[amsat-bb] WD9EWK from DM54/DM55 - report

[Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)]

Hi!

Yesterday's road trip out to DM54/DM55 had been on my mind since my
July 2008 road trip around northern Arizona.  I have worked from most
of the Arizona grids, and had thought I would need to make a multi-
day road trip along the Arizona/New Mexico border to reach these two 
grids.  After lots of looking at maps, I found a couple of spots near
the I-40 freeway in eastern Arizona that could be reached in a day-
trip from Phoenix.  I e-mailed a few people, asking if they needed
either grid (or both) and if they were available to be on the radio
if I went out there.  Things fell in place, leading to yesterday's 
558.8-mile/899km road trip. 

After spending some time this morning transferring the QSOs from my
mini-logbook to my log spreadsheet, I saw that I made a total of 69
QSOs.  I worked 4 passes from the DM54bx/DM55ba grid boundary (2 
AO-27 passes, 1 pass each on AO-51 and SO-50), and one shallow AO-51 
pass from a location northeast of the grid boundary in grid DM55ba.
The location that was not on the grid boundary was a different sort 
of boundary - the line between Navajo and Apache counties.  There 
were 56 QSOs made at the grid boundary, and 13 more from the county
line.  

For all of these passes, I used my normal FM-satellite setup when 
I do these road trips - Icom IC-2720H 2m/70cm FM mobile transceiver, 
Elk Antennas handheld 2m/70cm log periodic, Sony ICD-P620 digital 
audio recorder.  I had another mobile radio as a backup (Yaesu 
FT-8800R) as well as assorted HTs I could have used in case of a 
problem with the IC-2720H.  

Here's a summary of activities from the two locations...

*****

east of Goodwater, Arizona, along old US-66 east of I-40 exit 303 in
Navajo County (grids DM54bx and DM55ba)
35 0.000 N 109 53.745 W


In recent weeks, I had identified this area as the easiest way to 
work from DM54/DM55 in a day-trip.  This area is approximately 50 
miles/80km west of the Arizona/New Mexico border, where there is a
portion of the old US-66 highway next to the I-40 freeway.  I was 
able to park at an Indian trading post to be on this grid boundary.
This part of Arizona is on a plateau, a desert without cactus, but 
this particular spot is lower than the surrounding area.  Except for
shallow passes to the east or west (below 10 degrees elevation), it 
worked well.  

Once I parked and took the photos to establish my location, I waited
for the first of two AO-27 passes at 2046 UTC.  This old satellite 
has been performing well lately, and this was a busy pass covering 
almost all of North America while the repeater was on.  I was able to
work 21 stations during this pass, so I guess there was some interest
in this location.  :-)  The second AO-27 pass to the west at 2226 UTC
was not as crowded, with 8 more QSOs going into the log.  This pass
was the only time I worked a Canadian station at DM54/DM55 (VA6BMJ).

Later in the afternoon, I worked two more passes from this spot - an
AO-51 pass at 0042 UTC, followed by an SO-50 pass at 0137 UTC.  The
AO-51 pass was a very high pass, with maximum elevation of 75 degrees
at that location.  Other than a 3-minute span just after the midpoint
of the pass when I could not hear myself through the satellite, this
was another good pass - 17 more QSOs, with stations from all over the
US and a couple of Mexicans.  SO-50 at 0137 UTC put 10 more QSOs in 
the log, with more stations across the US plus a Mexican station. 
This made a total of 56 QSOs logged at the DM54bx/DM55ba grid 
boundary, not bad for a handful of passes during a single afternoon.  

I had mentioned before the trip that I might try working an earlier
AO-51 pass from this spot.  Had I stayed here, I would not have had
a chance to see/hear the satellite, due to the local surroundings. 
That's why I moved up the road a few miles/km for that pass, and I 
apologize if that meant some of you were not able to work both of 
these grids while I was out there.  There will be other trips I can
make to this area, now that I know of a quick way to get to DM54 when
there is no snow in northern or eastern Arizona.

*****

Navajo/Apache county line in eastern Arizona, along old US-66 3.4 
miles/5.5km east of I-40 exit 303 (grid DM55ba)
35 1.122 N 109 50.694 W


Between the two AO-27 passes, I drove around the area to find a spot
where I could possibly attempt a 7-degree AO-51 pass at 2306 UTC.  
This location was northeast of the grid-boundary spot, with a nice 
clear view down to the horizon toward the northeast - where AO-51 
would be.  Since the grid-boundary spot was not a location I could 
have tried a shallow pass, I had a choice.... move to a better spot, 
or take a long break between the last AO-27 pass and the high AO-51 
pass around 0042 UTC.   Not wanting to lose a chance to make QSOs and
give out at least one of these two grids, I went down the road for 
this pass. 

The county line was at a cattle guard on the road.  I found a marker 
on one side of the road that appeared to mark the county line, and 
saw the signs on each side of the cattle guard announcing the county 
names.  I took a series of pictures of the area including where I 
parked my truck, along with pictures of my GPS receiver's display.  
Once I did all of that, I drove away until just before the AO-51 
pass.  

A couple of minutes before the start of the pass, I drove back onto 
the cattle guard and set up my station.  I was surprised at how soon
into the pass I could hear the AO-51 downlink.  The increased power
made a difference!  I was able to work several minutes of the pass, 
logging 13 QSOs.  A better way to spend that time, instead of driving
to a nearby truck stop for an early dinner (I did that later).  

*****

It was nice to have the additional power on the AO-51 downlink.  That
helped me with the shallow pass at 2306 UTC, where I heard it earlier
than on a similar pass last month up in Utah.  AO-27 has been working
well, and I had no problems on the SO-50 pass I worked up there.  I 
did not stay out there for the later passes on AO-51 and SO-50, since
I would have had to find another location with a better view to the 
west for a 9-degree AO-51 pass.  The 3.5-hour drive home was also on 
my mind.  There will be other times I head out there, now that I have
a nice spot where I can park and be off the road at the DM54/DM55 
grid boundary.

I am printing QSL cards for yesterday's trip now, and those cards - 
along with other cards from my road trip last month - will start 
going to the post office tomorrow.  If you worked me yesterday and 
want to receive a QSL card for any QSOs, please e-mail me directly
with the information for each QSO.  If you're in my log, I will send
the card(s) for those QSO(s). 

Thanks to AMSAT's AO-51 Operations Group for having another weekend
on AO-51 with a V/U voice repeater mode, as well as for the increased
power on the 435.300 MHz downlink.  As K8YSE mentioned in a recent 
post to the -BB, stations on the FM satellites from unusual/rare 
locations draw more activity to these passes.  And, as always, thanks
to all the stations who made contacts with WD9EWK yesterday.  

73!




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