Hi!

Dayton was, once again, a fun time. I was here in 2006, and this year was so much better. I tried to keep track of satellite operators who I worked over the past 3+ years and met over this weekend by taking photos of them, but I lost count of the number I met and talked with here (this is *not* a bad thing). AMSAT's events were great! I mixed in some operating this weekend, between Friday and today, and in all of that trying to test my new DJ-G7T HT. I previously posted a message with my initial observations on that HT Friday night, and I'll add a little (very little) to that here...

After the HamVention closed this afternoon, I had planned on working some satellite passes with my new DJ-G7T HT after dropping stuff of at my motel room. A western AO-27 pass was about to come by, and I went to the Indiana/Ohio state line a couple of blocks from my motel (I stayed in Richmond IN, not in Dayton, for this trip). In the process of setting things up on a side road near the I-70/US-40 interchange, I pressed buttons on the HT in the band scope mode and I could not decipher how to get out of that mode from a quick read of the manual. I decided to set the radio aside, and worked the pass using my IC-T7H HT I had also brought out there. After that, I did a full reset of the HT, and figured I could try it again later.

After that AO-27 pass, I tried to retrace some of my 2006 post-Dayton road trip to grid boundaries. I went northeast of Dayton, trying to reach the EM79/EM89/EN70/EN80 boundary for one or two SO-50 passes. This time, I could not get to that spot on the highway's right-of-way. I crossed the road to get a clearer view of the sky, still on the EM79xx/EN70xa line only a few feet/meters west of the 4-grid intersection. :-( I set up for the first SO-50 pass, and this time I accidentally pressed buttons on the DJ-G7T to put it into another undesired mode - using a normal repeater offset on my uplink VFO. At this point, I swapped radios and worked the pass using my IC-T7H again for 4 QSOs. I decided not to fight the radio, and spend time parked or standing along a highway to reread the manual trying to sort the radio out. I'll do more testing with the new HT at home in the next few days, while I try to get that speaker/mic cable so I can run full-duplex without feedback.

After that SO-50 pass, I decided to work my way west, heading back to the Indiana/Ohio state line and stopping for the later SO-50 pass. I was able to get on from the EM79vx/EN70va line, working 7 stations before the satellite went out of range. Then, the drive back to Richmond IN and the motel for the night. I flew into Indianapolis Thursday, and will return there tomorrow for my flight home.

Again, thanks to AMSAT for a great banquet and Saturday forum. Being around other hams that share this corner of our hobby made this a great weekend, and putting a few QSOs in my satellite log from 3 different locations over the past couple of days was a nice bonus. I'll take more time working with the new HT over the next few days, and especially during the upcoming long weekend. If anyone worked WD9EWK this weekend and wants to get a QSL card from me, please e-mail me the QSO information and I'll check that against my log. If you are in my log, I'll send you a card - no need to send me a card or SASE. I will need to prepare cards for those locations, and I'm thinking about how to do a nice card in particular for the QSOs I made at the Indiana/Ohio state line. And, yes, I'm still having fun...

73!

Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK - currently at Richmond IN, west of Dayton http://www.wd9ewk.net/