[amsat-bb] WD9EWK AZ/NM road trip on 5-6 May 2017

[Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)]

Hi!

IF all goes well tomorrow afternoon, I will leave Phoenix for southern
Arizona, but with a detour to the rarely-heard grid DM53. If things go
really well, I hope to park on the DM52/DM53 line along US-70, about
20 miles northwest of Safford AZ, for the two AO-85 passes starting
around 0045 UTC. I may also be able to work other passes. Since US-70
passes through a lot of my home grid (DM43), and much of that on the
San Carlos Indian Reservation, I won't make any stops until I reach
DM53. US-70 cuts through the southwest corner of DM53 only for a
couple of miles, connecting the southeast corner of DM43 with the
northwest corner of DM52.

Saturday morning will be the Cochise Amateur Radio Association's
annual spring hamfest in Sierra Vista AZ, in grid DM41. I'll be on the
air working various satellite passes for demonstrations. After the
hamfest, my target is the DM52/DM62 grid boundary along I-10 west of
Deming NM. Among other passes I'd like to work from the DM52/DM62
boundary would be the Saturday evening AO-85 passes, and other
satellites that pass by around that time. I will not be able to stay
out there for late night passes or anything on Sunday, as I need to
return home sometime late Saturday evening - or maybe very early on
Sunday morning, but don't tell my dog. :-)

All QSOs from anywhere I operate will end up in Logbook of the World.
QSL cards will also be available on request - please e-mail me with
the QSO details. I will squawk WD9EWK-9 to the terrestrial APRS
network as I drive around Arizona and New Mexico, and this should
appear on sites like aprs.fi:

http://aprs.fi/WD9EWK-9

When I work the digipeaters on either the ISS or NO-84, I will use
WD9EWK without the "-9" as my call sign.

Updates over the next couple of days will be available on my
@WD9EWK Twitter account. You don't need to be a Twitter user to see
those updates; just visit this link:

http://twitter.com/WD9EWK

Thanks, and 73!






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