As always Patrick, good to see you, Unfortunately I had to leave early due to family obligations, but the highlight of the hamfest for me would come later that afternoon: I had a message on my phone telling me I'd won the Grand Prize in the raffle! I now have in my lap a brand new Yaesu FT8900R quad band radio!
Looking forward to the Thunderbird hamfest in January. Hopefully I'll be able to work a pass or two between working the Club table & browsing.
See you then
73
Clear Skies
Rick Tejera Editor SACnews, Public Outreach Coordinator Saguaro Astronomy Club Phoenix, Arizona www.saguaroastro.org saguaroastro@cox.net K7TEJ, AMSAT 38452
-----Original Message----- From: amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) Sent: Sunday, December 05, 2010 20:41 To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Saturday @ Mesa AZ hamfest
Hi!
Thanks for all the QSOs during demonstrations I gave at the Superstition Amateur Radio Club's annual hamfest in Mesa, Arizona, yesterday. I worked 2 passes each on AO-7, VO-52, and HO-68, along with one SO-50 pass. I apologize if you were trying for me on the SO-50 pass around 1719 UTC, as I was chatting with Leo W7JPI and Larry WA6DIR, who both made the trip to Phoenix for the hamfest during that pass.
During the VO-52 passes, instead of using my normal SSB satellite setup (two FT-817NDs), I used only one of the 817s with the all- mode receiver in the Kenwood TH-F6A tri-band HT. I bought this radio a few weeks ago, using the $100 Kenwood voucher I won at the AMSAT Symposium a couple of months ago (thanks to Kenwood and the Symposium organizers in the Chicago area for that, and all of the prizes they had on offer), mainly to make use of the all-mode receiver to shrink the size of my SSB satellite station this way. The 817's SSB receiver at 2m and 70cm is better than the all-mode receiver in the TH-F6A, but the little HT works OK. The HT makes a huge impression on the audience, seeing an FT-817 and an HT as the station I'm using for SSB satellite work. It will go in my carry-on bag with the other stuff I take on trips where I work satellites.
The crowds - buyers and sellers - were larger yesterday than in the past several years. At 0615 local (1315 UTC, about an hour before sunrise), there was a line almost a half-mile (almost a km) long to get into the hamfest. Traffic was backed out onto a street and almost all the way to a freeway interchange, just to get into the hamfest in the dark! It's been a long time since I've seen that at a Phoenix-area hamfest. Along with W7JPI and WA6DIR, a couple of other satellite regulars stopped by my AMSAT table - John N7JK, and Rick K7TEJ. Thanks to the Superstation Amateur Radio Club for providing AMSAT a space at their hamfest!
If anyone who worked WD9EWK during the hamfest wants a QSL card, please e-mail me with the QSO details. I'll get a card out to you, if you're in the log. Thanks again to all, and 73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/
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