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{
    "url": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/email/TKYPDWULRBYBGJB6SCZYMMUDFANW7MKH/?format=api",
    "mailinglist": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/?format=api",
    "message_id": "[email protected]",
    "message_id_hash": "TKYPDWULRBYBGJB6SCZYMMUDFANW7MKH",
    "thread": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/thread/4FDNBYXHLSRSWZQRIODKAYXDBXRFGHLD/?format=api",
    "sender": {
        "address": "dave (a) druidnetworks.com",
        "mailman_id": "3b01b396750a47f287ea0c65babd40ea",
        "emails": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/sender/3b01b396750a47f287ea0c65babd40ea/emails/?format=api"
    },
    "sender_name": "Dave Swanson",
    "subject": "[amsat-bb] Roving, Records, Mountains and Mechanics",
    "date": "2015-09-10T17:41:00Z",
    "parent": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/email/3YAMMEAD7Z5F42ASTMGNRVMBZISE5ZLK/?format=api",
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    "votes": {
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    },
    "content": "Hello Satellite Friends and Colleagues,\n\nAs promised, here’s a better written summary of my adventures recently. \nFar warning, this is a long post.\n\nEM24/EM25 Portable Operations:\n\nOver the Labor Day weekend I traveled to far western Arkansas for some \nfun in the mountains and to see some family. The area is quite rugged \nand has several of the highest points between the Rockies and the \nAppalachians, and is also very RF quiet, therefore it’s a wonderful \nplace to operate on all bands. I operated 12 different passes over the \ncourse of 3 days, and made 62 QSOs to 7 different DX entities from 2 \ndifferent grids in both Arkansas and Oklahoma. I know I handed out new \nWAS and VUCC contacts to lots of people as well, which is a blast. \nEverything should be in LOTW now, and I will happily QSL direct if you’d \nrather have a card, just shoot me an email. Thanks to everyone who \nworked me.\n\nAO-7 Contact with EA5TT:\n\nThe highlight of the trip was setting a new distance record contact with \nManuel Carrasco, EA5TT, on AO-7(B). After the FO29 record contact with \nF4CQA a couple weeks back, I was encouraged by Wyatt, AC0RA, to try and \nbreak his record contact with Bill, OM3BD, of 7903.55km on AO-7(B). \nUsing a compiled list of known AMSAT operators in Europe, I began \nrunning distance calculations to see who would be in that ‘sweet spot’ \nrange of 7900km-7950km from my home mountain in EM34. No stations fit \nthe bill, even with minor adjustments of me operating from other \nmountains in the area, so I had to start thinking larger. Rich Mountain \nis the 2^nd highest point in the state of Arkansas, and a few hours \ndrive to the west of the QTH. I’ve operated Summits on the Air from \nthere many times, and it is a popular tourist destination in that part \nof the state. Many of the mountains in this part of the country and \nlarge, flat, and heavily forested on top, which makes getting a good \nview of the horizon difficult, even from altitude. Rich Mountain is \nunique in that there is an old US Forest Service fire tower on top, \nwhich is open to the public on Saturdays from 12:00PM to 4:00PM. I \ndecided to run distance calculations from this spot, seeing if it would \nmake a difference, and low and behold it did.\n\nManuel, EA5TT, is a twitter friend and we’ve talked about trying to make \na Satellite contact before, but the extreme distance would make it \ndifficult. From his QTH to the Fire Tower on Rich Mountain was 7947km, \nwhich was in that ‘sweet spot’ of beating Wyatt and Bill’s record, but \nstill possible according to the math. I was also hoping the extreme \naltitude would assist in ‘extending’ the footprint enough to make the \ncalculated 51 second window a bit longer. The final puzzle piece was \nfinding a pass that would fit into the Saturday, 12 to 4 window, where \nthe Forest Service would let me into the tower. As luck would have it, \nthat following weekend had just such a pass, where both Manuel and I \nwould have a very brief window, and contact should be possible. I got \npermission from the XYL, crossed our fingers the weather would be good, \nand the Friday night before I headed west. Everything seemed to fall \nright into place on the day of the contact and we successfully completed \nthe QSO at 1812 UTC time. Several other hams were on the pass, Drew, \nKO4MA, John, K8YSE, and Mike, KC9ELU, and all heard it happen. I’m \nactually very grateful for KC9ELU standing by when he heard me get into \nthe bird when I did, so Manuel and I could complete the QSO before his \nLOS. I know he missed a solid contact because he chose to standby, and \nit was the true epitome of the Ham spirit to let us grab the record at \nthe cost of his own QSO. I hope him and Manuel can hook up again on an \nAO-7 pass very soon.\n\nI did finish my ‘edited’ video of the contact, with commentary, the \nstory, and some more data last night and have uploaded it to YouTube here:\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SXucDNddYE\n\nI hope I’m doing the hobby proud with my contributions and storytelling. \nI’m a little rusty at video editing, and I’ve had to switch to an \nentirely new software suite, but I think I’m slowly getting the hang of \nthings again.\n\nGeneral Portable Satellite Operations:\n\nI have promised Red, KC4LE, and Amsat Journal article on portable \noperation, so I won’t spill too much here, other than to encourage \nmore.On Monday I worked G4DOL in IO80 from EM24 with both of using \nArrows, standing outside in the 7200km range. Just yesterday I heard \nDrew, KO4MA, using an Arrow and an 817 work George, MI6GTY, using an \nArrow and an 817 at around 6600km. The point is you don’t have to have \nmassive automated stations with 50 elements to work low passes and grab \nDX. Clayton, W5PFG, has extensively tested portable antennae out on the \nhigh plains, and has tons of data showing that they work AOS til LOS \nwith a clear view of the horizon, and I think I’ve proven beyond a \nshadow of a doubt these past two weeks, that if you get up nice and \nhigh, the portable antennae can compete with even the biggest of home \narrays, when it comes to grabbing DX. Get out of the shack, go somewhere \nwith good visibility, and point your antenna at the horizon. I bet \nyou’ll be amazed at what you hear.\n\nMechanics of Elevation:\n\nThis is another topic I’ll be trying to get into journal format, but I’m \nstill needing assistance in interpreting some of the data I’ve \ncollected. John, K8YSE, in particular mentioned that during the AO-7 \npass he started hearing me when the bird still should have been almost \n2° below the horizon at my location. After watching my recorded videos \nof these low elevation Satellite passes, and timing AOS til LOS, I can \nconfirm that the math seems to indicate the higher you go, the longer \nvisibility you have, but just elevation doesn’t tell the whole story. \nThe FCC has a term they call ‘Height Above Average Terrain’ (Thanks to \nClayton, W5PFG for telling me about this) and is used for placing \ntransmitters and repeaters, and estimating coverage area. This value \nseems to be much closer to relevance in estimating the actual time you \ncan see a bird from a particular location, then just pure elevation. \nAnyone that has experience using this value in real world scenarios, I \nwould interested to talk with you offline.\n\nIf you’ve read the whole thing to this point, thanks for sticking in \nthere. It’s a pile of information I know, and appreciate you taking the \ntime. I’ve been having a blast recently, and wanted to share with you \nall what I’m up too. Until next time, catch you all on the birds.\n\n73!\n\n-Dave, KG5CCI\n\n",
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