Hi! Thanks for all the QSOs when I was out at the DM32xx/DM42ax grid boundary south of Phoenix yesterday afternoon. Normally the Arizona heat is a dry heat, but there was enough humidity mixed with the 104F/40C heat that I didn't stay out there the whole afternoon. I worked two AO-27 passes, followed by one pass each on FO-29 and AO-51, before heading back to Phoenix. Before and after that quick road trip, I did some operating from my "home QTH", a Phoenix city park on the DM33xp/DM43ap grid boundary. I will send out QSL cards from yesterday's activity tomorrow morning. If there isn't an SASE in the envelope, there's no need to send a card back to me. For a few, I have included an SASE, as I would like to receive your QSL card in that case. I uploaded yesterday's QSOs to LOTW last night, and have seen a few QSLs out of those QSOs already.
Before I drove out to DM32xx/DM42ax, I tried AO-7 in mode A from the city park in the morning. I had played around with this during Field Day last month, and I was determined to complete a QSO this time. I had no problems hearing the downlink using an FT-817ND with a Buddipole portable dipole in an "L" configuration on its tripod and 8-foot mast. I heard Leo W7JPI calling CQ. He was very easy to hear, and I proceeded to line up on his frequency. After a couple of minutes, we made a quick QSO. Thanks, Leo, for pulling me out of the noise! I need to work on either more antenna gain than what I have from my FT-817ND and Elk log periodic on the 2m uplink, or more transmitter power, so I can have a better signal on the mode A transponder. Or just confine my attempts to higher passes, as yesterday's pass was only up about 19 degrees from the horizon. During the AO-51 pass just after 2200 UTC yesterday afternoon out at the DM32xx/DM42ax boundary, I worked KO6E for my 10,000th satellite QSO as WD9EWK. Thanks, Merv, for the quick contact - even though I wasn't in Utah, Nebraska, or any of the other places you were looking for on the satellites. With the exception of possibly a dozen or so of the QSOs, all have been completed with portable equipment and not from a home/fixed station. Except for a pair of QSOs on SO-35 in 2000 and one QSO on UO-14 in 2003, all of my satellite QSOs have been made since December 2005, when I first worked AO-51. Lots of hot summer afternoons (like yesterday), some cold days, and some nights - all out trying to make QSOs, and having fun. :-) 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@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
