Hi!
The 2009 Scottsdale Amateur Radio Club's "Springfest" hamfest was this (Saturday) morning, and AMSAT was present once again. The hamfest, held at Scottsdale Community College in Scottsdale AZ (technically, on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community reservation east of the Scottsdale city limits), is usually the largest and best-attended of the various Phoenix- area hamfests in the hamfest "season" here - any time other than summer. A good location at the end of one row in the college's parking lot, and a great turnout, made for a successful morning.
I set up an AMSAT table at 0500 local (1200 UTC), and was able to get on an AO-51 pass at 1245 UTC. Thanks to the 14 stations from Maine down the eastern half of the USA and HI8LAM in the Dominican Republic for QSOs during that early (for me) pass. Later, I worked the next AO-51 pass around 1424 UTC, logging 14 more QSOs. Stations from British Columbia down through the USA (thanks K8YSE, for being the station furthest east on that pass!) and into Mexico were worked.
I was on the FO-29 pass around 1525 UTC, hearing stations clearly on the downlink around the area I hoped to be on, but could not hear myself through the satellite. I don't know if it was a case of the satellite's uplink antenna(s) pointing away from me or if I need to take a closer look at my setup. In any event, I had a crowd for that pass, so we listened as I fielded questions about this satellite and SSB satellite operating.
Around 1710-1730 UTC, I had 3 passes to choose from - FO-29, SO-50, and VO-52. All were good passes, but I went with VO-52 so I could work stations on an SSB satellite for one of my demonstrations. Thanks Mark WA8SME and Glenn AA5PK for showing up and chatting for a couple of minutes.
If anyone who worked WD9EWK during these passes wants to get a QSL card for those contacts, please e-mail me directly. I'll be happy to drop a card in the mail for you. Some of the contacts will have QSL cards dropped in the mail with SASE, since they were new grids and/or states/countries worked via satellite. :-)
I did not work alone this morning. Gerry VE4GTB/KD7MDB, who is from Winnipeg but spends winters in the Phoenix area, once again showed up at the hamfest. As always, many thanks for helping the AMSAT efforts at yet another Phoenix-area hamfest in your retirement days. :-) Larry W7LB came up from Tucson, and Ray W1OTH was down from Prescott, spending time at the table and also walking around the hamfest. Ray acted as my "antenna rotator" for the VO-52 pass, which went almost directly over the hamfest. All of us chatted with whoever happened to stop by the table, answering questions throughout the morning. Thanks for all the help!
The Scottsdale Amateur Radio Club has been very accomodating to AMSAT for the times I've been part of the AMSAT efforts. This is the 3rd year I have been with an AMSAT table at this hamfest. Thanks to Ed WU7S, the primary contact for the club's hamfest organizing committee, and the club for the space at the hamfest. And many thanks to the stations making 30 QSOs with WD9EWK during the morning.
Until the next demonstration... 73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/