follow that qar!

SumbandilaSat launched September 17 and the control team has been stepping the South African satellite through its commissioning activities. Only in the past few days has the amateur radio transponder been activated over the United States, and this morning was the first apparent opportunity for east coast stations to be in the footprint of an active OSCAR 67. I unexpectedly heard nothing at the appointed hour, but when I cast my callsign skyward the downlink was clear and then I had a call from K8YSE. Success on SO-67! John kindly shared a recording of the entire pass, and ZR1JAK mapped stations heard during this and the subsequent pass (which was out of range for me) based on John's captured audio. Let's hope for a long life for the latest easy sat.

Frustratingly unclear image for a 70-degree pass, which I am attributing at least partially to the Arrow antenna, though perhaps unfairly. It's identifiable, though, and audio reception was decent.

I was awakened to watch it. Age 10. Groggy memories. Wood cabinet black and white, northeast corner of the living room, from the sofa, surrounded by palpable attentiveness. Borrowing from NASA and encountering other lunar tidbits. This graphic shows the approximate locations of the Apollo moon landing sites. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio NPR story Here . Commentary on story Here . Hoax and Futurama Here . AMSAT Special Transmission July 20 AMSAT-NA will mark the 40th anniversary of the first manned lunar landing with a special event on AO-51. AO-51 will transmit a message commemorating the event Monday, July 20 during evening passes in the U.S. and Europe. The message will be transmitted on the 435.300 MHz FM downlink and will contain a Robot 36 SSTV image as well as a voice message.

The Winbook FX turns 13 in 10 days. The Axim X30 will be 4.

I've always appreciated the TV meteorologists who keep an eye on the sky for something more than weather. A quick hint during the evening newscast about a planetary conjunction or lunar eclipse is always welcome here. And the weather man ought to know if it's worth looking up; no point seeking Venus beside a waning moon if it's nothing but clouds up there. So tonight, when WCSH's Roger Griswold specified the start and end times for an overhead pass by the International Space Station, and added that it would be as bright as an "evening star," we made plans to step out into the clear night and crane our necks. He said "southwest" so that's where I was looking. Fortunately A- had motile eyes and said "What's that?" to a solidly bright object racing toward us from the south-southwest. Instantly we were all on it, our first-time view of the ISS blazing in the sun. Boy, that thing cruises!

The host of A Celtic Sojourn on WGBH radio also hosted last night's event at the Berklee Performance Center. Quite an enjoyable evening with... Maura O'Connell (and her accompanists, John and...?) Masters of the Celtic Harp (Gráinne Hambly and Billy Jackson) Lóchrann (Diarmaid Ó hAlmhain, Caoilfhionn Ní Fhríghil, Aoife Greene, Eibhlin Healy, Pauric Stapleton, Brian Shinners; good luck in Philadelphia, Brian) Folk Arts Quartet (Ivonne Hernandez, Hannah Read, Julie Metcalf, Liz Davis Maxfield) Donnchadh Howard and...? Kieran Jordan and friends

I did the Great Backyard Bird Count this weekend. First time in a few years. Last time, I think, was on the Big Island. Big difference in species composition between the two sites! Over the weekend (F-Su-M), I noted 22 species from our yard. The Pine Siskin irruption this year is massive and we have hosted a few for several weeks now. Daily high counts were 25-7-14. Common Redpolls arrived just in time for the count, with 6-1-2 enjoying the thistle/niger/nyjer. We've got Song (1), American Tree (3), and White-throated (1) Sparrows hanging out, and for the first time this winter a Hairy Woodpecker came to the suet usually reserved for the Downies. Most of my counting has been through the windows, but while I was outside on Sunday a Pine Grosbeak whistled from atop the spruce and this afternoon a lone Bohemian Waxwing made an appearance at the top of a creekside tree (that's only the second time I've seen a 'PIGR' in the yard and the first 'BOWA' for more th...

Suggested by Alan WA4SCA. Prompting Charlie N5TD to recommend a course offered by MetEd (Meteorology Education and Training) : Space Weather Basics.

On first listen and a half, a stellar submission. Thanks, X.