[amsat-bb] A True Joy (AO-51 TLM)

[Emily Clarke <w0eec@xxxxxxxxx>]

There are few things in life that can rival watching something come to 
life.  I grow a lot of bulbs, and after watching them year after year come 
back from the dead (well - the freezer here in San Francisco, but in New 
Hampshire where I used to live they really froze.)  The same is starting to 
catch hold of me with satellites.

AO-51 has some superb telemetry, and watching it is a real treat.  I was 
especially rewarded tonight at 05:10z as it came across my QTH and went out 
of eclipse right around northern British Columbia.  Watching the voltage 
and amperage on the solar panels climb. Watching the battery charge 
regulators kick in and watching the small but ever increasing trickle of 
life eep into the batteries... It was like watching salmon spawn.  I 
suppose you have to see first hand to appreciate it, but it was wonderful.

There are probably plenty of people who turn on TLMEcho or MacEchoTLM and 
collect the data, but IMHO there is nothing as exciting as looking at a 
tracking screen and seeing a form of resurrection happen in real time. It 
blows me away....

73,

Emily



---------------------------------
W0EEC - CM87tm
AMSAT Area Coordinator - San Francisco Bay Area
http://www.projectoscar.net    http://www.PlanetEmily.com

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