[amsat-bb] Hawaii Trip March 22 - April 4th, 2012

[Adrian Engele]

Aloha fellow satellite operators,
 
I am happy to announce that I will be traveling to Hawaii
on March 21st and plan to stay on the Big Island and Oahu for two weeks. My
trip is a primarily a scuba diving and sightseeing trip with my girlfriend,
which means ham radio will be a secondary activity unlike my trip to Kauai in
2010 when I made a big effort to activate BL02 with mixed results.  I will be bringing a limited amount of
satellite gear as I am already loaded with HF equipment and Scuba gear.  I will try to get on the satellites as often
as my schedule permits within our vacation activities.  My primary focus will be on FO-29, VO-52 and
AO-7 Mode B passes.  I may try to get on
SO-50 and AO-27, but the passes on those satellites are short and I will be
focusing less on those satellites. 
 
Here are the current travel plans:
 
March 21st: Fly Chicago to LAX, LAX to Honolulu, Honolulu
to Hilo; arrive late evening.
 
March 22nd to March 25th:  I will be South of Hilo in BK29nn by the water front. This will be the
best time to work stations past central CONUS, perhaps as far East as
Florida.   Opportunities to work VE, KL and some RU/UA
stations will also be possible. Contacts with Japan may be possible but I
suspect I will have blockage from the Mauna Kea Volcano on the Western passes.
I will know more once I am in Hilo.
 
March 26th through April 1st:  I will be in Kailua-Kona in BK29an at a local
resort (March 26/28th) and I will be moving further North to BK29ao to a condo
(March 29th/ April 1st). This will be the best opportunity to work Japan on
FO-29. Based on some early pass evaluations, I see some slim opportunities of
working Northern New Zealand and Eastern Australia (Brisbane/Gold Coast area)
on AO-7. There may be some opportunities to work some West Coast stations on
FO-29, VO-52 and AO-7 on higher elevation passes. There are two 13,000 ft. Volcanoes
blocking the Eastern passes and this will create some logistical issues. There
may be a small chance I can make it over BK19xp. 
 
April 2nd through April 4th: I will on Oahu Waikiki beach
in BL11cg. I expect limited operating due to sightseeing activities and some
blockage from the local mountain range. 
 
I have already had numerous sked requests. I cannot
guarantee that I will be on a specific pass as this will be determined by my
activities schedule, the weather and the anticipated pile-ups, as I am
operating portable. I encourage you to stay tuned via AMSAT BB for schedule
updates.  I also recommend signing up to
my Twitter feed @AA5UK.   I will also be
updating my QRZ.com page in the coming weeks with additional information. 
 
I know activities on satellite from KH6 have been low and
there is great demand for Hawaii for WAS awards. Collectively we will work
together and get as many contacts in our logs as possible.  I highly encourage operators that are new to
working the linear satellites to start learning to operate on SSB now.  Please do not wait until the last minute to
understand the subtleties of operating SSB. It takes some skill and technical
knowhow to properly operate this mode.  I
plan to operate using SatPC but if needed I will operate Doppler manually.   Once we get closer to my trip, I will post
some additional information and operating suggestions that I have learned over
many years of operating from Hawaii and the Cayman Islands.
 
I encourage US and DX operators to send me a note (see email
address at QRZ.com) so I know you need to work me for a WAS award or a DX
contact. I also encourage any interested RU, ZL and VK stations to contact me directly
should a try on AO-7 be of interest.  I
will make an effort to work Japan on FO-29 knowing the preferred local
operating hours.  Stay tuned for
additional information in the coming weeks.
 
Mahalo, Adrian AA5UK