Hi!

Another day, another few hundred miles/km and more QSOs for the satellite log. With the special transmission on AO-51 this evening, I worked only SO-50 and AO-27 passes earlier today. Still a good day with more sightseeing and radio work, plus I'm setting up for a busy and fun day tomorrow.

Before I left Monticello in eastern Utah this morning, I worked one SO-50 pass at 1530 UTC from the DM57/DM58 line where I had worked from on Sunday evening via AO-51. I surprised myself with working 10 stations on a weekday morning pass, including the VE3MOON special-event station in Ottawa.

After that pass, I started northward on US-191 toward grid DM59 near the I-70 freeway. There was a VO-52 pass around 1650 UTC I had thought about working, but I could not. I was in Moab, and that town is in the middle of a small canyon with high walls that would have severely limited the time I could work on that pass. I kept going north, and got clear of Moab in time for SO-50's second pass I worked at 1710 UTC.

Just before the 1710 UTC SO-50 pass, I made it about 15 miles/25km north of Moab, back onto a clear spot without hills or rocks blocking my view to the west. A decent pass, even with just 3 QSOs. This stop was not on a grid boundary, in grid DM58dr, but was not terribly far from where I would work AO-27 in the afternoon.

I found a spot near the I-70 freeway on a county road, the old US-6 highway that runs parallel with the Union Pacific railway in that part of Utah. This spot was north of the town of Cisco, in grids DM58ix and DM59ia. I planned to work two, and possibly 3, AO-27 passes from here. I did not have a clear enough view to the west to work a very shallow pass (maximum 4 degrees elevation) at 2307 UTC, so I worked the earlier passes at 1946 and 2127 UTC.

The 1946 UTC pass was up only to 17 degrees maximum elevation out there, but that was high enough to clear some hills east of the spot. I had no problems hearing the full 7 minutes of the pass, and worked 13 stations in that time. The pass was not as chaotic as the eastern AO-27 pass I worked on Sunday from DM47/DM57. Not a bad effort for a weekday pass. After this pass, I drove east on I-70 about 20 miles/32km to the Colorado state line, and then went a couple of miles/km into Colorado so I could turn around and get back to DM58ix/DM59ia in time for the 2127 UTC pass.

At 2127 UTC, there were stations spread out through the entire 7-minute pass. I logged 12 QSOs with stations up and down western North America, and as far east as Louisiana and Ohio. Even though there were almost as many stations on the 2127 UTC pass as on the 1946 UTC pass, everyone who was on the later pass who wanted to work me had the chance.

Since I was not going to stick around for the 2307 UTC pass, I decided to make a long drive toward the Salt Lake City area for tonight. This would set me up well for tomorrow's travels and sightseeing in central and southern Utah. I hope to be on from several grids from the following list: DM37, DM38, DM47, DM48, and DM49. I am currently in the north end of grid DM49, but with tall mountains immediately east of here I will go south before getting on tomorrow morning. I should be on SO-50 passes starting around 1600 UTC, AO-27 in the afternoon, and (if it is returned to the normal 145.920/435.300 FM voice repeater as planned) AO-51 in the evening. Although I strive to operate from grid boundaries to maximize the number of grids I can give out with my QSOs, that may not always be possible based on surroundings and/or conditions on or beside the roads and highways I will travel.

I hope to be at least as far south as St. George in southwestern Utah, or even as far south as Las Vegas, tomorrow night. I need to get back home on Wednesday evening, so tomorrow will probably be the last full day for my radio activities. I've driven over 1000 miles/1600km since I left Phoenix last Thursday, and - including the 3 days late last week in and around Williams AZ - have worked from 7 different grids on this trip. More will be heard from tomorrow.

Good night, and 73!

Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK - currently in Nephi, Utah (80 miles/128km south of Salt Lake City) http://www.wd9ewk.net/