Nice to hear that and Congratulations to you John!
On Thu, Aug 22, 2013 at 11:08 PM, John Papay <f...@papays.com> wrote: > Some of the active grid chasers on the birds are aware > that KA6SIP just gave me my last USA grid when he operated > from CN72 in Oregon. And I thought it might be interesting > to look at the stats and how one manages to work and confirm > all 488 USA lower 48 States grids. > > Satellite operators come and go and grids come and go with them. > A grid might have a very active operator in it and then it is > off the air when that person goes away for whatever reason. > Interestingly, about half of the 488 grids that were worked were > from those operating portable, not in the sense of using a radio > with batteries, but in the traditional sense of operating away from > their home station location. Once you have experienced being on the > other end of a small pileup, you will want to do it again. Just ask > W7LRD who tried it recently and is planning another trip. Here is > a list of operators who exited the comfort of their home station and > put a grid on the air. The callsign is followed by the number of new > grids they gave me towards the goal of working all 488. Others may have > been worked but these totals represent the first time a new grid was > confirmed. > > ND9M 54 > WD9EWK 27 > WC7V 19 > KD4ZGW 16 > KB0RZD 10 > KC0YBM 9 > AA5CK 8 > KA6SIP 8 > KD8COQ 8 > N5ZNL 7 > W6GMT 7 > N0JE 6 > N2SPI 6 > WA4NVM 5 > KB5WIA 4 > KB9BIT 4 > KC0ZHF 4 > KK0SD 4 > AA5PK 3 > K7CWQ 3 > UT1FG 3 > W6ZKH 3 > WA6ARA 3 > WA7HQD 3 > WA8SME 3 > AC0ZA 2 > AJ9K 2 > K0BAM 2 > K7DRA 2 > K7TRK 2 > KA0RID 2 > KC2LRC 2 > KE7DOV 2 > N3TL 2 > N5AFV 2 > > Jim, ND9M, is a seasoned grid expeditioner. Along with working > satellites he is also active on the county hunters nets. Most of > his activity was between 2009 and 2011. He was also active from a > cargo ship and gave out the very rare DM02. Jim would travel for > months at a time and worked from a few hundred grids. Most of that > operating was done on FM birds rather than linear ones. It was > great to have many daily fm passes when AO-27 and AO-51 were active. > HO-68 and SO-67 were in the mix for a while too. 54 new grids came > from Jim and he tops the list. > > Most everyone knows Patrick WD9EWK. He has done a lot of traveling > both in the US and Canada and he gave me 27 new grids. He was very > active on the birds until recently. He was an alternate on the AMSAT > Board of Directors and was recently appointed to oversee the AMSAT > Area Coordinator program. He virtually has no home station and most > all local contacts were made from a park near his apartment in Phoenix. > He knows how to do it and he is a meticulous planner. > > Next on the list is Kerry WC7V. He lives in sparsely populated Montana > and travels around by car and in his light aircraft. He went to many > grids at my request and made a lot of us very happy by operating from > many rare locations. He is in slot number 3 with 19 grids. > > Next on the list is Rob KD4ZGW/m. Rob drove an 18 wheeler and we all > heard him on a satellite one day. He didn't know his grid square but > he knew his milepost on the interstate. From there we had the grid > square. Rob went on to improve his mobile station and activated over > 100 grid squares. He is no longer driving on long hauls and has not > been active for some time. He is fourth on the list with 16 grids. > > The next three are very special because they all became new operators > during the quest to work all 488. Gail KB0RZD is very active today, > usually operating with a handie-talkie. He went to 10 grids around him > and sent some photo qsl cards that were just outstanding. KC0YBM operated > from his home location for a long time before I realized he was very > close to other grids. Chris didn't have portable equipment so I suggested > he look into an AC inverter for the car. He did just that and soon he > was operating portable from some new grids. This speaks to the ham radio > culture that you find a way to operate with what you have. Chris continues > to be active and hands out grids in the US and Canada. And then there > is Ted, AA5CK. He has operated in grids around his home qth as well as > some rare ones in New Mexico. He lives in EM04, not far from EM05 where > I made my first grid expedition contact with KD8CAO from EM05 in front of > the White Dog Ranch on old Route 66. I remember Ted's first sat contact. > > There are a few very special operators that can't be left out. My son, > KD8CAO, provided 8 new grids for his dad. He knows how to operate > portable and gives out the grids when he travels. Then there was > Richard N2SPI. I asked him about some grids in Maine that hadn't been > on and he took the challenge and drove to all of them, getting back to > his dad's place during the first snow of the season. Dave KB5WIA made > quite the trip by backpacking into CM79. It took two trips to transport > the equipment into the grid. He has a video of it on youtube. > > I started with satellites in June 2006 and only had 47 USA grids by August > 2008. From August 2008 till Jan 2009 I worked another 109. In 2009 199 > were worked. 2010 was 76 and 2011 was 44. Only 4 new grids were worked > in 2012 and 9 were snagged in 2013. Eight of those final 9 grids were > handed out by Tom KA6SIP. He heard about the need and decided to make a > grid expedition to put them on the air. He did 7 of them in one trip. > Then Bob W7LRD went to the beach in CN77, operating away from home for > the first time. That left CN72. Tom just got back from Hawaii and quickly > made plans to camp out in CN72 and gave me the final grid on AO-7B, 20 > August > 2013 at 2332z. Then he put CN71 on the air on 22-23August, also a very > rare grid square but one that I already had. Many others worked him there. > > There is no award for working all 488 grids on satellites as there is > for six meters (FFMA). The ARRL awards committee has looked at it and will > implement it if someone on the Board of Directors brings it up for a vote > and it passes. Hopefully that will happen soon. Having that type of award > gives everyone something to work for. It promotes grid expeditions and > interest in working through the satellites. If we all contact our > ARRL Director, it might just happen. > > There may be others who have already worked all 488 grids on satellites. > K6YK might be one of them. I know there are several others who are > getting close. It is not any easy thing to accomplish even if you operate > every day. It is something you can work towards over the years. > > I want to thank everyone that made satellite contacts with me that > ultimately > led to working all 488. Many went out of their way to put on a grid. Over > half of the grids worked were from grid expeditions! If you haven't > experienced > operating away from home, please consider it. With new operators showing > up > on the birds every day, there is always a need for an uncommon grid. And > you > will have a lot of fun doing it! Just ask anyone on my list. > > 73, > John K8YSE > > ______________________________**_________________ > 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<http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb> > _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. 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