Hi!
I just heard from Beny XE2YBG, who made a quick trip north of his city in Tamaulipas state in northeastern Mexico to be in a different grid (EL04) last night for an AO-51 pass. Beny told me he worked 9 different stations, mostly XE stations, during a pass at 0136 UTC (about 87 degrees maximum elevation for his location). He was hoping to work more stations in the US, but many of the stations calling him were not using the international phonetic alphabet and were not using individual digits for their grids. He does not understand much English, but can deal with the standard (international) phonetic alphabet and the individual digits OK.
For example, if I called Beny in English and wanted to give him my information, I would use the following (if operating in grid DM33)...
"Whiskey-Delta-Nine-Echo-Whiskey-Kilo, Delta-Mike-Three-Three"
Say each letter phonetically, and each digit in the grid locator - not "Delta-Mike-Thirty-Three".
Many of the Mexican satellite operators understand "QSO English", and not much more. They would enjoy making more contacts with stations throughout the USA and Canada, but their limited grasp of the English language means we (at least those of us outside Mexico who do not speak Spanish) need to remember that when calling those stations. Please be aware of this, and you may end up working some new and unusual grids via satellite from those XE stations (some of whom are starting to look at their maps, and make trips to other grids).
There are some of the XE satellite operators who are fluent in English. Even with them, following these suggestions (phonetic alphabet, individual digits in grid locators) would be a good thing, and a good habit to get into - for the times you work an XE station with limited fluency in English.
Thanks and 73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/