Hi!
Despite the evening thunderstorms that rolled in from northern Mexico, ruining my chance to work one more pass, my day-trip to grid DM31 yesterday (Saturday, 5 September 2009) was successful. I was able to look around the area, so I could have a better idea of the surroundings than I could see in Google Earth or Google Maps. That grid is less than 3 hours from my home, so this is a destination I can visit on future day-trips.
As I drove toward DM31 near the USA/Mexico border on Arizona route 85, I made note of a spot that straddles the DM31ox/DM32oa grid boundary. There is a place to safely pull off the highway, but with mountains to the east and west of the highway I did not think this would be a good spot to work from. I was not so concerned with operating from the grid boundary; I can visit DM32 in an hour's drive from Phoenix, but DM31 is not so convenient. I drove to the small town of Lukeville, which is the Arizona side of this border crossing point across from the Mexican city of Sonoyta. This point is where most who are interested in visiting the Mexican town of Puerto Penasco ("Rocky Point"), on the north end of the Gulf of California just over 60 miles/100km away, cross the border. This area allowed me a better view of the sky to the east and west than I had at other points north of the border - without having to go away from the highway and set up in an area that is less secure than a border crossing complete with lots of law-enforcement personnel.
My location was in grid DM31ov - 31 52.915 N, 112 49.027 W. I parked in a large parking lot at "Gringo Pass", which is a complex complete with gasoline station, restaurant, grocery store, and a duty-free store and auto-insurance agency for those heading into Mexico. I did not have a Mexican ham-radio permit, and with the security situation over there not being stable, I did not cross the border even for a second. I walked up to the line, and took photos around there - the plaque marking the international border, a plaque on the Mexican customs house, the signs and flag on the Mexican side of the border, looking along the border fence, etc. I also took some photos of my portable station, and was able to work an SO-50 pass at just after noon (1900 UTC).
For that pass, I logged 8 QSOs - mostly with stations near the Pacific coast, with 3 being further east as the satellite moved in that direction. A good start. I was ready for the first of two AO-27 passes at 2049 UTC. When the repeater opened up, it was busy. I was able to make QSOs with 17 stations from Mexico, the continental USA, and even KL7XJ in Alaska showed up at the end of the 7-minute repeater time. Before the next AO-27 pass, I had lunch and then returned to the parking lot for the pass. That pass put 6 more QSOs in the log.
I had planned to work 2 AO-51 passes, at 0026 and 0206 UTC. I knew of a pass around 2254 UTC, a very shallow pass for me at this location (maximum elevation 2 degrees). Since the first possible AO-51 pass came not long after the western AO-27 pass, I decided to try it from this location. I figured I might have 2 minutes or so when the satellite was at its highest to hear something, let alone make QSOs. In the span of approximately 80 seconds, I heard the satellite, made a call, worked 3 stations, then heard nothing when AO-51 went behind mountains northeast of my location. If anyone has a recording of that pass from yesterday, in particular the segment between 2255 and 2257 UTC, and could e-mail me a copy of that - I would appreciate hearing it.
After those 3 QSOs, I drove up the road toward the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument - which I drove through earlier - and to the town of Why. The signs as you approach this little town answer that "question" - gasoline, food, lodging, and camping. Other than that, there's not much here other than an intersection with another highway that heads east toward Tucson, 120 miles/200km away. There was even a small casino about 2 miles/3km east of that intersection, on the western edge of a large Indian reservation. After that drive and picture-taking, I drove back to Lukeville.
The better eastern pass of AO-51 for me was at 0026 UTC. I was ready, and worked a total of 16 stations - 6 in Mexico, and 10 across the USA. I appreciate the fact that I was able to make QSOs with so many XE stations, as they are also interested in working rare or unusual grids as many in the US are. This turned out to be my last pass from DM31 for the day, unfortunately.
As the 0026 UTC AO-51 pass ended, I had a nice chat with a couple of officers from the US Border Patrol. They were interested in what I was doing with radio equipment, so close to the border. They asked me what I was doing, which I explained to them. One of the officers asked if I could listen in on their radio gear. I said "no", thinking their radios were using some form of digital transmissions (they each had commercial Motorola HTs on their belts) and I did not have a receiver capable of decoding digital voice communications. I understand why they might ask that question, since there would be others that would be interested in listening in on those transmissions. One of the officers stuck around for almost 20 minutes to chat (his uncle is a ham operator, but the officer had not picked up this hobby), and we watched the dark clouds roll in. Then he returned to his post - inspecting vehicles approaching the Mexican border.
As the clock moved toward 0206 UTC, the start of the last pass I planned to work, dark clouds started coming up from the southeast. Then lightning started to strike around that part of the border area. The lightning convinced me to shut down, dismantle my station, and head home. I was able to drive about 5 miles/8km north of the border, next to the visitor center at the nearby Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, and take some pictures of the southern sky as it was being lit up by lightning. My camera is a simple Sony 7.2-megapixel camera, which does not lend itself for nighttime photography and doesn't have a fast shutter speed. I was able to get some nice photos of the clouds in the sky as the lightning lit them up.
On the way home, at another US Border Patrol highway checkpoint about 60 miles/100km north of Lukeville, the two officers there asked me where I was coming from and also about my radio gear. Then one of them asked if I knew the code to access the front- panel programming mode for a certain model of commercial Kenwood HT - not the sort of question I expected to hear from those officers. I didn't know about that, but we did talk for a few minutes about radios and programming them before I was allowed to continue on my way home. I did not mind talking with any of the Border Patrol officers; they have a tough job trying to secure the southern US border, and now performing inspections on vehicles heading into Mexico (a new task, something that was never done on a regular basis in the past for those leaving the US).
Despite not having the chance to safely work the last AO-51 pass, this was a good day. A total of 50 QSOs went in the log on 5 different passes, and now I have a better idea of where to go to work from DM31 in the future. Most of this grid is in Mexico, and there are better locations without so many hills and mountains on the other side of the border. Even down to "Rocky Point", which is near the southern edge of DM31, would be a good place to set up and operate - while having something cool to drink. :-) That will have to wait, but I'll head down to the Arizona side of DM31 again in the future.
Again, anyone interested in a QSL card confirming contacts made with me from DM31 only needs to e-mail me the QSO details. No SASE is needed. I hope to have cards in the mail in the next week or so.
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/