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{
    "url": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/email/YP6HDJUM2AH2BNXMPL4JTFSX6CF6P3HZ/?format=api",
    "mailinglist": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/?format=api",
    "message_id": "CAN6TEUecAggatR2id2WihCA36W2WnSJ3K6mA_qO8e97qVbV22g@mail.gmail.com",
    "message_id_hash": "YP6HDJUM2AH2BNXMPL4JTFSX6CF6P3HZ",
    "thread": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/thread/YP6HDJUM2AH2BNXMPL4JTFSX6CF6P3HZ/?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] NPOTA activations via satellite in southern Arizona on 28 July - report (long!)",
    "date": "2016-07-30T05:48:59Z",
    "parent": null,
    "children": [],
    "votes": {
        "likes": 0,
        "dislikes": 0,
        "status": "neutral"
    },
    "content": "Hi!\n\nOn Thursday, 28 July 2016, I decided to make a day-trip to southern\nArizona. I went to a grid that isn't terribly rare, DM42, and planned\nto operate from a couple of National Parks on the Air sites around\nTucson. I have enjoyed working other satellite operators who have\noperated from the NPOTA sites, and have tried to do my small part to\nput NPOTA sites on the satellites. With AO-85 and SO-50 passes during\nthe day, those passes helped me work enough stations at each site to\nhave two more official NPOTA activations.\n\nAfter leaving home early Thursday morning, I drove to the western\nedge of Saguaro National Park, near Tucson. Saguaro National Park has\ntwo sections, on the west and east sides of Tucson. I decided to work\nfrom the western half of the park, since that made for a shorter drive,\nand I was confident I could find locations that would let me work both\nwestern and eastern passes. With a fuel stop near Tucson, I made it to\nthe first of the three spots I would operate from - along a road near\nthe western boundary of the national park - in under two hours.\n\nThe first pass was a western SO-50 pass around 1550 UTC. I expected\nmore stations to show up, even on a Thursday morning. I worked the only\ntwo stations I heard: NP4JV in southern Arizona, and VA6OK in Alberta.\nAs I wrapped up working this pass, I had a visitor. Jim KB7YSY, who\nsaw my post to the AMSAT-BB on Wednesday (27 July) evening. Jim lives\nvery close to this part of Saguaro National Park, and had e-mailed me\nearlier Thursday morning asking where I was planning to go. Jim also\nsaw my APRS track, so he was able to find me easily. We chatted for a\nfew minutes, and Jim mentioned a picnic area that he thought I might\nwant to use. More on that later.\n\nAfter that SO-50 pass, I had about 90 minutes until the next two passes\nI planned to work. I went to the visitor center, so I could put the\nstamps for the park in my passport, and then drove along a road on the\nnorth side of the park. I needed to find a good spot with a great view\nto the east, for the passes around 1730-1830 UTC. FO-29 was passing\nby at a maximum elevation of 11 degrees, and AO-85 was only going up to\na maximum elevation of 5 degrees.\n\nAfter about 45 minutes of driving around, I found an intersection where\nI could pull off the road and have a good view to the east. With the\nwestern portion of Saguaro National Park being in the Tucson Mountains,\nthis was no easy task. I was able to hear myself through FO-29, but made\nno QSOs on the 1735 UTC eastern pass. Maybe I should have tried the\nwestern AO-73 pass at that time, which was a 19-degree pass. Then came\nAO-85 at 1805 UTC...\n\nI have been reading on Twitter about how NP4JV has been working low AO-85\npasses from southern Arizona. I figured that I could make a try at doing\nthe same thing, if I had a good spot. It turned out that I found a great\nspot for the 5-degree pass. I made 5 contacts in the middle 3 minutes of\nthe 9-minute pass. It seemed easier for me to work this 5-degree pass,\ncompared to some passes at higher elevations.\n\nAfter the AO-85 pass, I had just over an hour before the next pair of\npasses, FO-29 and AO-85 again. I grabbed a sandwich at a Subway just\noutside the national park, and then visited that picnic area Jim KB7YSY\nmentioned. The picnic area was just inside the national park boundary,\nand was perfect for these two passes around 1915-2000 UTC. FO-29 was\ngoing to rise to a maximum elevation of 76 degrees, followed by AO-85\ngoing up to a maximum elevation of 63 degrees. FO-29 had some activity,\nand I was able to work Endaf KG6FIY in California and George WA5KBH in\nLouisiana. Unfortunately, I couldn't work the other 2 or 3 stations I\nheard, but two contacts were better than zero contacts on the earlier\nFO-29 pass.\n\nAO-85 at 1940-1955 UTC had a great crowd. Once the satellite rose above\nthe mountains south of me, I was able to work 9 stations across the\ncontinental USA and Canada. I had a visitor stop by while I was working\nthe pass, wondering if I was tracking animals. I explained that I could\ntrack animals, but I wasn't doing that. I also mentioned the National\nParks on the Air program, the reason why I was operating from the park.\nIf not for the NPOTA program, I wouldn't have been in the park at midday,\nwith the temperatures already up to 106F/41C outside.\n\nWith the 9 contacts I made on AO-85, I had a total of 18 contacts with\n13 different stations. This made my visit to Saguaro National Park an\nofficial NPOTA activation, having worked at least 10 different stations.\nInstead of trying to work the next AO-85 pass at 2123 UTC from here, I\ndrove north about 40 miles to find a spot for the next NPOTA activation\nI hoped to make.\n\nNorthwest of Tucson along the I-10 freeway is Picacho Peak State Park.\nThis park has two bits of history associated with it. Picacho Peak was\nthe site of the westernmost battle in the US Civil War. Not a big battle,\nbut a small bit of US history in Arizona a half-century before becoming\na US state. Almost a century before the Civil War battle, the Spanish\nexplorer Juan Bautista de Anza led expeditions from Mexico through what\nis now Arizona and California, up to what would become the city of San\nFrancisco. Picacho Peak was used as a camp for the de Anza expeditions,\nand is within the corridor defined by the National Park Service for the\nde Anza National Historic Trail.\n\nThe 2123 UTC AO-85 pass favored the west coast, with a maximum elevation\nof 17 degrees. After driving through the Picacho Peak park, I parked at\nthe westernmost trailhead in the park. From there, I worked 5 stations\nup and down California, and one station in Oklahoma, in about 10 minutes.\nLogging 6 stations on this pass made me confident I could work 4 more\ndifferent stations on the later SO-50 pass, so I could count this stop\nas another NPOTA activation.\n\nNow in the mid-afternoon, the outside temperature was up to 109F/43C. I\nhad hoped to go in the visitor center at Picacho Peak to kill some time,\nand get the NPS passport stamp for the de Anza National Historic Trail\nat Picacho Peak. I had to wait about 30 minutes for the rangers to come\nback to the visitor center. I did not care about fuel economy for my car\nbetween passes, as I was using my car's air conditioning to have a cool\nplace to escape the heat. When the visitor center opened up, I was able\nto get those passport stamps. Unlike most national parks, the stamps were\nkept behind a counter, and I had to ask for them. Not many apparently ask\nfor these stamps, probably not realizing that this state park is also\npart of a rather large National Park Service unit (the de Anza trail).\n\nWith the passport stamps out of the way, I found a spot at the eastern\nedge of the park with a nice view to the northeast. I had an SO-50 pass\ncoming at 2244 UTC, with a maximum elevation of 18 degrees. From Picacho\nPeak, this meant a pass that would cover almost all of the continental\nUSA. With the earlier AO-85 contacts, I figured I should be able to get\n4 contacts on this pass. Not only did I get the 4 I hoped to log (that\nwas done in the first 2 minutes of the pass), I worked a total of 14\nstations. Thirteen of these stations were across the continental USA,\nand one was in Cuba (CO6HLP). This pass alone was more than enough to\nmake this stop an official NPOTA activation. I logged 20 contacts between\nthe two passes, doubling the minimum number I needed for an activation\n(10). After putting my gear back in the trunk of my car, I drove home.\n\nAll QSOs made from these two locations have been uploaded to Logbook of\nthe World. If anyone would like to receive a QSL card for a contact made\nwith WD9EWK on Thursday, please e-mail me with the QSO details. Please\nnote that anyone participating in the National Parks on the Air activity\nmust use LOTW, as ARRL will not accept QSL cards for any awards connected\nwith this activity. Thanks to everyone who worked me at these two sites!\nDespite the hot weather, it was fun to activate two different NPOTA sites\nin the same day, all via satellite.\n\n73!\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPatrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK\nhttp://www.wd9ewk.net/\nTwitter: @WD9EWK\n",
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