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{
    "url": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/email/I5O6PPHBM5E6SUH32SYL7NHBLTCSXUU3/?format=api",
    "mailinglist": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/?format=api",
    "message_id": "[email protected]",
    "message_id_hash": "I5O6PPHBM5E6SUH32SYL7NHBLTCSXUU3",
    "thread": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/thread/I5O6PPHBM5E6SUH32SYL7NHBLTCSXUU3/?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]  WD9EWK from DM31ov - report",
    "date": "2009-09-06T21:40:22Z",
    "parent": null,
    "children": [],
    "votes": {
        "likes": 0,
        "dislikes": 0,
        "status": "neutral"
    },
    "content": "Hi!\n\nDespite the evening thunderstorms that rolled in from northern\nMexico, ruining my chance to work one more pass, my day-trip to  \ngrid DM31 yesterday (Saturday, 5 September 2009) was successful.\nI was able to look around the area, so I could have a better idea \nof the surroundings than I could see in Google Earth or Google \nMaps.  That grid is less than 3 hours from my home, so this is a \ndestination I can visit on future day-trips.\n\nAs I drove toward DM31 near the USA/Mexico border on Arizona route \n85, I made note of a spot that straddles the DM31ox/DM32oa grid \nboundary.  There is a place to safely pull off the highway, but \nwith mountains to the east and west of the highway I did not think \nthis would be a good spot to work from.  I was not so concerned with\noperating from the grid boundary; I can visit DM32 in an hour's\ndrive from Phoenix, but DM31 is not so convenient.  I drove to the \nsmall town of Lukeville, which is the Arizona side of this border \ncrossing point across from the Mexican city of Sonoyta.  This point \nis where most who are interested in visiting the Mexican town of \nPuerto Penasco (\"Rocky Point\"), on the north end of the Gulf of \nCalifornia just over 60 miles/100km away, cross the border.  This \narea allowed me a better view of the sky to the east and west than I\nhad at other points north of the border - without having to go \naway from the highway and set up in an area that is less secure than\na border crossing complete with lots of law-enforcement personnel.  \n\nMy location was in grid DM31ov - 31 52.915 N, 112 49.027 W.  I\nparked in a large parking lot at \"Gringo Pass\", which is a \ncomplex complete with gasoline station, restaurant, grocery store, \nand a duty-free store and auto-insurance agency for those heading\ninto Mexico.  I did not have a Mexican ham-radio permit, and with\nthe security situation over there not being stable, I did not \ncross the border even for a second.  I walked up to the line, and\ntook photos around there - the plaque marking the international \nborder, a plaque on the Mexican customs house, the signs and flag\non the Mexican side of the border, looking along the border fence,\netc.  I also took some photos of my portable station, and was able \nto work an SO-50 pass at just after noon (1900 UTC).  \n\nFor that pass, I logged 8 QSOs - mostly with stations near the \nPacific coast, with 3 being further east as the satellite moved in \nthat direction.  A good start.  I was ready for the first of two \nAO-27 passes at 2049 UTC.  When the repeater opened up, it was busy.\nI was able to make QSOs with 17 stations from Mexico, the continental \nUSA, and even KL7XJ in Alaska showed up at the end of the 7-minute\nrepeater time.  Before the next AO-27 pass, I had lunch and then \nreturned to the parking lot for the pass.  That pass put 6 more QSOs \nin the log.  \n\nI had planned to work 2 AO-51 passes, at 0026 and 0206 UTC.  I \nknew of a pass around 2254 UTC, a very shallow pass for me at \nthis location (maximum elevation 2 degrees).   Since the first\npossible AO-51 pass came not long after the western AO-27 pass,\nI decided to try it from this location.  I figured I might have\n2 minutes or so when the satellite was at its highest to hear\nsomething, let alone make QSOs.  In the span of approximately 80 \nseconds, I heard the satellite, made a call, worked 3 stations,\nthen heard nothing when AO-51 went behind mountains northeast of\nmy location.  If anyone has a recording of that pass from\nyesterday, in particular the segment between 2255 and 2257 UTC,\nand could e-mail me a copy of that - I would appreciate hearing \nit.  \n\nAfter those 3 QSOs, I drove up the road toward the Organ Pipe \nCactus National Monument - which I drove through earlier - and to\nthe town of Why.  The signs as you approach this little town answer\nthat \"question\" - gasoline, food, lodging, and camping.  Other than\nthat, there's not much here other than an intersection with another\nhighway that heads east toward Tucson, 120 miles/200km away.  There\nwas even a small casino about 2 miles/3km east of that intersection,\non the western edge of a large Indian reservation.  After that drive\nand picture-taking, I drove back to Lukeville. \n\nThe better eastern pass of AO-51 for me was at 0026 UTC.  I was\nready, and worked a total of 16 stations - 6 in Mexico, and 10\nacross the USA.  I appreciate the fact that I was able to make\nQSOs with so many XE stations, as they are also interested in \nworking rare or unusual grids as many in the US are.  This turned\nout to be my last pass from DM31 for the day, unfortunately. \n\nAs the 0026 UTC AO-51 pass ended, I had a nice chat with a couple\nof officers from the US Border Patrol.  They were interested in\nwhat I was doing with radio equipment, so close to the border.  \nThey asked me what I was doing, which I explained to them.  One of\nthe officers asked if I could listen in on their radio gear.  I \nsaid \"no\", thinking their radios were using some form of digital\ntransmissions (they each had commercial Motorola HTs on their \nbelts) and I did not have a receiver capable of decoding digital\nvoice communications.  I understand why they might ask that question,\nsince there would be others that would be interested in listening in \non those transmissions.  One of the officers stuck around for almost \n20 minutes to chat (his uncle is a ham operator, but the officer\nhad not picked up this hobby), and we watched the dark clouds roll \nin.  Then he returned to his post - inspecting vehicles approaching \nthe Mexican border.  \n\nAs the clock moved toward 0206 UTC, the start of the last pass I\nplanned to work, dark clouds started coming up from the southeast.\nThen lightning started to strike around that part of the border\narea.  The lightning convinced me to shut down, dismantle my \nstation, and head home.  I was able to drive about 5 miles/8km\nnorth of the border, next to the visitor center at the nearby \nOrgan Pipe Cactus National Monument, and take some pictures of \nthe southern sky as it was being lit up by lightning.  My camera\nis a simple Sony 7.2-megapixel camera, which does not lend itself\nfor nighttime photography and doesn't have a fast shutter speed.\nI was able to get some nice photos of the clouds in the sky as\nthe lightning lit them up.  \n\nOn the way home, at another US Border Patrol highway checkpoint \nabout 60 miles/100km north of Lukeville, the two officers there \nasked me where I was coming from and also about my radio gear.  \nThen one of them asked if I knew the code to access the front-\npanel programming mode for a certain model of commercial Kenwood \nHT - not the sort of question I expected to hear from those \nofficers.  I didn't know about that, but we did talk for a few \nminutes about radios and programming them before I was allowed to\ncontinue on my way home.  I did not mind talking with any of the\nBorder Patrol officers; they have a tough job trying to secure the\nsouthern US border, and now performing inspections on vehicles \nheading into Mexico (a new task, something that was never done on\na regular basis in the past for those leaving the US).  \n\nDespite not having the chance to safely work the last AO-51 pass,\nthis was a good day.  A total of 50 QSOs went in the log on 5 \ndifferent passes, and now I have a better idea of where to go to\nwork from DM31 in the future.  Most of this grid is in Mexico, and \nthere are better locations without so many hills and mountains on \nthe other side of the border.  Even down to \"Rocky Point\", which is\nnear the southern edge of DM31, would be a good place to set up \nand operate - while having something cool to drink.  :-)  That will\nhave to wait, but I'll head down to the Arizona side of DM31 again\nin the future. \n\nAgain, anyone interested in a QSL card confirming contacts made \nwith me from DM31 only needs to e-mail me the QSO details.  No\nSASE is needed.  I hope to have cards in the mail in the next \nweek or so.  \n\n73!\n\n\n\n\nPatrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK\nhttp://www.wd9ewk.net/\n\n\n",
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}