Making Memories

I recently stumbled upon my QSL Card box, and in it, I found an article clipping my mother had kept when I was in HS.

I was a nerd in school and could always be found in the computer lab or electronics shop. If you read about me, you’d know I got my amateur license in 1991 and became so involved in my hobby that I helped start a Ham Radio Club in my High School to get a teacher pass to play radio! Just kidding!

So back to the article…

The local club PART furnished us with a VHF radio and a vertical antenna mounted on the roof. We were given a radio room just off the shop area when we established the club. Now around that time, NASA had several shuttle missions with ham radio gear and licensed astronauts on the shuttle. They were doing scheduled windows where hams could try to make contact with the Atlantis.

It’s been a long time since that contact, and the details are a bit hazy, but I remember that we had gotten wind that the Atlantis would be overhead in a tiny window during the school day.

I remember I got special approval from my electronics teacher to remain in the radio room during the window as the other two students had made attempts earlier in the week but were unsuccessful in making contact.

But I was determined to make a go at it. I listened through all that static, waiting for an opening and watching the tracking software count the clicks till it came into view.

As it neared the window opening, I listened intently through the noise floor, waiting to hear the club callsign come back (N5WQC) from the shuttle. Then it rang out, we confirmed with a signal report, and it was gone.

We were only 1 of 5 or six stations to make contact with the Atlantis, and that memory will forever be something to cherish and further me on to making more memories with other hams in the future.