F  E  E  D  -  P  O  I  N  T

Good ole summertime and the living is fine. Is that why no one checked into the net on July 18th? Trying to stay cool somewhere or traveling, perhaps. All this heat has made for lush vegetation, and so far the vegetation is green without the browning of disease we had the last two years in some of the trees. That was caused by too much rain. The combination of sunshine and rain we have had this year is making for healthy looking and productive garden vegetables and flowers.

N1MR has been up river near the Big Black for the week and has been using 146.640 to contact his XYL in Mars Hills every night. It is good to hear the repeater being used by people who need to stay in contact.

Our July 12th meeting was a special event with the presense of Emily Clark, W0EEC, a satellite enthusiast. Emily first got a ham license in 2003. She immediately became interested in amatuer satellites and has made an incredible number of satellite contacts. Emily gave a slide presentation that was full of information about working satellites. She says it is not hard to work a satellite. Emily works them with just 3 watts.

Emily also presented a lot of information about satellites. Low Earth Orbit satellites take 90-120 minutes for an orbit. High Elliptical Orbits take much longer and give hours of acess. Some satellites are sun synchronous. They pass at the same time everyday. The descending path is in the morning and the ascending path is in the afternoon.

Just before 19:00 we trooped out to Emily's vehichle in the parking lot. She opened the trunk removed a tripod and quickly assembled an arrow antenna atop the tripod. She opened the car hood, attached power cables to the battery, at which point a wire slipped out of a connector. It was hastily fixed and the radio turned on. Contact was made with SO-50 which has a very small transmitter and needs a PL of 67 to activate. Emily made contact then turned the mike over to N1PMS who made a contact with someone in Mass. It was a wonderful demonstration. (Continued on page 3)

After the satellite contact we went back to the meeting room and Emily showed a short video of the orbits of satellites. She told us about furture launches of satellites. AO 54 will have a High Elliptical orbit and will give about 6 hours of talk time during each orbit.

There was a chance for questions. One question asked was about the effect of the aurora on signals. Emily answered that aurora can affect your transmission, but higer power will usually clear it.

Emily made some recommendations about antennas. She mentioned eggbeater, helic, and a 60cm dish. Her arrow antenna is easily transportable in a suitcase and very quick to set up, as she demonstrated. A dual band HT will do the job for a contact. She said the Icom 910H can be used with satellite tracking software.

During the evening WB1FTK revealed that he has been a lifetime member of AMSAT since 1978. Satellite questions? I'm sure Don would be willing to help.

The information Emily gave us can be found on the AMSAT website. The Oscar website has good information, too. And Emily's web page is interesting and full of information. http://www.amsat.org http://www.projectoscar.net http://www.PlanetEmily.com

N1FG attended the AARA picnic at Henry Nutting's farm. There were about 22 people there of all ages. N1FG heard compliments about N1PMS's help at the field day in Presque Isle. He helped with the setting up of antennas and tent, and helped with the take down. He also helped unload the tent at Henry's barn.

At the picnic conversations were fun. The food was excellent and in good supply.

The meeting will be very short. The idea of the picnic is to have a good time. We hope many of you will come and friends are welcome, too. It would be a good idea to tell N1FG what you are bringing for the Potluck lunch, so we don't all bring the same thing!

There will be plenty of time to swim, canoe, play horseshoes, or anything else. Maybe we can make a satellite contact.

International Lighthouse Weekend is August 20-21. I hope band conditions change by then. I hear from echolink contacts all over the world that band conditions are very bad. Echolink is busier than ever. Information about the QTH of participating lighthouses and lightships can be found at http://illw.net/2005_list.htm