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Old November 14th 04, 02:14 AM
uncle arnie
 
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Default SW and satellites from out in the bush

I was out at 56 degrees north, 103 W at about 7:30 pm local time, which is
about 3 hours after sunset. Laid out on a beach at -10C (+5 F) with the
waves tinkling the ice along the shore in the dark, with an ocassional
groan as the pack shifted into the beach. In the 40 mins of watching, I
saw 4 satellites tracking east to west and 2 going north to south. It'd be
interesting to have a database of these, so you could tell what you were
seeing. Maybe there's too much junk up there to sort out by time and earth
observation point.

I also saw 2 meteorites, one of which broke into 3 pieces. Very cool. The
milky way was very bright. No artificial light for about 200 miles in any
direction. Just us, the elk and the deer.

SW reception was excellent. Took the travelling radio, the Sangean ATS
606A. Getting FM from 450 miles away. BBC 5975 and RN 6165 came through
without the whip extended. Tons of Spanish stations. Lots of religious
loonies plugging up the air. This was a spectacular reception situation.
Listened mostly with the 23 ft roll-up. Had to temper the listening
though, this was our anniversary trip after all. Nothing like a good
radio, some fine port, a hot tub, some elk bugleing and the woman you love,
in cabin in the woods, with no-one else anywhere nearby (better put the
last of the list first!)