Space Shuttle Discovery Landing

Yesterday morning, I had hopes of getting a visual on the Shuttle Discovery as well as hearing it as it passed off of the Brunswick coast en route to landing at the Kennedy Space Center. Weather conspired against that attempt and it was scrubbed, leading to a 9:08 AM landing at the Space Center. The 9:08 landing path came across south Georgia well west of Brunswick, so I decided to still give hearing it a try. I set the BC-780 in the car on 259.700 AM and opened the squelch, a few minutes later I caught the first of 4-5 transmissions. None of the transmissions I caught were very strong, but they were quite readable. What I was hearing was about 1 second ahead of what was coming across the audio feed from NASA TV and an online scanner that Dan, KF4MND was providing via the 442.700 repeater in Savannah.

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

Shuttle Atlantis Launch

This afternoon, I went out with the BC396 to catch the Shuttle Atlantis launch. Surprisingly, I caught more with the HT here in Brunswick than I have with the base setup in Savannah. I don't know whether to attribute that to location or launch trajectory. Future launches may indicate which is the answer. A few minutes after launch, as usual, I began picking up the transmissions; the last one I could make out was "single engine past 104."

Portable in Brunswick, GA

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

Shuttle Atlantis Launch Photos

Initial Liftoff of Shuttle Atlantis just after 1401 Local.

Shuttle Atlantis continues liftoff.

Shuttle Atlantis continues to space, passing behind clouds that obscured the solid rocket booster seperation.

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Shuttle Launch Trip

This morning, I'll be riding down to the Kennedy Space Center area with Guy, K4GTM to catch the launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. It will be my first attempt to see a launch live, so hopefully there isn't a scrub. With eight hours to go on the countdown, things are looking good.

I've packed the BC396, DJX10T, VX-5, and IC-91AD in my pack and have programmed a good bit of stuff for the way down. I'll post a report tonight or more likely tomorrow.

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net

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

Space Shuttle Endeavour Launch

The Space Shuttle Endeavour launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida this evening at 1836 local time. I've had no luck monitoring HF communications using my indoor setup despite Al Stern's excellent postings on the email groups but I was able to get five good transmissions out of the UHF air-to-ground communications on 259.700:

"Two Engines...."

"Negative Return"

"Press to AG?"

"Single Engine...."

"Press to MECO"

This is about average for what I get from here in Savannah during a shuttle launch: five to six transmissions. There was a sixth transmission between "Single Engine..." and "Press to MECO" but it was quite garbled and I was unable to make it out.

Here's to Good Luck on the the STS-118 Mission.


Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net