Hey, Jim:
  After all this posting about satellite-tracking programs, I actually heard 
Mir last night!!  In fact, it was the Russian Commander, Valerie Korzun that 
I heard; American Astronaut John Blaha was also on the air, I'm told, but I 
missed that transmission.  The tracking program showed that Mir had just 
passed overhead, and I was tuned into the downlink freq I mentioned to you 
(145.200 Mhz) and heard a guy (who distinctly sounded like Commander Chekov 
from Star Trek) calling "CQ" (the Ham slang for inviting transmissions from 
any interested radio operator).  At first I wasn't 100% sure of who it was, 
since that *is* a 2-Meter Ham freq, and - theoretically - it could have been 
a local call.  But today I received the following e-mail (which I've posted 
for you at the end of this message) from an AMSAT Ham who made voice contact 
with Mir during the same timeframe.  Seems like midnight or later (your time, 
EST) is when they're up and active.  Give a listen - and good luck!
Cheers, Frank
           ------------- CROSS POST FROM AMSAT -----------------
 12-16-96 07:17:52
 Subj: MIR CONTACT - JOHN BLAHA KC5TZQ
We're at an unusual point in Mir's orbit now, where the ascending passes
occur close to the end of the crew's work day, and the decending passes
occur around when the wake up.
So it's quite possible to talk to the cosmonauts shortly before they go to
bed, and shortly after they wake up.
Mir 22 commander Valeri Korzun was working quite a few stations during the
ascending node passes on Sunday evening, and I was lucky enough to get
through.
He was at it again on the decending passes, after he woke up.  After a
while John Blaha KC5TZQ came on the radio, and promptly asked if anybody
listening knew the score from the Dallas Cowboys / New England Patriotts
game.
*sigh* - next time I go on the Web and check the scores before each Mir pass!
 Philip Chien, KC4YER
 Earth News - space writer and consultant
 note new E-mail address - pchien@digital.net
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