[amsat-bb] Re: Weekend on the Birds

[Dale Hershberger]

John Papay wrote:
> This past weekend on the birds was second to
> none that I've experienced in the past two
> years.  We had grid dxpeditions on the east and
> west coast, two hamfest demonstrations, the Boy
> Scout Jamboree stations and an Alaska Statehood
> special event station operating.
>
> Patrick, WD9EWK, was at the Old Pueblo Radio Club
> Hamfest in Tucson and made a big detour to continue
> down I-10 to the Arizona/New Mexico state line where he
> operated from in the afternoon.  Doug, KD8CAO, was at
> the Holland Michigan Lakeshore Super Swap Hamfest and
> put on a demonstration there.
>
> Mark WA8SME operated on one AO-27 pass from the DN00/DN01
> grid boundary, two very rare Nevada grids.  John W6ZKH
> operated from DM07 but had some trouble with his equipment
> on this particular pass.  He said he will go back some day.
> Mark also said he might be able to operate from DM07 in the
> near future.
>
> Then we had the Boy Scouts Jamboree on the Air with quite a
> few different stations operating on all of the FM birds including
> K2BSA/5, W0S, K5B etc.
>
> The most prominent grid dxpedition this weekend was by Richard,
> N2SPI.  He had originally planned to operate from FN53, FN56,
> FN57, FN66 and FN67 but he found a way to also operate from FN55
> and FN65 as well.  He worked on the FM birds as well as VO-52.
> This operation began Saturday morning and finished up Sunday afternoon,
> about 30 hours from the first qso until the last on AO-27 at 1853z.
> Richard operated at least one pass in each of seven grids and never
> operated on a grid boundary.  This was quite a trip!  Richard
> returned back to Massachusetts late Sunday night.
>
> The weekend rounded out with an announcement to look for KL5O, an
> Alaska Special Event Station, on the birds.  The AO-7 pass Sunday
> evening at 0043Z had at least 14 different stations operating
> including WV9E, KE5GFJ, WA4NVM, AA4FL, AA5PK, K6CDW, KE2CKO, K0OU,
> K3SZH, AJ9K, KD8CAO, W7LRD, K8YSE and KL5O!  KL5O was down around
> 937 late in the pass.  So if you think that there is no one on AO-7,
> this should put that thought to rest. Many of them were talking about
> KL5O.  A special event does draw people to the birds just like it
> does on the HF bands.  Of course working Alaska is a special treat
> under any situation. I believe KL7XJ was the operator.
>
> Activity is on the rise on the SSB  birds in general.  Many that have
> been active on the FM birds are getting equipment set up for the
> SSB/CW birds. It's nice to be able to have a qso that involves more
> than a callsign and grid exchange.  We hope to have FO-29 back soon
> but VO-52 and AO-7 are there for us every day.
>
> A big thanks to all of the grid dxpeditioners who spent a lot of time
> and money operating from places away from their homes.  They have given
> us many new grids.  I hope this encourages others to try their hand
> at operating from other grids.  It's a lot of work but you will have
> a lot of fun and satisfaction doing it.
>
> 73,
> John K8YSE
>
>
> John Papay
> john at papays.com
>
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>   
Hi John,

Yes it was a busy weekend and yes it was I, KL7XJ operating as KL5O 
special event station.  I was
the only Satellite op from Alaska. We  had numerous HF stations on state 
wide.  This our states 50th statehood
anniversary year.  I was contacted shortly before and asked to do the 
satellite ops.  Did not have much time
to get a message out to let folks know about the event.   The dates were 
selected as the anniversary
when the US purchased Alaska from Russia for  2 cents an acre. 
I want to thank all the stations that participated.  I know there were 
others that were trying to get the
contact.  Again I apologize for not getting more info out in time..   
The www.KL5O.com website will
have the QSL info.  My logs have been submitted.

73,
Dale - KL7XJ