la la. See the blazing 01:00:04.150 --> 01:00:10.190 yule before us. Fa la la la la, la la la la. 01:00:10.309 --> 01:00:14.929 Strike the harp and join the chorus. Fa la la 01:00:14.929 --> 01:00:19.570 la la, la la la la. Follow me in merry measure. 01:00:21.369 --> 01:00:26.130 Fa la la, la la la, la la la. While I tell of 01:00:26.130 --> 01:00:31.849 yuletide treasure. Fa la la la la, la la la la. 01:00:32.119 --> 01:00:37.719 Fast away the old year passes. Fa la la la la, 01:00:38.099 --> 01:00:43.000 la la la la. Hail the new ye lads and lasses. 01:00:43.519 --> 01:00:48.380 Fa la la la la, la la la la. Sing we joyous all 01:00:48.380 --> 01:00:56.400 together. Fa la la, la la la, la la la. Heatless 01:00:56.400 --> 01:01:00.719 of the wind and weather. Fa la la la la, la la 01:01:00.719 --> 01:01:01.400 la la.