Forwarded with permission: I can remember that the Echo 2 satellite from 1964 to 1969 was inclined 86 degrees to the equator. I was so high that from the North pole it could be seen on every pass which was thirteen times a day during the long polar night. I would get dark enough from the pole to be seen from about October 6 to March 6. The Pageos balloon which was inclined 86 degrees would also be visible eight time a day from the pole from about October 11 until the end of February. This was visible from 1966 until most of 1977 was over when it went to pieces. Because Pageos was higher than Echo 2 it could be seen at midnight from Seattle even during the shortest day of the year. If you had a northbound pass about 5:00 PM during the shortest day of the year that passed over Seattle you would get one at 8:00 PM and then about 11:15 PM you would get one going from left to right that would pass 85 degrees north at a point that was directly north of Seattle and when the pass went over the Seattle side of the pole it would be visible low in the North. Then you would get a southbound pass at 2:30 AM and another one at 5:30 AM so five passes were possible. Since passes were visible as late at 7:20 AM would have a chance to fit these in with a little leeway or as early as 4:50 PM. The first pass could be anywhere from 4:50 to 6:50 to get five in. If you got a southbound pass at 4:50 PM you would get another on at 7:50 PM. However the next two passes would not be visible as they would pass the North pole on the opposite side of Seattle. Then another pass would be at 4:20 AM northbound and you might just get in one at 7:20 AM northbound. Watching them this way you could get an eight an a half hour break so you could get decent night sleep although you would have hard for TV viewers as few people had a VCR and you could not get your network shows earlier at night with a satellite as they were all delivered by landline back then. However there were times in during the last of two months of 1970 when it was at the same time every night. Then evening passes occurred at 5:15 and 8:15 PM southbound and morning passes at 4:45 AM northbound. Also during the last two months of 1973 the same thing happened again with a northbound pass 4:30 PM and too light so you would not get an evening pass until 7:30 PM. Then you would get late evening passes southbound at 11:00 PM and early morning passes at 2:00 and 5:00 AM. However I would usually only watch the 7:30 PM and 5:00 AM passes as 11:00 PM would be rather late when you get up at 5:00 AM. These were the average times. On October 28 they were 7:15 and 10:15 and the morning passes at 1:45 and 4:45. By January 5, 1974, the evening passes were 7:45 PM and 11:15 PM with the morning passes at 2:15 and 5:15 AM. On January 6, 1974, all passes jumped an hour later because winter daylight saving time went into effect. This has little effect on what I watched but it sure made my TV viewing more better because I was now getting up at an hour later by the clock and I could watch shows until 11:00 PM. Sincerely, Gary Peterson ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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