[SADXA] W5LFL (SK)

[Wes]

 From the ARRL Letter http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter?issue=2019-04-18

"Astronaut and Pioneer for Amateur Radio in Space Owen Garriott, W5LFL, SK

Owen K. Garriott, W5LFL, the US astronaut who pioneered the use of Amateur Radio 
to make contacts from space, died April 15 at his home in Huntsville, Alabama. 
He was 88. Garriott's ham radio activity ushered in the formal establishment of 
Amateur Radio in space, first as SAREX (the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment), 
and later as ARISS <http://www.ariss.org/> (Amateur Radio on the International 
Space Station).

"Owen inspired legions of Amateur Radio operators worldwide to support human 
spaceflight Amateur Radio endeavors and for countless individuals to become ham 
radio operators," observed ARISS-International President Frank Bauer, KA3HDO.

Garriott, an Oklahoma native, thrilled radio amateurs around the world by making 
the first contacts from space during 10 days aboard /Spacelab-1/ during a 1983 
Space Shuttle /Columbia/ mission. Thousands of hams listened on 2-meter FM, 
hoping to hear him or to make a contact. Garriott ended up contacting stations 
around the globe, among them such notables as the late King Hussein, JY1, of 
Jordan, and the late US Senator Barry Goldwater, K7UGA.

"I managed to do it in my off-duty hours, and it was a pleasure to get involved 
in it and to talk with people who are as interested in space as the 100,000 hams 
on the ground seemed to be," Garriott recounted during an interview published in 
the February 1984 edition of /QST/.

Garriott simply used a handheld transceiver with its antenna in the window of 
/Spacelab-1/. His first pass was down the US West Coast.

"[A]s I approached the US, I began to hear stations that were trying to reach 
me," he told /QST/. "On my very first CQ, there were plenty of stations 
responding." His first contact was with Lance Collister, WA1JXN, in Montana.

Garriott shared a Hamvention Special Achievement Award in 2002 with fellow 
Amateur Radio astronaut Tony England, W0ORE. His son, Richard Garriott, W5KWQ, 
was a private space traveler to the ISS, flown there by the Russian Federal 
Space Agency, and he also carried ham radio into space."

I was one of about 350 hams to make two-way contact with Owen.  I have a 
hand-signed QSL and I was also lucky enough to meet him in person when he 
visited the U of A for an event.

It's interesting that Lance, WA1JXN, is mentioned since he was also mentioned in 
Gene's presentation to the club last night.  He is now W7GJ and a big 6-meter 
EME guy.  In 1983 he and I were both 2-meter EME guys and had worked each other 
both on moonbounce and meteor scatter.

Wes  N7WS