Hi Joe!
We have been able to do it with a handheld for the last 5 years. But we may have geography in our favor :-)
If I pick my "battles" (passes) right, I also benefit from geography here in the southwest. I won't even bother with any AO-27 passes to the east of me, and will hope to sneak in a QSO on SO-50 before its footprint covers much of the US. I operate 1B/1-Op/Battery at 5W on HF and 6m as well as the birds, so you can imagine the challenges in getting through without the benefit of higher power. Operating experience does play a big part in making the QSOs, especially with the conditions we will hear this weekend.
On the SSB birds, I may try to work some eastern passes. I was not as successful on SSB last year compared to 2010. The high-power stations that monopolize the FM birds cripple the SSB transponders, unfortunately. But that's part of the challenge, getting through in less-than-ideal conditions....
THE FOLLOWING COMMENT IS FOR NEXT YEAR!
Has anyone considering re-examining the FM satellite rule? I would like to propose the following:
Contacts on the FM satellites can only be made with W1AW and K6KPH. Those stations could get on with solid signals and pass out contacts. No other contacts would count. I believe more contacts would be made, and it would be better to listen to as well. We would have to get the word out early and often.
If you are going to limit stations to contacts with a very few stations on the FM birds, that would put those satellites in a completely different class compared to the SSB birds or other bands. At that point, you might as well exclude the FM birds like 3 HF bands (12m, 17m, 30m) are excluded from Field Day and most other HF contests. I'd rather not see that happen, even with the chaotic conditions on many of those FM satellite passes. Again, that's part of the challenge.
During last year's Field Day, there was a very nice AO-51 pass over the west coast late on Saturday afternoon. Stations were able to make their Field Day QSOs, and a couple were even looking to exchange grid locators and not participating in Field Day! Geography played a big role in that pass, with not much of the footprint going east of the Rockies. Good operating by all on that pass also contributed to that pass not being crazy like others were.
I'll try to make my 1 QSO on AO-27 and SO-50 tomorrow. If other stations call me after I've logged my single QSO, I will attempt to respond and get the other station a satellite QSO. I never score the additional FM satellite QSOs when I submit my reports to ARRL and AMSAT, but the QSOs are listed so I have a complete log of my Field Day effort in my reports.
I will be in the forest somewhere around Flagstaff AZ for Field Day, probably in grid DM45. I should be able to work some passes before the 1800 UTC start of Field Day at the DM35/DM45 grid boundary for those wanting log a QSO with either - or both - of those grids (probably in the 1430-1730 UTC timeframe). Keep an eye on APRS at http://aprs.fi/wd9ewk-9 to get an idea of where I am for those earlier passes, and updates will also be posted on Twitter using @WD9EWK or at http://twitter.com/wd9ewk
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/