It was the afternoon of August 19, 2007 when a group of amateur radio enthusiasts converged on the home of Deme (VE7CRT) to visit him in his radio shack. Deme had offered to show the club his satellite operation complete with a computer driven software that controlled his rig to the home built cubical quad antenna array he designed for tracking the fast moving targets. Club members – Stuart (VA7CRH), Lloyd (VE7DLH), Neil(VE7IWR), Karl (VE7KHC), and Eric (VE7EGK) crowded into the room setup for Deme’s radio operations. His facility is very orderly and well organized – a much better laid out facility than the one I have at home!

Deme demonstrated the satellite tracking software he uses and set up for the first satellite (AO-51) to visit with us this evening. Unfortunately we were not able to raise this one this evening. Next we went outside to view his antenna system while we waited for the second satellite to come by. Deme showed us his various antennas and removed the preamp from the circuit in preparation for the second satellite. AO-07 proved to be a bit more cooperative. We heard a few phone conversations and we were able to hear our own echo for the CW Deme sent up for tuning. But this evening we were not able to work any other stations. It was interesting seeing Deme’s station and how he uses it for satellite work.

We then retired from the shack and enjoyed some coffee and snacks while we discussed some of the recent club news events.