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

[n3tl@bellsouth.net]

Hey Patrick,

You've sold yourself and Robert a few hundred miles short with that estimate of 2,900 miles. That, of course, is the "shortest distance between Point A and Point B" straight-line distance. But each of you had to make it up to AO-51.

At the risk of initiating a major debate here, I believe your QSO actually covered more than 3,240 miles - at the minimum.

As you did, I used BL11cg and, in Orbitron, tracked the range to AO-51 from that grid square during the 02:31 UTC pass last night. The CLOSEST that AO-51 was to BL11cg during that pass (again, according to Orbitron) was at 02:34:21, when the range to the satellite from there was 3,166.273 km (1,967.431 miles). At that same point in the pass, the range to AO-51 from your location (I used the exact coordinates you provided in this email) was 2,053.028 km (1275.692 miles). 

To log a successful QSO, then, the  two of you actually covered a total distance of 5,219.301 km, or 3,243.123 miles. And again, that is the best-case scenario as it applies to Robert's location. Those numbers are based on Orbitron's calculation of the exact second during the pass when AO-51 was closest to Robert. 

Congratulations to you both - again. That is outstanding!

73 to all,

Tim - N3TL

-------------- Original message from "Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)" <amsat-bb at wd9ewk.net>: -------------- 


> 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/ 
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