Hi Mike!
In the morning should be a 9:40ish am pass local time for me. So I might be on it sipping my coffee :). The big difference that you can show is, that the linear birds are not like a zoo at times (except for the 5 am passes during the weekends on AO-51) and you can have a real QSO for the entire length of the pass. Granted you may only collect one grid and you may already have that one but it's simply an addition.
It may be almost a month until that hamfest in Tucson, but I hope to hear you on that morning.
I've done demonstrations on SSB satellites for the past couple of years, and know that I may end up with a single QSO for the entire pass. On some rare occasions, I end up talking to myself for the entire pass. Then I can pass the time by demonstrating how I sound through the satellite as I reduce power from 5W to the lowest power setting on my FT-817ND transmitter (500mW). I usually can get more than one QSO on these demonstrations, thanks to those reading the -BB and showing up on the passes I am working.
As for grids, the QSOs at demonstrations away from the Phoenix area don't help my grid count. They may help your grid count, depending on what you need. :-)
My current antenna setup is a AR-22 TV rotor with a 5 ele 2M and a 10 ele 70cm at 30 deg fixed elevation both horizontal polarized. Total cost approx. $200 plus cables. Next project will be to build a 2nd IOio and phase them together 90 deg off to see if that will help with the fading issue (mostly on FO-29) vs buying or building a complex RHCP/LHCP switchable setup.
If that's what you were using when I worked you last month on VO-52, it sounded really well. Good job! Maybe we can hook up on FO-29 or AO-7 (mode B) sometime soon.
My IOio beats your Arrow or Elk in terms of price by leaps :). But then again it doesn't look as nice.
My Elk was a Christmas gift a few years ago, so it was free to me. But yes, the cost of the parts for an IOio or a WA5VJB "cheap Yagi" will beat the MSRP of my Elk.
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/