Hi!

After a brief pause in my satellite operating (real life gets in the way, from time to time), I was able to get on the air for some passes Friday and today. Thanks for all the QSOs when I was out at the hamfest in Mesa AZ this morning, and yesterday while on a quick road trip to southern Arizona.

This morning's hamfest almost was washed out. Just as things were getting started and I was on an AO-7 pass around 1245 UTC, rain began to fall. It was a light rain, which ended around the LOS time on that pass. After that, the crowds - buyers and sellers - started showing up for the half-day hamfest. I was able to get on 6 different passes, two each on 3 different satellites (AO-7, SO-50, VO-52). Thanks to all who worked WD9EWK this morning, and especially for giving more than just a call and grid - getting a name and QTH helps illustrate the coverage of our satellites. I apologize to Joe K3SZH for not answering your call on the later AO-7 pass; by that time, I was fighting QRN from a series of noisy generators at the hamfest that were swamping my 2m downlink receiver. Once again, thanks to the Superstition Amateur Radio Club for inviting AMSAT to their hamfest. My next hamfest, including on-air satellite demonstrations, will be at the Thunderbird Amateur Radio Club's hamfest on Saturday, 7 January 2012, in Phoenix.

http://www.w7tbc.org/hamfest.html

Yesterday (Friday), I originally planned to make a day-trip to Flagstaff in northern Arizona. Due to bad weather throughout much of Arizona in the past day or two, I did not want to drive on the snowy and icy I-17 freeway up there. Rather than stay home or give up the scheduled day off, I took a drive to southern Arizona and worked from a couple of locations in southern Arizona near the I-19 freeway between Tucson and the USA/Mexico border. Both locations were in grid DM41 in Santa Cruz County AZ - an area I have visited many times in the past, but this was the first time I've worked satellites from this Arizona county (the last of the 15 Arizona counties I've worked from). I was able to work an SO-50 pass followed by two AO-27 passes before driving back home in the late afternoon.

The Friday QSOs have already been uploaded to the Logbook of the World system. Today's QSOs from the hamfest should be uploaded this evening or tomorrow morning, depending on the status of the LOTW web site. If anyone would like to receive QSL cards for QSOs with WD9EWK at either the hamfest and/or my Friday road trip only need to drop me an e-mail with the QSO details. If you're in the log, I will be happy to send you a card.

73!

Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/