Montoring the Space Shuttle Launch With a Handheld Scanner

I have been preoccupied with monitoring the Imperial Sugar Refinery explosion and fire operations for the last week, but I did want to mention a good Space Shuttle catch that I had during the launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis back on 7 February.

I was just getting off from work in Rincon, GA around launch time that afternoon, so I decided to try listening to the Shuttle launch on a handheld scanner. When monitoring the launch from home I can usually hear 5-7 transmissions over an approximately 10 minute period. I idn't expect to hear nearly as much with the portable, but I was pleasantly surprised. Using the BC396 tuned to 259.700 with the stock antenna I heard 3 transmissions including the "negative return" and "press to MECO" calls.

This is good for many of those buying the newer digital scanners that have military UHF capability. Even with just a handheld, anyone with 225-400 mhz capability can catch some communications from the Space Shuttle.

Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net