Famous Ham Radio Operators.

[Charlie Foxtrot]

FWIW Jimmy Buffett is a ham. I used to listen to him running a maritime net check in from down in the Carribean area around 1800cst (fall/winter, mid-90's). I was chasing a numbers station that used to transmit in Spanish using the same freq same time from Cuba. Best guess based on the directional equipment available at the time - later confirmed when we heard a live Radio Havana announcer in the background when you could clearly hear a door open in the background, then ceased when door closed, all in real time.

As for talking to space shots, when I was a kid, various governmental outfits as well as a local Ham group used to set up tracking & comms equipment on the grounds of Riverbank Labs during the Mercury & Gemini programs (probably Apollo also) whenever there was a launch. My friends and I would wonder down to the labs and hang out till we were chased away by MPs. The local Hams took pity on us & brought us into their operations shack to listen in on the comms. I was hooked. I didn't stop hanging out at the labs until I enlisted. Took code classes, built receivers, antennas, wandered about till my folks would come drag me home.