We have arrived in sunny Florida and for the first time, I understand why Fred loves it here so much. I've known this place to be hot and steamy or home to torrential rains and flooded streets. This time, the skies are blue, the grass and trees are green and the weather is simply marvelous.
Our official first destination was the Orlando Hamcation. We reconnected with some folks that we met last summer and are now proud to call them friends.
When Fred finished his presentation at a forum, a gentleman named M. Walter Maxwell came up to meet him. Turns out he had worked for RCA Laboratories and later became a charter member of its new Astro-Electronics Division in Princeton, New Jersey. From 1960 until retirement in 1980, Walter was in charge of Astro's Space Center Antenna Laboratory and Test Range. More than 30 Earth-orbiting spacecraft utilize antennas that were designed solely by Walt, which include the world's first weather satellite, TIROS1. He also designed the the follow-on TIROS-ESSA-NOAA weather satellites, and ECHO 1, the first satellite used in an attempt to achieve global TV. He invented so many other things it would make your head spin around if I continued to list them here like thingys for search and rescue and gizmos to relay signals from emergency locator transmitters aboard aircraft in distress.There is one that I think most of you will remember. He was one of the three-man team that designed the Moon-to-Earth TV dish antenna used on the Moon on Apollo's lunar rover-the moon buggy.
It was an honor to meet someone who designed electronics equipment that sits on the surface of the moon still today. He was a pretty fascinating guy to us and we bought his book which he was eager to autograph. (I barely understand the introduction, and have no clue what “Impedance” Bridges or Evidence of a Conjugate Match are). Most surprising to us was the enthusiasm he showed for the opportunity to meet Fred. He requested a picture of us all together so he could post it on his own website to prove that he had, indeed, met the man who created QRZ.com. Simply astounding!
Next time....True to his word, Fred took me to Disney World
from the road
-robin
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