Ham Talk Live! Episode 147 - Ham Radio Aboard the Queen Mary

When Endaf N6UTC was working the SO-50 satellite in that photo, he had a Yaesu FT-60R in one hand, and an Elk Antennas handheld 2m/70cm log periodic in the other hand. I used the same Elk log periodic antenna for my operating, but with different radios:

• Kenwood TH-D72, for three satellites: AO-91, AO-92, FalconSat-3 digipeater
  
• Kenwood TH-D74, for the ISS digipeater
• two Yaesu FT-817NDs, one for transmit and the other to receive, for AO-7 and FO-29

Not having access to power on the ship, we went with radios that could be powered by batteries - and, ideally, their own battery packs. For our satellites in lower orbits, 5W transmitter power was usually enough to get through on these satellites.

73!

 

73,dx CL7 JKB.CUBA

 

73,dx, from Cuba. CL7 JKB

 

I just want to say I love all of you regardless of your t-shirt. Thanks KN4AZQ

 

Hi!

Thanks to Endaf N6UTC, some videos from the 15 December Queen Mary satellite activity...

Two videos of the first pass worked from the ship, an AO-92 pass around 1738 UTC (9.38am PST). This was the view from a camera on a tripod:



A second video of the same AO-92 pass, where the camera was held by N6UTC:



The later AO-92 pass to the west, which came by at 1914 UTC (11.14am PST):



The AO-91 pass at 2000 UTC (noon PST):



And an FO-29 pass at 0021 UTC (4.21pm PST):



Along with these passes, other satellites were worked during this day:

1. AO-7
2. SO-50
3. ISS digipeater
4. FalconSat-3 digipeater

73!

 

I stayed in one of the suites on the Queen Mary back when they were refurbishing the ship back in the 80's with my former YL (was also a ham. A coded General class). Quite a nice experience. Enjoyed a corporate event in one of the ship's ballrooms.

 

What "profession" is going on here? If ham radio is a "profession", that implies someone gets paid to do it. Is that even allowed? Radio seems an odd hobby for those who think science is make-believe anyway

 

In viewing the photos, I noted an AMSAT banner (and hung crookedly, at that), so it appeared to be a presentation of amateur radio satellite ops by a quasi-professional subset (AMSAT) of our service (amateur radio). As such, the "tee" in question would be better suited for hamfest or flea market attire. YMMV.

 

You could be correct after all - AMSAT needs to look good for the space agencies they deal with. I retract my last post

 

The banner was straight at the start of the day. We also had AMSAT flyers on the table, along with a couple of 3D-printed models of CubeSats. Those helped us explain what we were doing with the radios and antennas.

As for "quasi-professional"... there is only one paid employee with AMSAT, and she's in the Washington DC area. I certainly didn't get paid to drive out to California for this event, and nobody else who works for AMSAT gets a paycheck. We're all volunteers. The members of the Associated Radio Amateurs of Long Beach - the group that runs the W6RO station on the Queen Mary - are all volunteers, too. We each took a day of our time to give demonstrations of satellite communications in a public place using amateur radio. We worked stations around North America as people passed by our table. The day on the Queen Mary was a success.

As for that T-shirt...

If there were any comments while we were on the ship, people thought the shirt was funny. It won't affect AMSAT's ability to either obtain free launch opportunities from NASA (AMSAT has been successful in obtaining free launch opportunities for some of its Fox-1 satellites in the last 3+ years) or a commercial launch provider (simple process there - make sure the satellites pass pre-launch tests, have the appropriate licensing to operate the satellite, and ensure the payment for the launch is good).

73!

 

Nerve. Touched.

 

What are you, nine?

 

In "dog years" that's pretty close.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/spycatcher/201410/9-truths-exposing-myth-about-body-language

 

I like the t-shirt.