Hi!
Last weekend was a busy weekend. Starting with a 3-hour drive from Phoenix to Show Low in eastern Arizona on Friday (4 June) evening, a hamfest in Show Low on Saturday (5 June) followed by operating from a nearby grid boundary, to a longer drive north with a 5-hour drive home on Sunday (6 June) - busy, but fun. Over 858 miles/1381km driven in just over 2 days, operating from 3 locations in 3 different grids.
The first stop for the weekend was at the White Mountain Hamfest in Show Low. This hamfest has been going on for the past few years, and this was the first time I have been to it. As far as I could determine, this was the first AMSAT presence at the hamfest. I had an AMSAT table there, and worked several passes throughout the half-day event (2 passes each on AO-7 and SO-50; one pass each on VO-52, SO-50, and AO-27). Late in the morning, a local Boy Scout troop visited, and one Scout took the microphone to talk with a couple of stations on an SO-50 pass. A total of 41 QSOs went in the log from the demonstrations, including 12 QSOs on an AO-7 pass to start the morning at 1400 UTC. Lots of AMSAT merchandise made it into the hands of hams in that area, and - like with any hamfest - lots of questions about operating and specifically how I was working the satellites with portable gear.
After the hamfest and lunch, I found a spot on the DM44xj/DM54aj grid boundary north of Show Low to operate from. I spent about 5 hours at this site, not far from a small lake but off the main highways in the area. Lots of passes to work - 3 passes on AO-7, 2 passes on AO-51, and one pass on SO-50. I knew there were a few who were hoping to hear DM54 on the air, and I was happy to make the contacts with anyone stopping by to call me. The last of the 3 AO-7 passes finished up around sunset, leaving enough light to help me quickly break down my gear for the evening. I logged 43 QSOs from this grid boundary, a good effort.
At sunrise Sunday (6 June) morning, I left Show Low and headed toward the Navajo Nation reservation in northeastern Arizona. I was looking for grid DM56, and possibly a spot on the DM55/DM56 grid boundary that I could park on, for several hours of operating up there before returning home. I was already in the area for the hamfest in Show Low, and a few operators asked if I would be able to visit DM56 to work some passes. I drove north and worked my way to US-191 north of the I-40 freeway, and unfortunately saw no safe place to park at the DM55/DM56 grid boundary on that road or alongside the road. I decided to go a few miles/km further north to the Navajo town of Chinle, and find someplace to operate there.
Chinle is at the western entrance of the Canyon de Chelly National Monument, which I visited during longer gaps between passes. I ended up operating in town, not far from a convenience store and several fast-food restaurants at a highway junction (grid DM56fd). Since the afternoon temperatures reached 100F/38C up here, being near places with air conditioning (besides my truck) were most appreciated. :-)
At Chinle, I started working passes with the 1620 UTC SO-50 pass. As that pass finished, VO-52 came up. Not too long after VO-52 went away, the first of two HO-68 passes went by to the east. After these passes, there was more time between most of the passes, which I used to get lunch and go into the Canyon de Chelly monument. In the afternoon, I was able to work a couple of AO-27 passes and an AO-51 pass before my self-imposed deadline of 2300 UTC (1700 local time on the Navajo reservation) so I would not get home at or after midnight. I logged a total of 73 QSOs on 8 passes from DM56 (2 passes each on SO-50, HO-68, and AO-27; 1 pass each on VO-52 and AO-51), working stations across the USA including Alaska and Hawaii plus Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico.
After the AO-51 pass, the drive back to Phoenix took almost 5.5 hours. This was the reason why I did not want to stay up there to work later passes. I still had to be at my office Monday morning. The drive home was uneventful, using cruise-control for much of the drive.
I appreciate all the stations that showed up on the Saturday morning passes during my demonstrations. I had a decent crowd at the start of the morning for that AO-7 pass, to hear all that activity. Of course, being able to put QSOs into logs from the DM44/DM54 boundary and from DM56 was also fun. I have already printed QSL cards for the 3 locations I operated from over the weekend, wrote out cards for those who requested cards and others, and some of those cards will go to the post office tomorrow. If you would like confirmation of a QSO with WD9EWK from the weekend, just e-mail me directly with the QSO details. I'll be happy to send you a card.
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/