Capt. Jim Lovell of Apollo 13

Had an opportunity to go see Capt. Jim Lovell speak at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro the other night. The title of his presentation is called "A Successful Failure". What an enlightening insight into the Apollo 13 experience. I went along with Kevin Bell, WD0GFG and his friend Bob from the local astronomy club.

First Contact via International Space Station NA1SS

I made my very first contact thru the ISS amateur radio repeater on Jan 25th. I made contact with KI4TZ in Charlotte, NC. The uplink frequency is 437.800 and the downlink frequency is 145.800. I've been trying to do this since last fall when space tourist Richard Garriott was onboard the station. Hooray! I still need to make direct contact with one of the astronauts on the station. I'll keep trying. Orbitron and the satellite tracking tool within Ham Radio Delux prove to be valuable tools.

Georgia Statewide ARES Meeting

On Jan 24th, several of us traveled to the GPSTC in Forsyth to attend the annual statewide ARES meeting. We received an update from Barry Kanne, W4TGA, regarding the GA ARES support of the Regional Coordinating Hospitals, an update from Lans Rothfusz, KD5EJN, from the National Weather Service, and an update on GPB and the D-STAR project from John Davis, WB4QDX. Those attending were Guy McDonald, K4GTM, Mac McCormick, KF4LMT, Lester Lamhut, KF4JBQ, and Steve Jonas, K4SDJ