The WMPLOTA scoring minion (me) is looking for a few kind souls in the US to record and post SDR recordings for the XW-2D and XW-2F passes around 00:00 UTC on July 2. (This evening at 7 PM US Central Time). My limited understanding is that SDR software can record the entire transponder, and this can be played back to select and listen to QSOs on the various transponder frequencies. I am hoping to use these recordings to help determine the winner of the Early ‘Bird’ Award, for the first confirmed QSO nearest to 00:00 UTC at the start of the event. Ideally, the recordings would be from a station in more southern US latitudes as the satellites ascend from the south.
I am also interested in an audio recording of SO-50 around 00:10 UTC as a fall-back, in the unusual circumstance that no confirmed WMPLOTA QSOs happen on the two XW birds.
Thank you for any help you can provide!
-Adam, K0FFY
Information About the WMPLOTA Event:
The Walmart Parking Lots on the Air encore event is this Monday, July 2 at 00:00 UTC! WMPLOTA is a special event and award scheme for amateur radio satellite operators that encourages the practice of portable operation in the easily accessible location of Walmart parking lots with a maximum amount of fun.
To participate you simply need to operate an amateur radio satellite station, and then choose to be an WMPLOTA Associate (activator), who operates portable from any Walmart parking lot, or a Shopper (chaser) operating from another location and contacting Associates.
Awards include:
- Early ‘Bird’ Award for the first QSO nearest to the 00:00 UTC starting time - First Contact Award for making your first ever satellite QSO during WMPLOTA - ‘MacGuyver Works at Walmart’ Award exercising your ingenuity to build and make a QSO with an antenna made entirely from stuff purchased in the store and assembled in the lot - Sam Walton Award testing your extreme roving skills for the most stores activated during the event - Distance Record for the largest distance QSO - the April record was 5,620 km between Rhode Island and Brazil over AO-7
For more information including the award scheme, please visit http://wmplota.org http://wmplota.org/ and follow us on Twitter @WMPLOTA. And remember to rollback the power, always.