Space Shuttle Endeavour Launch

Last night several local radio operators gathered at the Tybee Island Pier to view the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour. Although viewing conditions were very poor due to the local weather, we had a great time and did catch a brief glimpse of the Shuttle as it cleared the curvature of the earth. Tybee Island is just about 25o miles from Cape Canaveral with nothing but ocean in between. See a summary and some photos of the activity on Mac's (KF4LMT) blog at www.kf4lmt.blogspot.com

Red Cross Satellite Terminal Test

This morning Steve, K4SDJ, and I had the opportunity to bring up and test the satellite terminal at the Savannah Red Cross Station K3SRC. This system is portable in nature and is designed to be easily packed up and transported to any location during an emergency response. Well, the system electronics themselves are in a portable hard case but the satellite dish is not what I would really call "portable" but it can be loaded up on a truck or ERV if needed. The station consists of the dish which is currently installed on a cement pad out back of the building near the 40 ft comm tower, an ACU (antenna control unit), a rcvr/xmit unit, a Cisco router, a Cisco wireless access point, two Cisco wireless IP Phones, two Cisco desktop IP Phones, a server, two laptops, and a small UPS. This system allows communications via satellite to a Red Cross data center where the paths to the Internet and the Public Telephone Network are. We successfully tested voice and data on all four phones and two laptops. The Red Cross has asked Chatham County ARES if we will assist them with testing this station twice per month. This was great fun and reminded me of my Air Force days!.......K4GTM

Peacemaker Ship

On Saturday morning we held a VE Session here in town and upgraded seven technicians to general class operators. We also had two young men successfully test for thier technician license. These two men are crew members on a sailing vessel called the Peacemake that is currently berthed at River Street on the Savannah River near the Hyatt. After the VE session Bill K4WP, Ra N4RVM, and myself went downtown and recieved a personalized tour of the ship. What a treat. We got to spend quite a bit of time on the bridge and had a great conversation with the captain as well as the 1st mate who is an Extra class operator. They have a Yaesu FT-450 for HF operations and an FT-8800 for VHF/UHF operation. With four HAMs on the ship now and with the fact that they plan to stay in Savannah for the winter, you may hear them on the air here locally. Yachiyl is the name of the 1st Mate and his callsign is NB1X.