Hi!
More fun on the satellites yesterday. Between the Superstition Amateur Radio Club's annual hamfest and a quick afternoon/evening road trip south of Phoenix to an unusual grid, it was a good day. Lots of interested people at the hamfest, and lots of QSOs for those hoping to work the rarely-heard grid DM32 later in the day.
Superstition Amateur Radio Club hamfest, at Mesa Community College in Mesa, Arizona (grid DM43bj)
This hamfest is the first one of the Phoenix-area hamfest "season", as the weather turns cooler and the winter visitors - "snowbirds" - from other colder parts of North America make their way back to central and southern Arizona. When I showed up at the hamfest around 0515 local time (1215 UTC), there were already more people setting up than in the past couple of years. Good weather also helps with that, of course. Although cool by local standards (36F/2C at that hour), no rain was seen. I set up my AMSAT table, and prepared for the first of 6 passes I would use for on-air demonstrations.
The first two passes of the morning, at 1254 and 1434 UTC, were on AO-51. These were the first passes I worked since the satellite was flipped around and its antennas were not favoring the Northern Hemisphere. Once the satellite was up from the horizon, there was little noticeable difference compared to previous passes. Near the horizon, it was tougher to hear - but not impossible. As usual, there were lots of stations on the pass toward the east. I was able to make 8 contacts with stations across the USA and in southern Mexico. One of those QSOs was with Bob WA7DXZ, who let me know he would be coming to the hamfest in a couple of hours. He showed up as promised, stopping by to say "hello" a couple of hours after we made that QSO. The second pass to the west had fewer stations on, and only 3 QSOs went in the log.
The next pass I planned to try for a demonstration was on AO-7. It was in mode B at 1448-1510 UTC, coming almost directly over my head (81 degrees maximum elevation). This was the first time I attempted a demonstration using this satellite. Unfortunately, I had some local QRM to deal with on the SSB downlinks - generators with lots of noise audible on my receiver (one of my FT-817NDs). Thankfully, the noisy generators were north of me, and pointing my antenna away from that direction reduced the noise. Thanks to AA5PK, KC7MG (he was not too far away from me, in Casa Grande south of the hamfest site), WC7V, and XE1AO for the SSB QSOs. In fact, XE1AO said that his QSO with me was his first on AO-7. Maybe we'll hear more activity from Mexico on that satellite in the near future.
Later in the morning, I had two VO-52 passes and an SO-50 pass where I had demonstrations. Again, I made contacts with 4 stations on the first VO-52 pass to the east at 1618-1630 UTC, and two on the western pass at 1754-1806 UTC. In between these two passes was the SO-50 pass I worked at 1730-1742 UTC, with 6 QSOs.
When I wasn't on the radio, I had a steady stream of traffic around the AMSAT table. All of the demonstrations draw nice crowds, and the AO-7 demonstration in particular brought out the largest crowd. The longer pass time meant people stuck around longer, including many who had been on the satellites in the past. Some of those were active on AO-7 in the 70s and early 80s during its first life. I apologize to those who were waiting for me on passes where I didn't show up until 3 or 4 minutes into the pass, as I was chatting with people around the table and I was not watching the clock closely.
This hamfest also turned out to be a nice get-together for satellite operators currently active on satellites. A nice roundup:
Bob WA7DXZ Ed N7EDK John N7JK Larry WA6DIR Leo W7JPI
Larry drove in from California, Ed and Leo came up from southern Arizona, and Bob and John live in the Phoenix area. A nice get-together for those of us that get on from the southwestern USA. Many others who are occasionally on also stopped by throughout the morning, including a couple from northern Mexico.
Thanks to the Superstition Amateur Radio Club for providing me a space for AMSAT at the hamfest, and all of the stations across North America that made contacts with WD9EWK during the demonstrations. But this would not be the end of my day on the satellites...
Southeast of Maricopa, Arizona, in Pinal County (grids DM32xx and DM42ax) 32 59.960 N 112 0.000 W
A few days before the hamfest, I mentioned I would also make a trip to the rarely-heard grid DM32 in the afternoon after the hamfest. Less than 45 minutes away from the hamfest is the northeast corner of DM32, a grid that has no resident satellite operators and most of it is off-limits due to an Air Force bombing range and several wilderness areas in the grid. The southwest corner of the grid crosses into northern Mexico. I have gone to this area on many occasions in the last couple of years, putting both of these grids on the air for satellite operators.
The location on the boundary that I use is very close to where four grids (DM32, DM33, DM42, DM43) converge - in the middle of a farm. I do not go onto that spot, but park on this boundary on the side of a road to work from both DM32 and DM42. I drove here after most people had left the hamfest around 2000 UTC, an hour before the first of two AO-27 passes I hoped to work at this location.
I arrived with 10 minutes to spare. I set up my radio, the antenna was already assembled from earlier, and I was ready for the 7 minutes of AO-27 repeater time. In 7 minutes, 12 QSOs were logged with stations all over the USA and Canada - including QSOs with several who had previously told me that they hoped to work DM32. The western AO-27 pass at 2240-2247 UTC had 4 more QSOs, including a QSO with Craig KL4E doing a demonstration for a Boy Scout group in Anchorage, Alaska.
Later on, there were two AO-51 passes - 0004-0018 and 0144-0156 UTC. The first pass to the easy was a popular pass, with 14 QSOs from all over the continental USA and Alaska (KL4E was on doing another demonstration for that Boy Scout group in Anchorage). The later pass wasn't as busy, but still put 8 more QSOs in the log with stations along the US west coast and in Alaska (KL4E again; this time he was at home). A total of 38 QSOs were logged on these 4 passes.
Compared to many of my other road trips, this one was a very short trip. I drove less than 100 miles/160km for the day. There was no shortage of activity on all of these passes, 10 in total. Anyone who worked WD9EWK yesterday and wants a QSL card only needs to e-mail me the QSO details. If you're in the log, I will mail you the card(s). No SASE required.
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/