[amsat-bb] WD9EWK DM03 activity on 14 February - report

[Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)]

Hi!

Thanks to all the stations that worked WD9EWK on Saturday (14 February)
afternoon, while I was in Los Angeles.  I had driven to California on Friday
night before giving a presentation on Saturday morning, then spent the
afternoon operating from Dockweiler State Beach in grid DM03sw for a few
passes in the afternoon before driving home in the evening. This was a
very quick road trip for me, driving 822 miles/1323km in the span of 30
hours.

The beach is west of the LAX airport and the end of the I-105 freeway and
Imperial Highway along the Los Angeles/El Segundo city limits.  The beach,
being lower than the road running parallel to the beach (Vista del Mar), gave
me a buffer from the airport QRM I observed when I tried to operate from a
parking garage north of LAX earlier in the afternoon. This was the first time
I worked satellites from DM03, making it the 76th different grid I have worked
from.

I worked two SO-50 passes, two ISS passes, and one pass each on AO-7
and FO-29. I logged a total of 27 QSOs - 4 on AO-7, 3 on FO-29, and the
other 20 on SO-50. The 2202 UTC pass, which has been discussed on here
and in other forums lately, saw 13 QSOs go in my log.  I was able to work
Dale KL7XJ in Alaska early in this SO-50 pass, something I haven't done
on SO-50 from home due to obstructions in that direction. Seven more QSOs
were logged on the later pass at 2344 UTC, which was much more orderly
than the earlier pass. Unfortunately, I did not log any QSOs on the two
ISS passes - one of those passing directly overhead.

If you'd like to hear what those SO-50 passes sounded like from my location
on the beach, I posted them as YouTube videos.  First, the pass at 2202
UTC Saturday afternoon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9KrUH6pDCQ

And the later pass at 2344 UTC:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvI2Dowf2kA

Audio was recorded by my Sony digital audio recorder, connected to my
IC-2820H through a splitter cable. The other side of the splitter went to an
earpiece, so I could hear the downlink without any audio feedback into my
microphone.

I uploaded my DM03 log to Logbook of the World yesterday. If you worked
me on Saturday and want a QSL card to confirm the contact, please e-mail
me with the QSO details. There's no need to send me your QSL card or
an SASE first. If you're in my log, I will be happy to send you my QSL card.

73!





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