SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-064.01
SPECIAL ANS BULLETIN
HAM RADIO AND AMSAT FEATURED IN NY TIMES

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 064.01 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, MARCH 5, 1998
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS 
BID: $ANS-064.01

AMSAT-NA Executive Vice President Keith Baker, KB1SF, has told ANS that
AMSAT is included in a feature article about Amateur Radio and the Internet 
in the Thursday, March 5th edition of the New York Times newspaper.  The 
article, written by John Verity, a New York Times feature writer, is contained 
in a recently added section of the paper called "Circuits". The story examines 
the links between the Amateur Radio hobby and the Internet, and how Amateur 
Radio and AMSAT have both expanded and exploited those links over the years. 
The AMSAT Web Site http://www.amsat.org was included along with others as a 
source of information on the amateur radio satellites.

"Mr. Verity and I spent a few hours on the telephone talking about the
continuing  magic of Amateur Radio and what AMSAT has done to spark new
ways of telecommunication over the years", said Keith.  Keith is shown 
operating on the satellites from his "shack" in one of the two photos
included with the story.

Keith reports that Mr. Verity was quite impressed with the ease with which
we regularly communicate through our fleet of AMSAT satellites.  "He was
most impressed with the fact that we can, for example, communicate via one
of our MICROSATS using nothing more sophisticated than a low powered
hand-held radio and a flexible antenna," said Keith.  "The carpenter's rule
antenna material we regularly use aboard our satellites also caught his
attention," he said.  

Says Keith, "Needless to say, this story is great publicity for AMSAT and
for Amateur Radio as a whole.   If it sparks enough interest in just one
youngster to become a Ham then it was well worth the effort!"

The story is available on the CyberTimes Web site at the following URL:

http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/03/circuits/articles/05ham-radio.html

[ANS thanks Keith Baker, KB1SF, and the New York Times newspaper for the 
information that went into this ANS Bulletin.]

/EX