[amsat-bb] CO60 (or *maybe* CO50/CO60) tomorrow

[Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)]

Hi!

I had planned on going to CO60/CO70 today, but could not find
a good spot to work satellites out there.  Lots of trees, hills,
and being stuck at the bottom of valleys looking at obstructions
up to almost 30 degrees of elevation to the east and southeast 
would have been no fun.  I came back to Campbell River, where I 
spent last night after crossing the ferry from Vancouver, and 
went to the (very) nearby CN79/CO70 boundary.  There is a 
monument near that spot, erected by the local Rotary group, to
mark the 50th parallel.  My GPS claimed the monument was just a
little north of the actual line, and I spent the day working from
that area.  Being in Campbell River, I could simply take a short
drive to get lunch and not have to pack food with me if I spent
the day out in the forest not wanting to come back to town.  

I worked at least 13 passes, and logged at least 1 QSO on 11 of 
them.  I worked SSB and FM, shallow passes and very high passes,
and was able to put these grids in the logs of stations all over
North America.  Alvaro XE2AT was *very* happy with getting CO70
in his log this afternoon, and I'm sure there were others happy
with either of both of these grids in their logs.  I logged a 
total of 77 QSOs from CN79jx/CO70ja today.  Adding in the 24 QSOs
I logged last night from Vancouver, this is a great start for the
radio part of my trip.  And I'm doing sightseeing, and taking 
pictures as I go.  

Now for what will probably be the most ambitious driving I will 
do on this trip.  I will go northwest from Campbell River into
grid CO60 to some point where I get a good view of the sky for
satellite work.  If there are good roads beyond the town of 
Port Hardy at the far end of BC route 19, I may even be able
to get out to the CO50/CO60 grid boundary.  Port Hardy is at
least 3 hours away from here, and it could be another hour or
more from Port Hardy to the boundary line if there are roads 
good enough to drive out there.  If I go out there, I have to 
come back from there, so you can imagine the distance I will 
cover (or visit a site like Google Maps to check it out for 
yourself).  Depending on the surroundings at the times for the
passes, I may stop and work some passes on my way to and from
Port Hardy or the CO50/CO60 boundary, for more chances to get
at least CO60 in logs.  

>From what I saw this morning, once I left Campbell River for at
least the first 70km/43 miles or so away from this town, the 
GSM cell coverage went away.  It does not pick up again until I
am most of the way to Port Hardy.  If, for some reason, I do not
get to Port Hardy, the only way to know where I ended up would 
be to work passes in the daytime and early evening tomorrow.  If
I can get a signal on the cell, I should be able to scribble a
quick e-mail here announcing my location.  I will have my gear 
with me for both SSB and FM birds, and with AO-7 hopefully 
switching back to mode B late tomorrow afternoon I may even get
on there before returning to Campbell River in the (late) evening.

As for QSL cards, some have already said they were going to send
me a card immediately.  You may want to wait until after the coming
week, so you can send requests for all QSOs that you may make with
VA7EWK in a single envelope.  For this trip, I would like to get 
QSL cards.  SASEs are not required when working me via satellite, 
and I am happy to respond to QSL cards I receive with or without an
SASE.  I will most likely send out cards with SASEs, as I would like 
to see if I can reach VUCC after this week coupled with the trip I 
made to Vancouver in late 2008.  It could be close.  

Thanks to all for the QSOs today.  It was fun to work the passes
and be in 16C/61F comfort for the entire day in Campbell River.  
Hope to hear you tomorrow from wherever I end up...

73!





Patrick VA7EWK/WD9EWK - Campbell River, British Columbia
http://www.wd9ewk.net/