[amsat-bb] 900 Satellite Grids Worked

[John Papay]

Thanks to Angelo N5UXT for posting the news and
to all of you who sent emails and posts.

Working grids on the birds is akin to working DX
on the HF bands.  The hunt is always on and you never
know what might pop up when you least expect it.

The big jump in my totals is primarily due to two
dedicated satellite grid expeditioners, namely Jim
ND9M & ND9M/MM and Yuri UT1FG/MM.  Water grids are hard
to come by, especially in the quantities that these two
operators have activated.  Their operations have given
new life to the birds and although there has been QRM,
that's part of the hobby.  We are not talking on cellphones
here.

There are countless other operators that have activated grids
away from their home in that total.  After the excitement we
sometimes forget about the sacrifices they made to give us new
grids to work.  I won't mention callsigns lest I leave some out,
but thanks to all of you that travel around.  Even if you just
go to one grid away from home, you'll likely give someone a new
one.  It's great fun and you will have just as much excitement
doing it as the operators have who work you.

It is good to see all of the activity on the birds, both FM
and Linear.  It's just one of the many facets of ham radio.
Thanks again to all of you that helped me get to 900!

73,
John K8YSE