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{
    "url": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/email/2W5MF3GYZJ2T2JRCVIDEWC2K2X5CSKTU/?format=api",
    "mailinglist": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/?format=api",
    "message_id": "CAN6TEUcPsu=9ZeEONpgqXZGjYQUWMg_iCMyRcqTvwgE=bbCb1g@mail.gmail.com",
    "message_id_hash": "2W5MF3GYZJ2T2JRCVIDEWC2K2X5CSKTU",
    "thread": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/thread/2W5MF3GYZJ2T2JRCVIDEWC2K2X5CSKTU/?format=api",
    "sender": {
        "address": "amsat-bb (a) wd9ewk.net",
        "mailman_id": "21664df01bef4757931b7cdb42a9e768",
        "emails": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/sender/21664df01bef4757931b7cdb42a9e768/emails/?format=api"
    },
    "sender_name": "Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)",
    "subject": "[amsat-bb] Long Beach CA presentation on 4 March & W6RO satellite activity on 5 March - report",
    "date": "2016-03-06T23:36:11Z",
    "parent": null,
    "children": [],
    "votes": {
        "likes": 0,
        "dislikes": 0,
        "status": "neutral"
    },
    "content": "Hi!\n\nI'm back home, after a quick two-day trip to southern California for a\npresentation and some sightseeing. Not as much radio operating on this\ntrip compared to some of my other recent trips to California, but still\na great time!\n\nI had agreed to give another satellite-related presentation to the\nAssociated Radio Amateurs of Long Beach, after giving a presentation there\nin April 2015. Where my original presentation focused a lot on the history\nof amateur radio satellites, the presentation I gave on Friday (4 March)\nevening would focus more on current and upcoming projects. So I left home\non Friday morning for the 6-hour drive from Phoenix to Long Beach, with\ntwo stops to work AO-85 passes at Palm Springs and Riverside, both in grid\nDM13 in southern California. Before the meeting, I had dinner with some\nhams who would be at the meeting later in the evening. Endaf KG6FIY, the\nARALB president, along with Tom WA0POD and Jim AA6QI from Pasadena, met me\nat a restaurant near the meeting site. After dinner, we drove south to the\nmeeting.\n\nUnlike with last year's presentation where I gave demonstrations of working\nFO-29 and SO-50, my options were limited to XW-2F and XW-2C passes that\npartially overlapped, about 30 minutes before the 7pm (0300 UTC) meeting\ntime. With a nice crowd, I set up my portable station - FT-817ND, SDRplay\nSDR receiver with HDSDR on a Windows tablet, Elk log periodic - to work the\ntwo satellites. XW-2F came up first, and I made a quick contact with KJ6MSU\nin southern California. Unfortunately, no QSOs were logged on XW-2C. The\ncrowd could see the transponder, along with the digital telemetry and CW\nbeacons, on the tablet's screen. We also saw some strong adjacent signals\njust above the XW-2F transponder while working that satellite.\n\nThere was a nice turnout for this meeting. I'm not used to groups here in\nArizona having Friday evening meetings, but it works for the ARALB. After\nsome club business, I gave my presentation. It is really nice to talk about\nthe different satellite and satellite-related projects that are taking\nplace now. It was also fun to answer the questions from the crowd.\n\nSince most of my recent California trips have included additional driving\nand operating from different places, and I have not done much sightseeing,\nI wanted to be more of a tourist this time. Endaf KG6FIY gave me some\nsuggestions on what I could see and do on a Saturday, and I went with that.\nBefore I met him to start the touristy stuff, I worked an SO-50 pass from\na shopping center parking lot. Once I picked up Endaf, we first drove to\nthe Griffith Observatory, overlooking downtown Los Angeles. It was a nice\nday to walk around with the clouds over the area, not too hot or cold.\n>From there, we took our time driving back through Los Angeles down to the\nLong Beach harbor and the Queen Mary.\n\nI have been to Long Beach in the past, and have driven near the Queen Mary,\nbut have never been on the ship. Endaf had arranged for me to go on the\nship, and visit the wireless room. Some insist on calling the room a \"radio\nroom\", and signs on the ship refer to it by both names. At the room, I met\nDavid Akins N6HHR. David, a member of the ARALB, is the manager of the W6RO\nstation on the Queen Mary. He invited Endaf and me to come in the room,\nsign a visitor's log, and then sign a radio operators' log. David verified\nthat we held amateur licenses, so we could use the radios. Endaf began to\nwork HF from one operating position, as I looked around the room and took\npictures. Then, a surprising offer...\n\nDavid explained that the W6RO station included a satellite station - a\nYaesu FT-847, 2m and 70cm Yagis, along with a Yaesu az/el rotator. Even\nthough the FT-847 can also work HF and 6m, it is only used at W6RO for\nsatellites, and had not been used in some time. It had been installed in\nthe days of AO-13. David asked if there were any satellite passes that\ncould be worked, and I saw an AO-7 pass just after 2.30pm (2230 UTC). With\na half-hour to quickly get acquainted with the radio and rotator\ncontroller, I started reading the satellite section of the FT-847's\noperating manual. I also posted on Twitter and the AMSAT-BB my intent to\nwork the AO-7 pass as W6RO.\n\nThe satellite station is not computer controlled, but the FT-847 has the\nfunctionality to work satellites without the computer. The rotator\ncontroller could also be worked manually, moving it to follow the track\nI saw on my AmsatDroid Free tracking app. The pass had a maximum elevation\nof just over 70 degrees, making it a good pass to try from W6RO. I have\nnever used an FT-847 to work satellites, but had figured the radio out\nsufficiently to give it a go.\n\nI had posted that I was going to try working below the center of the AO-7\ntransponder, but ended up working slightly above the center of the\ntransponder. As I was trying to line myself up, I found that the SUB-TUNE\nknob on the FT-847 would only tune downward - even if turned it clockwise.\nThis meant to adjust my uplink higher in SAT mode, I would have to\ndisengage the SAT mode and swap VFOs briefly to use the large VFO knob to\nmake the adjustment, then swap VFOs again and press the button to reengage\nSAT mode. After a few minutes, I was able to hear myself, and hear Dave\nKG5CCI answering my calls. Dave was the first station I put in the W6RO\nlog. After some challenges with how I had to tune the uplink frequency,\nI was able to log two more stations before LOS - Larry WA6DIR in the Los\nAngeles area, followed by Bryan KL7CN/W6 near Sacramento in northern\nCalifornia.\n\nAt W6RO, operators are asked to log QSOs and give out a QSO number. For my\nsatellite QSOs, those numbers started with \"I\" followed by 3 digits. I did\nthis, along with giving out the DM03 grid locator for Long Beach with each\nof these QSOs. The QSOs have been entered in the W6RO log, and the W6RO\nQSL manager will be able to properly confirm the QSOs I logged - including\nthe notation that these were satellite QSOs. Please look up W6RO on QRZ.com\nfor the address and other information. W6RO only handles paper QSLs, and\ndoes not use any of the electronic QSLing systems like LOTW or eQSL.\n\nWhile I was operating, Endaf was taking pictures and made a couple of short\nvideo clips. The pictures were being tweeted using his @endaf_99 Twitter\nfeed. If you do not use Twitter, you can still see the pictures without\nhaving to sign up for a Twitter account at:\n\nhttps://twitter.com/endaf_99/media\n\nEndaf's two video clips are on YouTube, at:\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-cQ09H-Ll8\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg2QFB3ubRQ\n\nI had also tweeted photos of the W6RO station and antennas, along with\nother photos from throughout the two days I spent in California, using my\n@WD9EWK Twitter feed. Just like with Endaf's Twitter feed, mine is also\nvisible without first signing up for Twitter at:\n\nhttps://twitter.com/WD9EWK\n\nFor just the photos I tweeted, use:\n\nhttps://twitter.com/WD9EWK/media\n\nAfter I put my QSOs in the W6RO log, and David verified everything looked\nOK, we left the ship. Endaf and I had dinner at his house, before I drove\nhome. On the way home, I made a couple of stops to work some late-evening\nSO-50 passes. The first stop was at a rest area along I-10 in Yucaipa, in\ngrid DM14. I logged 8 QSOs from this location on a pass just after 8.30pm\n(0430 UTC). Then back to the driving, and I went about 45 miles east to\nThousand Palms, east of Palm Springs in DM13. After filling the car's fuel\ntank, I logged 4 more QSOs on the 10.10pm (0610 UTC) SO-50 pass, and then\nmade the drive from the Palm Springs area to my driveway in just over 3.5\nhours.\n\nThanks to the Associated Radio Amateurs of Long Beach for their hospitality\nonce again. In particular, the club president Endaf Buckley KG6FIY and the\nW6RO station manager on the Queen Mary, David Akins N6HHR. I hope the ARALB\nis able to put the W6RO satellite station on the air again, and often. :-)\n\n73!\n\n\n\n\n\nPatrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK\nhttp://www.wd9ewk.net/\nTwitter: @WD9EWK\n",
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