[amsat-bb] Re: Hawaii BL11 on AO51 today?

[Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)]

Hi!

> Robert - you sounded great here in DM13-land (Riverside, CA).
> Patrick is further east than I am ... how far did you
> communniate???

I don't know exactly where Robert was in Honolulu.  I was
in my favorite Phoenix city park on the DM33xp/DM43ap
grid boundary - 33 degrees 38.903 minutes North, 112
degrees West exactly - where I operate from whenever I
say I am in DM33 and DM43:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=33+38.903+N+112+0.00+w&ie=UTF8&ll=33.811102,-112.000122&spn=2.040058,3.872681&t=h&z=8&iwloc=addr&om=0

I held my antenna as high as I could hold it and pointed
it westward, since there is a freeway wall not far from
that spot.  I had a maximum of 15 degrees elevation for
the pass, and Robert mentioned in an e-mail earlier this
afternoon he was only going to have a maximum of 4
degrees elevation on that pass.  He was most likely
working hard for every bit of the satellite he could hear.
Thanks for picking me up, Robert!

Based on estimates for Honolulu (grid BL11cg) and using
my location as mapped in the link above, it appears we
covered a path of just over 2900 miles (almost 4700km)
with that brief contact.  My only other satellite QSO with
the Hawaiian islands was with WH6FC on the "big island"
of Hawaii (grid BK29) back in December 2005.  That QSO
spanned about 2850 miles/4500km from Phoenix, and
Honolulu will be further away from me than anywhere on
the island of Hawaii.

73!




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