Hi Everyone,
The trip to Death Valley went well! We travelled from home (grid CM88 west of Sacramento) east by Lake Tahoe and then south down the east side of the Sierras. First day camping was at Eureka Dunes in northern Death Valley National Park, where I was able to make a number of satellite contacts (grid DM17). Next day we took 4-wheel-drive roads from the Eureka Valley over Steele Pass to Saline Valley, and then up the Lippincott road to Racetrack Valley. We camped out near the moving rocks of the Racetrack, and I was able to make a few more satellite contacts from there (DM16). Especially nice was a morning round-table QSO on Oscar 7 while out in the desert, we had five stations on the bird and a nice conversation!
The equipment worked well -- I brought my usual satellite portable station, consisting of the pair of Yaesu FT-817ND radios, an Elk antenna, and a 7-Ah SLA battery for power. Something new that I've been doing is running the radios entirely off solar power -- I have a set of PowerFilm solar panels (20 watts total) that I use exclusively for recharging the SLA battery. I set up the solar array whenever it's convenient to top off the battery, it provides more than enough power for my intermittent satellite operation.
A map of the route along with some photos of the scenery and radio equipment is at: http://kb5wia.blogspot.com
73 de Dave KB5WIA