May 1998 South Texas PIO Report Media Hits Lots of hits in the Austin area for May. Fulmore Middle School's Amateur Radio club made a contact with the Mir space station and the media showed up in force. A preliminary report from one of the main organizers is included at the end of this report. The following hits were observed: Newspaper article: 5/12/98, Austin American Statesman Radio coverage: 5/11/98, KLBJ-AM in their news segment and an interview later that afternoon. TV coverage: KTBC, 5PM news 5/11/98, 8AM news 5/12/98 KVUE, 10PM news 5/11/98 KXAN, 10PM news 5/11/98 Two of the news organizations also posted their information on their web pages: The Austin American Statesman's coverage: http://www.Austin360.com/news/001metro/05may/12/mirtalk12.htm# KXAN-TV's coverage: http://www.kxan.com/news_x.php?title=Students%2520Visit%2520Space&newsdate=894866265 In addition the Associated Press was also in attendance. The Dallas Morning News picked up the story and there are rumors that CNN did as well. New PIO James Hall (KC5OFV) has hit the ground running. He spread the word to the media about the South Texas Amateur Repeater Club's open house on May 28th. He got the event listed in the local newspaper's and radio station's calendar of events. Great job! Media Traffic Roger Wines (W5WIA) submitted an article with pictures to QST about the Fulmore Middle School MIREX contact. He is also in the process of reviewing the raw video footage of the event with an eye towards editing it into a 30 minute program suitable for viewing on cable TV or at Amateur Radio club meetings. Training Don't forget that there will be a PIO session at the Austin Summerfest this August 1. Martha Underwood (N2VRF) will be presenting some real-world information about the Jarrell tornado as well as tips on how to get more media coverage for Amateur Radio. This will provide a wonderful opportunity to meet some of the other PIO's in the section and share ideas. So please plan on attending. Recruitment I'm trying to follow through on a possible new PIO recruit in the Kerreville area. No word back yet though. Upcoming Events Jun 27-28 Field Day Jul 31 Summerfest (Austin) - See training section above. Oct ?? Simulated Emergency Test Obviously the next "big thing" is Field Day. With about a month to go it is definately time to start contacting your local media and letting them know about your local club's plans! Please let me know what you intend to do to cover these or any other events! Samples press releases are available on the STX PIO web page. Please send me your comments and suggestions! 73, Robert Barron, KA5WSS ---------------------------------------------------------- This is a preliminary report of the Fulmore Middle School, Austin, TX Mir contact of May 11, 1998 between Andy Thomas (R0MIR) and N5FQM. Using new frequencies on two meters provided the morning of the pass, the students, faculty and members of the Austin Amateur Radio Community waited anxiously as AOS approached at 11:42 am CDT. The school contact, Joe Farley (N5FQM), the current Texas Teacher of the Year, called Andy, starting about a minute before predicted AOS. Just after the second or third call, the contact phone rang at the control console. We all had a good laugh. It broke the tension. But alas, it was not Andy on the phone, but Frank Bauer of NASA. A couple minutes after AOS, Andy’s wonderful Australian voice boomed over the room speakers. “N5FQM, this is R0MIR”. Andy had been tied up with Moscow Mission Control. He apologized for the delay and the questions began. About seven or eight students asked questions and received answers from Andy. We suffered a couple deep fades. Also a longer loss of signal on both ends as Mir passed almost directly over Austin, probably due to antenna patterns or polarization mismatch. Just before theoretical LOS, the Mir signal faded away. Media coverage was extensive. Three of the four network TV stations (KVUE, KXAN and KTBC) covered the event and all aired the coverage on one or more evening news shows. In addition, radio station KLBJ provided coverage. The Austin American-Statesman and the Associated Press represented the print media. The audio was carried on the local 147.06 repeater. The Austin ATV group provided videotaping of the event and the school’s media department had their Youth-VUE group provide closed circuit coverage throughout the school. Over 100 persons were in attendance in the Library where the contact was made and a thousand others watched via closed circuit TV in their classrooms. The school district provided a video projection system on which we showed a map of the world and showed the ground track of Mir and its coverage circle. Access to the students and supporting personnel was provided to the media for over half an hour after the pass and closing comments were made. A number of the student’s interviews were carried on TV. Radio equipment: Transmitter: Icom IC-275 Receiver: Icom IC-R7000 Antennas: M2 and HyGain CP 2m beams with Yaesu G5400 az-el rotator Computer Control: The Station Program in SAREX/MIR mode controlling Doppler and antenna direction. Auxiliary equipment: Another computer was used for an overhead display. Audio mixer. The mixer provided audio to the room speakers and a tape recorder. Input to the mixer was from the receiver record output and from an auxiliary radio tuned to the transmit frequency. A complete report will be completed in a few days. -- Ron Parsons W5RKN