New UK Member

bobb (bobb@radal.demon.co.uk)
Mon, 14 Dec 1998 21:34:28 -0000

Dear all,
I'd like to introduce myself.
My name is Bob Blewett and I live in the South West of the UK - Dilton Marsh, Westbury, Wiltshire.
I am thirtysomething, married with three children and work for a software house in Bath specialising in CAD/CAM systems.
Like most people I guess, I spend most of my day stressed out dealing with problem after problem.
As a method of relaxing, I undertook Astronomy about 10 years or so ago,  welcoming the opportunity to get outside and be with the elements (no pun intended!). 
It has been purely by chance that I became interested in the visual observation of satellites.
I am a keen user of PC based Astronomy programs, and have been using a package called Guide for about 4 years now.
The latest version (Guide 7) includes tracking of satellites.  I received the latest version about 2 weeks ago, and on the same day made my first predicted sighting of a satellite - Lacrosse 2.  I was stunned that the software was able to do this with such accuracy.
Does anybody else use Guide?.  This is not a plug, but details can be found at http://www.projectpluto.com.
I am continually pestered by my kids to go outside and see more satellites - maybe a reason to stay up late, I'm not sure!
I am now hooked, and have been "lurking" in this email group since then. I have also read every quite a few FAQs, along with getting TLE's from OIG, Celestrak etc.  - all excellent stuff.
I suspect that most of my queries as of the short term should be directed at the Usenet - sci.astro.satellites.visual.observe.
Is this the best approach considering my inexperience?
I am interested in communicating with other UK based observers.
Thanks for listening  
BobB
bobb@radal.demon.co.uk