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{
    "url": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/email/YYVKLIZ3WGYZO7JMG4UVVXCMN3GQ6O2O/?format=api",
    "mailinglist": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/?format=api",
    "message_id": "[email protected]",
    "message_id_hash": "YYVKLIZ3WGYZO7JMG4UVVXCMN3GQ6O2O",
    "thread": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/thread/YYVKLIZ3WGYZO7JMG4UVVXCMN3GQ6O2O/?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": "[email protected]",
    "subject": "[amsat-bb]  WD9EWK's 16-22 July trip report (l-o-n-g!)",
    "date": "2009-07-27T04:06:53Z",
    "parent": null,
    "children": [],
    "votes": {
        "likes": 0,
        "dislikes": 0,
        "status": "neutral"
    },
    "content": "Hi!\n\nAfter a few days, I am now taking time to put down into one message \nsome details about my recent trip.  I posted daily updates to let \neveryone know of where I had been and where I planned to operate from\nover that week.  Starting on 16 July at DM35xg/DM45ag near Flagstaff \nin northern Arizona until 22 July at DM25jx/DM26ja in Las Vegas, I \nmade a total of 257 contacts with 103 different call signs.  I drove\n1905 miles/3065km in my 7-day trip, operating from 14 different grids\nin 3 states (Arizona, Nevada, and Utah).  I made a quick trip to \nColorado along I-70 between a couple of passes on 20 July, long \nenough to make a couple of phone calls between two AO-27 passes I \nworked from DM58ix/DM59ia.  I had intended on a lot of work from the\nrarely-heard Utah grids via satellite, and I think I was successful \nin that goal.  \n\nFor all of these passes, I used an Elk Antennas handheld 2m/70cm log \nperiodic as my antenna.  On VO-52 at the hamfest, I used a pair of \nFT-817NDs.  For the FM satellites, I used an IC-2720H 2m/70cm FM \nmobile radio.  The radios were powered by a pair of 12V/20Ah \njumpstart battery packs, so I would not have to tap my truck's power\nsystem to run the radios.  While driving, I could recharge the packs\nto keep them ready for more operating, or they could be recharged in\nmy motel room overnight.   \n\nAs I have done over the past year or so, I tried to operate on grid\nboundaries when away from home.  This allows me to hand out QSOs for\nmore than 1 grid at a time, where at least one of the grids - or \nsometimes both - are considered \"rare\" on the satellites.  Thanks to\nthe way the roads ran across much of Utah, I was able to do this for\nmany passes.  I used the Google Earth software, the Google Maps web\nsite, and atlases I have for the 3 states I drove through to identify\npotential stops.  Although I had a general idea of where I was going\nto travel, I did not have a firm plan made out too far in advance.  I\nwould look at the map and pass predictions the every night, to see \nwhere I could be for passes each day, and made my plans accordingly.\n\n\n**********\n\nHere is a summary of each stop where I worked satellites during this\ntrip.  I have listed the latitude and longitude from my Garmin GPS\nreceiver at each stop, in degrees and decimal minutes, which can be\nput into Google Earth or Google Maps to visualize each location...\n\n\nThursday, 16 July - along old US-66 between Williams and Parks, \nArizona, west of Flagstaff in Coconino County (grids DM35xg and \nDM45ag)\n35 15.570 N 112 0.000 W\n\nThis spot is one I have used a few times over the past year or so, \nin the Kaibab National Forest.  I drove up from Phoenix in the \nmorning, before I had to be in Williams to set up the AMSAT booth for\nthe hamfest.  I worked a couple of AO-27 passes from here in the \nafternoon.  Twelve QSOs were made in the first 7-minute AO-27 pass at\n2000 UTC, then 8 more on the 2141 UTC AO-27 pass.  After these two \npasses, I drove to Williams to get my motel room and then set up at \nthe hamfest.  \n\nOnce I set up the AMSAT booth at the hamfest, I went back to this \nspot for an AO-51 pass in the late afternoon (0059 UTC, 1759 local). \nI worked 9 stations on this pass.  \n\nThis was the only day I operated in DM45.  Even with the several \ntrips I've made up here, it still seems like either of these grids \n(or both of them) are new for someone on the passes.  As long as it \nis not snowing in northern Arizona, I can make day-trips up here to\noperate from either grid - or both grids - for anyone needing them in\ntheir log.  \n\n\nFriday and Saturday, 17-18 July - ARRL/Arizona State Convention and \nHamfest, at the Williams (Arizona) Rodeo Grounds in Coconino County -\ngrid DM35vg\n35 15.511 N 112 11.105 W\n\nOver these two days, I operated from outside the exhibit hall at the \nhamfest.  I manned an AMSAT table in the hall, with the assistance of\nRay W1OTH and Larry W7LB over these two days.  I was able to do on-\nair demonstrations when either of these guys were around, and I had\nlots of chances for that on 17 July.  I worked passes on all 3 FM \nsatellites as well as two VO-52 passes, making a total of 34 QSOs.  \n\nSince I was the only one at the table for much of Saturday morning, \nand storm clouds were in the area that afternoon, I was not able to \nwork any passes that day.  I gave a presentation at the hamfest on \nFriday morning, and talked to lots of people who walked by the AMSAT \ntable during the two-day event.  Larry WA6DIR and Glen NN6T, long-\ntime satellite operators, stopped by during the hamfest.    \n\n\nAfter these 3 days, the serious travel began....\n\n\nSunday, 19 July - east of Goulding, Utah, at the intersection of \nUS-163 and Monument Valley Road, on the Navajo Nation reservation in\nSan Juan County (grids DM46vx and DM47va)\n37 0.000 N 110 10.448 W\n\nAfter I left Williams early in the morning, I tried to get to some \npoint in Utah before I would start working the satellites.  I also \nhad a phone call to make, participating in an ARISS telebridge \ncontact at 1550 UTC.  With the early departure, I was able to find \nthis spot just north of the Arizona/Utah border next to the Monument\nValley park 40 minutes before that phone call.  I was near this \nlocation last year, operating from points east (DM56ex/DM57ea, along\nUS-191 between Monument Valley and the Four Corners monument) and \nwest (DM46fx/DM47fa, along US-89 next to Lake Powell) near the \nArizona/Utah border, and planned to only be here for one pass.  \n\nSO-50 was passing by around 1642 UTC, and I was ready for it.  It was\na high pass, going from my north toward the southeast, covering much\nof North America.  I was able to log 14 QSOs with stations across the\nUSA and Mexico.  Thanks to everyone who was on there, for cooperating\nand allowing lots of stations to work these two rare grids - DM46 in \nparticular, since this was the only chance to work it on my trip. \n\n\nSunday, 19 July - between Goulding and Mexican Hat, Utah, southeast \nof US-163 on county route 425, on the Navajo Nation reservation in \nSan Juan County (grids DM47xb and DM57ab)\n37 4.980 N 110 0.000 W\n\nOnly a short drive northeast of the earlier stop, I was able to park\non this grid boundary for a total of 3 passes.  I wanted to find a \nsafe spot to park, off the US-163 highway, where I could get a good\nview of the sky for satellite work.  With the quick drive, I was able\nto work 3 passes - one on SO-50, followed by a pair of AO-27 passes.\nIn between these passes, I was able to drive around this part of Utah\nto get more pictures.  \n\nThe SO-50 pass around 1823 UTC was generally following the US west \ncoast - a good way for me to see how this would work for a later \nAO-27 pass in this direction.  I worked 6 stations on this pass, all\nof the stations I heard on there.  After the pass, I had a lot of \ntime to drive around before returning for the AO-27 passes. \n\nThe first of the AO-27 passes came at 2015 UTC.  The first few \nseconds of the 7-minute pass were chaotic, with many stations trying\nunsuccessfully to be heard through the transponder.  Once that moment\nof chaos passed, the \"business\" of making contacts commenced.  In\nabout 6 1/2 minutes on that pass, I worked 17 stations across the USA\nand Canada.  Being this was a Sunday and an eastern (for me) pass \nthat covered most of North America, I expected a lot of activity.  To\nmake 17 QSOs during an AO-27 pass is pretty good. \n\nIn between the two AO-27 passes, there was more driving around and \ntaking more pictures.  It was still warm up in that area, approaching\n100F/38C, so my truck's air conditioning was running to keep me cool.\nI made my way back to this location for the western AO-27 pass at \n2155 UTC, and proceeded to work a total of 10 more stations in the \nwestern USA and Mexico.  This brought the QSO count at this location\nto 33, a good effort for almost 4 hours out there. \n\n\nSunday, 19 July - near White Mesa, Utah, along US-191 on the Ute\nMountain Indian reservation, between Bluff and Blanding in San Juan\nCounty (grid DM57gk)\n37 26.279 N 109 28.211 W\n\nI was driving north to the DM57/DM58 grid boundary, but knew about \nan AO-51 pass at 2303 UTC.  It was going to be a tough pass to work, \nwith only 4 degrees maximum elevation across the northeastern sky.  I\nwas able to make this pass work, thanks to the local terrain - no \nhills or mountains from east to north, in the direction I needed for \nthis pass.  This turned out to be the most surprising pass of the \nentire trip.  \n\nDespite the low transmitter output on AO-51's 435.300 MHz downlink \n(below 300mW), I was able to hear the satellite when it had at least\n.5 degree elevation at the start and end of the pass.  I worked 8\nstations, all east of the Mississippi River, in the span of almost 7\nminutes.  For a pass I had almost decided not to even attempt, I am\nglad I tried it.  \n\n\nSunday and Monday, 19-20 July - north of Montebello, Utah, on county\nroute 321 east of US-191 in San Juan County (grids DM57ix and DM58ia)\n38 0.000 N 109 19.150 W\n\nUp until this stop, I had been operating from grids I previously \nworked from.  This was the first time I operated from a new grid on\nthis trip, DM58.  I had to do some driving east of US-191, to avoid \nbeing in a small \"canyon\" with no visibility of the western or \neastern sky for satellite operating.  This spot was at just over \n7000 feet/2133m elevation, with a good clear view in all directions.\n\nThe first of the Sunday evening AO-51 passes at this location was, as\nexpected, crowded.  This was probably the most difficult pass for me\nto work during the trip, with the volume of stations on the pass and \nmoments where some operators were calling me as I was trying to \ncomplete QSOs with other stations.  Following simple guidelines like\n\"If you can't hear the satellite's downlink, don't transmit.\" and \"If\nyou hear a station call any call sign that is not yours, this is \nprobably *not* the time to call that station\" would have allowed for \na few more QSOs on that pass.  Even with that, I was able to work 15 \nstations across much of the USA and Mexico.  \n\nAt 0220 UTC, I had a good AO-51 pass to the west.  Not many were on\nthe pass, and I was able to work 6 more stations in Arizona and \nCalifornia.  I spent the night in Monticello, and then returned to \nthis spot Monday morning before heading north toward DM59.  I was \nable to work one SO-50 pass from this spot on Monday morning.  Ten \nmore QSOs went in the log, including one with the Canadian special-\nevent station VE3MOON in Ottawa.\n\nI logged a total of 31 QSOs at the DM57ix/DM58ia boundary.  I could \nhave stayed here for a while and still make QSOs where either or both\nof these grids would be new ones for the stations worked, but I still\nhad much more driving to do this day.\n\n\nMonday, 20 July - north of Moab, Utah, on Blue Hills Road west of\nUS-191, next to Moab Airport in Grand County (grid DM58dr)\n38 44.932 N 109 44.525 W\n\nI was watching the clock and my surroundings, knowing there was an\nSO-50 pass coming by around 1710 UTC.  In Moab, being in a canyon \nwith the Colorado River running through it, I could not have worked\nthis pass.  I was able to drive about 15 miles/25km north of Moab and\nreach a spot with a good view of the western sky.  \n\nOnce I parked and set up my gear, I only heard 3 stations on this \npass (in Arizona, California, and Oregon).  I worked all 3, and had\na couple of hours to get lunch and find the spot I would work from on\nthe upcoming AO-27 passes. \n\n\nMonday, 20 July - northeast of Cisco, Utah, along old US-6 south of \nI-70 in Grand County (grids DM58ix and DM59ia)\n39 0.000 N 109 17.648 W\n\nWith AO-51 transmitting the special AMSAT transmission commemorating \nthe 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing in the evening, \nthis would be the last location I would operate from on this day.  \nFor many, both DM58 and DM59 were grids missing from many satellite\noperators' logs.  This would be the only stop where I would work from\ngrid DM59.  I pulled off the old road, took lots of pictures \nincluding the photos of my station and GPS receiver, and waited for\nAO-27 to turn on at 1946 UTC.\n\nDuring this 7-minute pass, I worked 13 stations - a very good number\nfor a weekday afternoon pass.  No Mexican or Canadian stations, just\nstations across much of the USA.  Twelve more were logged on the pass\nto the west at 2127 UTC, this time with stations from across the USA\nplus VA6BMJ in western Canada.  \n\n\nAfter these two AO-27 passes, I drove west along I-70 and US-6 \ntoward Provo, and then south approximately 30 miles/50km from Provo \nto the town of Nephi.  While approaching Provo on US-6, I was able to\nhear parts of the AO-51 pass at 0003 UTC with the special Apollo 11 \ntransmission.  On the next pass at 0141 UTC, I was able to hear it \nand record it from outside the motel I stopped at for the night.  \n\n\nTuesday, 21 July - Nephi, Utah, along county route 1814 west of I-15\nin Juab County (grid DM49bq)\n39 40.514 N 111 51.237 W\n\nBy stopping here, this set up my Tuesday travel perfectly.  From \nhere, I could drive down through DM3x and DM4x grids after spending a\ncouple of days mostly working from DM5x grids in eastern Utah.  I \nwoke up early this morning, and had a chance to work an AO-51 pass\ngoing directly overhead before I set out toward southern Utah. \n\nThis AO-51 pass started around 1346 UTC, and there was a conversation\ngoing on as I started to clearly hear the downlink.  I was able to \nmake quick contacts with 10 stations in 9 minutes, mostly in the \nwestern USA and Canada.  I did not plan on staying here for later \npasses; I wanted to get to a grid boundary for passes later in the \nmorning. \n\n\nTuesday, 21 July - Redmond, Utah, west of US-89 in Sevier County \n(grids DM48bx and DM49ba)\n39 0.000 N 111 51.855 W\n\nI saw on the map there could be two options for parking on this grid\nboundary.  After quickly driving around the area, I settled on this\nlocation that was off either of the 2 numbered highways in this small\ncentral Utah town.  Other than at the Williams hamfest, this would be\nthe only spot where I worked passes on all 3 FM satellites.  \n\nThere was a western AO-51 pass at 1527 UTC, and the first chance for\nme to work from this spot.  Two Canadians and one station in \nCalifornia were all I heard, and I worked all 3.  About 25 minutes\nlater at 1559 UTC, a nice SO-50 pass that would cover much of the USA\nand Canada went by.  Nine stations, spanning from western Canada to \nsouth Florida, were worked.  The next SO-50 pass going down the \nPacific coast at 1743 UTC only had 2 stations in California on; both \nwere worked.  \n\nAt this point, I had about 90 minutes until a very shallow (7 degrees\nmaximum elevation) AO-27 pass at 1917 UTC.  I had a choice - stay \nhere for one more pass, or move southwest to my next planned stop.  I\nstayed here, since I had a better view of the northeastern sky where\nAO-27 would be.  I'm glad I did!  \n\nEven without being able to hear the first 2 minutes or so of the 7-\nminute pass, I worked 9 stations in a 3-minute span.  For all 4 \npasses on these 3 satellites at this location, I made 23 QSOs.  \n\n\nTuesday, 21 July - Sigurd, Utah, along Substation Road between I-70 \nand UT-118 in Sevier County (grids DM38xu and DM48au)\n38 50.542 N 112 0.000 W\n\nI did not have to go far from DM48bx/DM49ba to this spot, less than\n30 minutes.  I quickly saw why this road was named Substation Road -\nI was near an electrical substation.  This did not cause any problems\nwith my radio, but it was cloudy in this area.  I could see rain to \nthe southwest, and some lightning way off in the distance.  Other \nthan some raindrops, I had no problems with the weather.  \n\nThe first of the two AO-27 passes I had at this location came at 2058\nUTC.  This pass covered much of North America, and I could easily \nhear the satellite for all 7 minutes of the pass.  In 3 out of the 7\nminutes, I worked 8 stations.  Not a big number, but OK for a weekday\nafternoon pass.  The next pass at 2240 UTC added 4 more QSOs, which\nincluded my first Alaska QSO from Utah (Dale KL7XJ).  \n\n\nTuesday, 21 July - between Beaver and Parowan, Utah, on the I-15 west\nfrontage road north of milepost 89 in Iron County (grids DM37px and\nDM38pa)\n38 0.000 N 112 43.622 W\n\nI knew AO-51 would pass almost directly over Utah at 1900 local (0100\nUTC on 22 July), so I wanted to get to the next grid south of the \nlast location I stopped at.  This would be the first time I operated \nfrom DM37, and the only time I would do so on this trip.  To safely \nstop here, I had to exit the I-15 freeway 6 miles/10km north of this\nspot, and then drive on the unpaved frontage road.  It took almost 90 \nminutes to get from DM38xu/DM48au to this location, but I had 30 \nminutes to prepare for this pass.  Once I parked on the spot and took\nthe obligatory photos of the area and my station and GPS receiver, I \nwaited for the pass to start.  \n\nWhen AO-51 came up above the mountains to my south, I started making\ncontacts.  In 10 minutes, I worked 13 stations across much of the \nUSA, western Canada, and Alaska.  I lost the last 3 minutes of the \npass due to the mountains north of me, but 13 QSOs in the part of the\npass I could work was very good.  \n\nI did not stay here for the last AO-51 pass to the west around 0240 \nUTC, as I needed to drive south to find a place to spend the night \nbefore the final day of my trip.  I had planned to stop in St. George\nnorth of the Arizona/Utah border, but decided to keep driving through\nthe small part of I-15 that passes through Arizona to the town of \nMesquite, Nevada.  Mesquite is at the Arizona/Nevada border along \nI-15, a good place to stop that would be close to where I would \noperate from next.  \n\n\nWednesday, 22 July - Scenic, Arizona, at the intersection of Scenic\nBlvd. and Spring Rain Drive, east of I-15 in Mohave County (grids \nDM26xt and DM36at)\n36 48.099 N 114 0.000 W\n\nI stopped in this area last year, working a few passes on that trip.\nSince I needed to be home at the end of this day, I only planned to\nwork one pass from here plus one later pass before focusing on the \ndrive back to Phoenix.  This corner of Arizona is part of the \n\"Arizona Strip\", north of the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon.\nTo get here from the rest of Arizona requires driving into a \nneighboring state.  Mesquite, where I stopped for the night, was\nless than 10 minutes away from here.  \n\nI had an SO-50 pass at 1448 UTC from this location, passing from the\nnorth to the east.  There were mountains to the east that would block\nthe last few minutes of the pass, but the view to the north and \nnortheast was good enough for the 19-degree pass.  This would be the \nonly time I would operate from DM36 on this trip.  I made 7 QSOs in 5\nminutes, working stations across the USA and Canada, then I packed up\nfor the drive down I-15 to Las Vegas.  \n\n\nWednesday, 22 July - Las Vegas, Nevada, east of the intersection of \nLas Vegas Blvd. and Cactus Avenue in Clark County (grids DM25jx and \nDM26ja)\n36 0.000 N 115 10.228 W\n\nI worked a few passes from this spot last year, so I knew the area.  \nI had a few hours before the AO-27 pass I wanted to work at 2029 UTC,\nand met up with Jeff WB3JFS for lunch not far from this spot.  Thanks\nfor the chance to meet you!  After lunch, I went to this spot and \nwaited for AO-27.\n\nEven though there have been resident hams on the satellites from both\nof the grids covering metropolitan Las Vegas (DM25 and DM26) over the\npast few months, plus NN6T occasionally on from DM25 in northwestern \nArizona, I still had a nice pileup calling me on this pass.  I worked\n15 stations across the USA and Canada during the 7-minute pass.  \n\n\n**********\n\n\nDuring my trip, many callsigns were heard more than a few times.  I\nwent through my log, to see if anyone worked me from all 14 of the \ngrids I visited.  I know that some of these grids were not \"new\" for\nthe stations I worked, but they were showing up frequently in my log.\nHere's what I found, looking for callsigns I worked from at least 5 \nof the 14 grids I visited:\n\n14 grids - K8YSE\n13 grids - KI6YAA\n12 grids - WA4NVM\n11 grids - KC0ZHF, W8KHP\n10 grids - N3TL, N5AFV\n 8 grids - KG6NUB, WD8DOT\n 7 grids - W6ZKH, WB3JFS\n 6 grids - AA5PK, K8GI/p, ND9M, VA6BMJ, WA5KBH\n 5 grids - K4DLG, N5ZNL, VA7VW, VE3MWA, WA7HQD\n\nI worked K5E a few times, under the callsigns K5E operated by Tim \nN3TL as well as K8YSE/K5E and WA4NVM/K5E.  \n\n\n**********\n\n\nSome thank-yous... \n\n1. AMSAT's AO-51 Operations Group, for having a 2m/70cm FM voice \nrepeater available on AO-51 for virtually all 7 days of my trip.  The\nApollo 11 transmission was very nice, and being able to count on \nAO-51 being on the air for the rest of my trip helped me to have many \nopportunities to make QSOs from this part of the country. \n\n2. Ray Fobes W1OTH and Larry Brown W7LB, AMSAT members who helped me\nwith the AMSAT booth at the Williams hamfest.  \n\n3. Amateur Radio Council of Arizona, and in particular Grant Hays \nWB6OTS, for providing AMSAT a space in the main exhibit hall during \nthe Williams hamfest.  \n\n4. My \"crew\" that helped me during the trip - John K8YSE, Rick \nWA4NVM, and Tim N3TL.  These guys were like the pilot stations that\nhelp DXpeditions on HF.  I sent them e-mails in advance of my trip,\nseeking comments on my plans.  Tim, in particular, sent e-mails to \nthe AMSAT-BB when I didn't have the time or access to the Internet to\ndo this myself.  During my trip, I received feedback from them on how\nI was doing on the air from day to day, and sometimes called them to\nconfirm what I was seeing on maps or to make sure they knew I would\nbe on from a particular spot.  \n\n5. All the stations making contacts with WD9EWK.  This is one reason \noperators like me will go out to unusual places and work satellites -\nto help others who are looking for a new grid, county, state, etc. \nfor their logbooks.  With the 3 FM satellites and their passes \nhappening throughout the day and early evening, it was easy to work\npasses and travel between passes to maximize the number of passes I\ncould work and grids I could work from each day.  \n\n\n**********\n\n\nI am working on the QSL cards for the locations I operated from on my\ntrip.  I have already received a few e-mails with listings of QSOs \nmade with WD9EWK during this trip, plus several envelopes in my \nmailbox since I've returned home.  Sending me a QSL request to my PO\nbox is not mandatory to get my card(s) from this trip.  I appreciate\nthose who have sent me SASEs, which will help me with postage costs.  \nI hope to have the cards ready to go out in the next week or two.  \n\n73!\n\n\n\n\n\nPatrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK\nhttp://www.wd9ewk.net/\n \n\n\n",
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