Re: Easy? (was Re: [amsat-bb] AO-7 Predictability.)

[Dave Guimont <dguimon1@xxxxxxxxxx>]

>Beginner is right!
>
>There weren't too many folks to ask for info, either.   I still have
>(I think)  OScarlocators for  Oscar 6,7,8,  RS5-6-7-8, and AO-10
>around here. All home made from tracings in QST, World Radio, etc.
>For those of you who don't remember any of this,  they would publish
>the equatorial crossing time and degrees of longitude of the first pass
>of each day.  Then you used that information to set your "Oscarlocator"
>and the rest was sort of like a  round slide rule!
>W1AW transmitted this information in the bulletins also.  As long as you
>had that information you could figure the rest out for yourself.
>
>Actually those old birds were more "easysat" than the new ones.
>You didn't need anything special to work them. At that time (mid-
>1970's) it seems that EVERYBODY had  H.F. gear and some sort
>of  2 meter FM box or old 2 meter rig of some kind could be found
>easily that could at least transmit CW.  That and just about any antenna
>for 2 and 10 meters, and you were in business!  The variety of radios
>being
>used was amazing.  WW2 surplus, converted FM rigs, transverters, homebrew
>transmitters, preamps, etc. of every kind you can imagine.
>
>Pretty exciting stuff!
>

Hi John, et al,

Maybe our chats here will get other old-timers out of the wood work 
in time for our next HEO!!

I invested about $50 for my first station!  And a lot of you know 
what it has cost most of us since!!  But worth every cent...

I pulled the finals out of my Swan 500 (some sort of a sweep tube as 
I remember?) to drive a homebrew converter, home brew antennas, but 
the first contact on  an Amateur satellite remains one of the 
highlights of my ham experiences....




            73, Dave wb6llo@amsat.org
                    Disagree: I learn....

               Pulling for P3E... 
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