[amsat-bb] Re: FD Contacts!

[Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)]

Hi!

> I found the FM birds to be much more orderly than in years past.  I
> thought that the one station who was handing out quick contacts to the
> others worked very well.  The REAL annoyance was the guy who was trying
> to play traffic cop over the satellite saying "one contact per station!"
> over and over and over again.

Having only one other Field Day to compare the FM satellites with (last
year), it seemed a little better.  Still with some stations making long HF-
style CQ calls, but I was able to make my contact on each of the FM
satellites (no L-band uplink, otherwise my Field Day log would have
totaled 4 QSOs).

> BTW, did anyone else hear some music being played over SO-50 during the
> first FD pass, at about 1900Z?

Unless it came on after 1902 UTC, I heard nothing on that pass.  I made
my first contact on there, and just replayed my recording to make sure
my memory wasn't faulty.  Just the standard fare of long CQ calls, lots
of stations trying to get through, and some stations making more than one
contact.

Along with a contact on the first SO-50 pass during Field Day, I made
my other contacts on AO-27 Saturday afternoon at 2352 UTC (last
AO-27 pass I could work within Field Day, and I was still in Phoenix
for that pass) and AO-51 at 1618 UTC (last pass I could work during
Field Day).  I was east of Flagstaff AZ, grid DM45fe, in the Walnut
Canyon National Monument, for those AO-51 passes.  I also made
satellite contacts as W7ON, my father-in-law's call, which was the call
we used on HF from his Jeep while driving through central and northern
Arizona.

I had tried to make my AO-51 contact on the Sunday morning pass
at 1435-1445 UTC, but the forest and nearby hills and mountains in
Flagstaff didn't help with the low pass.

73!



Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK
http://www.wd9ewk.net/