[amsat-bb] NJ7H/retired

[Gabriel Zeifman]

Hello fellow people of the birds,

I have returned to the motherland from a glorious trip abroad, spending two
weeks in continuous daylight. I think I forgot what night was, and as such
was awake 24/7 working satellite passes! It was great to make so many
contacts from Iceland, Faroe Islands, and Greenland!

Probably the most exciting thing is that OX/NJ7H achieved VUCC! At the
moment, we are at 111 grids confirmed in LoTW and estimated 149 grids
worked, all in four days (with plenty of touristy stuff fit in as well)! It
appears that this is the first VUCC of any type completed in Greenland! I
could not have done it without all the dedicated rovers on both sides of
the world that supported me in this crazy idea!

Special thanks to:
AK4WQ (8)
KG5CCI (6)
AI6GS (4)
F4DXV (4)
WD9EWK (3)
WN9Q (3)
MI6GTY (3)
N6UA (3)
N9EAT (3)
N7AGF (2)
W5PFG (2)
EB1AO (2)
WC7V (2)
W4FS (2)
K0FFY (2)
NP4JV (2)
CG7CEW (2)
KL7CN (2)
KK4FEM (2)

Some more statistics from OX (based on LoTW):
278 QSOs
149 grids worked, 111 confirmed
26 DXCCs worked, 17 confirmed
34 states worked, 30 confirmed

I think not so bad for a single operator QRP in four days while doing other
stuff as well! Location, location, location...



It was very cool being able to work so much on individual passes, even with
lower birds like SO-50. Being so high on the earth, many of the satellites
would pass over me and allow most of North America and Europe to be worked
on a single pass. It was very cool! Although it could be eerie being alone
for much of the pass as the satellites traversed the oceans with no one
else in the footprint... It was fun to play around in this time
experimenting with things like 50mW on SO-50. Made contacts through out
North and Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, and Asia!

Dave KG5CCI and I were also able to break the distance record on XW-2D,
which is now the furthest contact on any of the XW-2 satellites! The
operating locations in OX and TF were awesome and usually allowed me to
operate to the horizon and often below in the direction of North America.
It was great to activate ten grids throughout the trip, including some
ultra rare ones (and unheard before). HP74 had only a sliver of land and
the grid corner of HP93/94/IP03/04 were fun grid adventures. In the Faroe
Islands I had a much more difficult horizon, only allowing me to operate to
as low as 3°-7° depending on the direction. The trade off was that I was
able to walk to and operate from the IP61/62 line for nearly every pass!

I am now back in the US (New York City to be exact). Tomorrow I head to
Florida for a few days. Friday night and Saturday I will be driving from
North Florida to Miami. I am hoping to score some new /r grids along the
way, so give me a shout if you need EL95-EM90. EL95-97 will be new /r grids
for me, so those are my focus. I'll be on Twitter like usual, @NJ7H_Radio,
so that's the best way to get in touch with me. I'll be spending more time
in EM90 and EL99, as opposed to the other ones that I'm just passing
through.

On the 25th I head back to Oklahoma City to begin my training to be an air
traffic controller! With that, I see very little opportunity for me to do
much roving until around late October when I complete that initial training
(I'll still get on on weekends and do some local roving). Which comes to
NJ7H/retired... I am volunteering for Alaska, and I am told that if I
volunteer for Alaska, the FAA will likely gladly place me there (my buddy
just got assigned to West Virginia and he was expecting Wisconsin, so who
knows). Assuming I pass the academy (which I sure hope and will be doing my
damnedest to), I will be finished on October 23rd. If I get Alaska, I am
hoping to make a little detour on the way to attend the AMSAT-NA Symposium
in Reno! The time seems to work just about perfectly for that (assuming I
pass and I get assigned to Alaska). If I do indeed get Alaska, this trip
will have been the last use of NJ7H while abroad as I'll get an Alaskan
call upon crossing the border into Canada on the drive (NJ7H/7 will be
around until the cross into Canada, then VE6NJH until Alaska).

73 and mind your ERP,

Gabe
NJ7H/retired