Hi John! > Got mine today as well and then worked WA8MSE from his > home QTH for a new grid on AO27 today also! Satellite ops > are the first group I have encounted who will send out a direct > QSL (at their expense for postage) just for an email request. > What an impressive group of ops.
I'll offer an explanation on why I ask for just an e-mail to get a QSL from my road-trip operating... As I started on the satellites in 2006 and 2007, John KD6PAG from northern California would take long road trips across much of the western USA. He wouldn't ask for QSLs or even SASEs for his QSOs on the road. John's only request - if you worked him during one of those trips, send him a QSL card if you work him when he's close to home (grids CM87 or CM88 in northern California). There are others that follow similar approaches, but the way KD6PAG handled his road-trip QSLing works well for me. Unfortunately, I have not heard KD6PAG on the air in over a year. A shame. A good op, and certainly good for helping increase activity on the birds and confirmed grids in many operators' logbooks. As you've seen from my recent road trips, and others have seen in the past year or so, I'm following that theme. Sure, QSL card printing and postage costs money, but I'm already spending for fuel and other expenses to go to these places. Whether it is for one day or part of a larger trip, I'm not going out there to get any rewards that could ever come close to balancing my expenses. I enjoy operating on the satellites, and I'm returning the favor that operators like KD6PAG have done in the past. Some will send me QSL cards with SASEs requesting my card(s), and I do appreciate that. A few will even send along some postage stamps to help with the postage for my QSLing after a road trip. I don't solicit that, but it is appreciated. If I want QSL cards for any of my QSOs, whether I'm on from some location in or near Phoenix or on the road, I'll send out my QSL card with an SASE in the hopes of getting the other station's QSL card. Contrary to a recent comment here on the -BB, grid expeditions can often be the most orderly of passes you can hear on the FM birds. How else can stations in the unusual grid (or grids) work 20 or more stations in a pass? I've worked as many as 28 on one 15-minute AO-51 pass, answering calls from those interested in the grid(s) I am in and calling other stations that happened to be on the pass but didn't call me. More than a few of those stations I've worked when on the road have been relatively new satellite operators. This is in addition to other stations working each other as I listen on the same passes. Yes, there are some passes with a rare grid on that will be chaotic (i.e., K5D). There are other chaotic passes that do not have anyone operating from a rare or unusual grid. That happens from time to time on the radio, and that's not limited to the FM satellites. You hear more of that on HF if there's a DXpedition on from a rare place, or during a contest. It happens, we deal with it, and try to have fun as we go along. Hope to hear you on more in the near future, maybe as I travel to other places. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ _______________________________________________ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
