[amsat-bb] My DM23/DM24 road trip on Saturday

[Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)]

Hi!

First of all, many thanks to everyone who worked WD9EWK from the
DM23vx/DM24va grid boundary on Saturday.  I had not been out there
in a couple of years, and was looking for a day-trip somewhere that
didn't have snow or ice.  Put "34.0 N 114.21533 W" into your favorite
mapping Web site or application to see where this is.  It was a nice
high spot, overlooking a highway junction, which let me work passes
in a couple of directions all the way down to the horizon. Between some
passes, I was able to drive northwest to Parker - a small town along the
Colorado River - to get something to eat and return to the grid boundary
in time for more passes.

I left home a couple of hours before sunrise, hoping to make it out there
in time for the SO-50 pass around 1545 UTC (0845 local time).  I made it
with time to spare, a good thing.  I planned on working whatever passes
were available from that time until a little after sunset, not wanting to stay
out there well into the night. The day went well, and made for a nice road
trip of about 400 miles/640km in 18 hours. APRS coverage in this part of
Arizona is pretty good, with the grid boundary stop covered by 3 different
mountaintop digipeaters.

I logged 69 QSOs on 11 passes of the 4 satellites that currently support
voice communications: 5 SO-50 passes, and two passes each for the 3
SSB/CW satellites (AO-7, AO-73, and FO-29).  I also tried a third AO-73
pass just after noon, a 4-degree pass, where I only heard myself. I tried
two NO-44 passes in the afternoon, and saw a station on each pass, but
wasn't able to log a QSO.  I was able to log 12 QSOs on two of the
SO-50 passes, and one SO-50 pass saw 16 QSOs go in the log.  FO-29
was also busy, with 8 QSOs logged on one pass that went over the
middle of North America.  Thanks, as always, to the AMSAT-UK
command stations for making AO-73's transponder available day and
night on the weekends!

After I wrapped up my operating at DM23vx/DM24va, I made two
stops on the drive home to copy the ISS SSTV transmissions.  The
first stop was at a truck stop in Quartzsite, Arizona, in grid DM23vp.
I copied one picture, and part of another picture, from here around
0251-0259 UTC Sunday (Saturday evening, local time).  For the next
ISS pass, I drove about 75 miles/120km east to another truck stop
in Tonopah, Arizona, in grid DM33ml. Again, I received part of one
picture and all of another picture during the 0426-0436 UTC pass.
The complete picture was not received as cleanly as the picture I
received earlier in Quartzsite.  I uploaded all of my SSTV pictures
to the ARISS SSTV archive from Saturday night on the road, as
well as last night's pictures I received at home. They are visible at:

http://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/index.php

(one from last night is on this page, and the others are on the archive
pages)

I uploaded my log from Saturday's activity to Logbook of the World
yesterday. If anyone wants to receive a QSL card to confirm a QSO,
please e-mail me with the QSO details.  There's no need to first send
me a QSL card and/or SASE to get my card. This location is well
outside my VUCC 200km limit, so I don't look to collect QSL cards
for the QSOs I make.  Just like I enjoy working new station and grids
when I'm at (or near) home, I enjoy giving out the contacts when I am
on the road.

Thanks again, and 73!





Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK
http://www.wd9ewk.net/