1999 AMSAT Space Symposium Snapshots

Here are a few snapshots taken by Paul Williamson, KB5MU, at the 1999 Space Symposium and AMSAT-NA Annual Meeting in San Diego, California, October 8 - 10, 1999. For more info on any of the topics covered in the Symposium papers, order a copy of the 17th Space Symposium Proceedings from the AMSAT-NA office.

Ken Ernandes, N2WWD, waves his hands in an attempt to convey a notion about orbital motion in three dimensions. His talk, The Apogee at Constant time-of-day Equatorial (ACE) Orbit for Amateur Radio Satellites, proposed a new orbit for possible future amateur radio missions.

Kerry Banke, N6IZW, uses a photograph of some of the available RF components to illustrate his talk, Modifying Qualcomm OmniTRACS Surplus Equipment for Use with Amateur Satellites.

Bob Twiggs, KE6QMD, displays an engineering unit (full size!) of STENSAT, a picosat slated to be deployed from the OPAL Orbiting Picosatellite Automated Launcher platform. This satellite measures 3 inches by 4 inches by 1 inch, exclusive of antennas, and includes a Mode J FM voice repeater. Bob's talk was entitled OPAL: A First Generation Microsatellite That Provides Picosat Communications for the Amateur Community.

A few of the many prizes that were awarded to Symposium attendees.

Cliff Buttschardt, K7RR, shows the multi-layer construction of A Patch Antenna For 435-438 MHz.

Tony Monteiro, AA2TX, dared to present a live demonstration of InstantTune for the FT847, starting from installation of the program through operation with a connected transceiver (on the chair). This program implements full Doppler tuning under InstantTrack with the Yaesu FT-847 transceiver.

Leanore Guimont, KA6UCD, (facing away from the camera), ran a tight ship at the registration table. QUALCOMM's demonstration of several Globalstar phones can be seen at the upper right.

Ken Ernandes, N2WWD, and Martha Saragovitz await customers for AMSAT publications and other goodies in the foreground, while Art Goddard, W6XD, ARRL Southwestern Division Vice Director and Sandy Heyn, WA6WZN, present the ARRL story in the background. Kenwood's display can just be seen at the far right rear.

The official program was only a small part of the Symposium. Here Cliff and Red compare research notes on antenna design. Red's quadrifilar helix is on the table.

Copyright 1999 Paul Williamson, KB5MU. Photographs taken with a Nikon CoolPix 950 digital camera and touched up with Adobe Photoshop. Comments to KB5MU.