On Tuesday, April 28, members of the club came to see or help with our first Earth-Moon-Earth contact attempt. After weeks of preparation with several members helping assemble antennas, mount rotors, and load software, it all finally came together and worked (well, the equipment all worked, but we didn’t get a contact). We will try again on May 26. Many thanks to Marek KB1NCG, Bob K5TEC, Marty KC1CWF, and Nick W3BER for leading the way.
The attempt was hampered somewhat by the gusty winds that evening that were gusting to as high as 25 MPH. With the wind we had to add additional guy lines to buckets of water to help keep the setup stable. It handled the winds quite elegantly and the setup was overall a great success. This definitely showed off the engineering aspects of STEM within amateur radio.
Videos: Marek, KB1NCG, explains EME to the kids and others attending.
Marek, KB1NCG, working on the antenna setup.
Astronaut Donald Thomas joined the Clay Center Amateur Radio club when he met Bob K5TEC at a Space Expo in Connecticut and heard about the club. An amateur radio operator himself, Dr. Thomas, KC5FVF, was pleased to hear that so many of our youth are getting into amateur radio. He talked about how he used the radio station on board the International Space Station to talk to students on the earth.