My ship will be pulling into Jacksonville (EM90) late tonight, so there are no more wet grids to operate from for the time being. It'll be nice to at least try sleeping through the night tonight for the first time in weeks without getting up for an oh-dark-30 pass. I've been doing it for so long that I'll probably be awake at some ridiculous pass-time hour anyway, but I'll try not to be.
We're due at Charleston SC on 10 April. The run from Jax to Charleston is just a few hours, but I'm told that since another ship is scheduled to take our berth at the Jacksonville dock on the 6th, we'll be leaving a few days early. We won't have a destination, other than Charleston four days later, but I don't know if we'll head out a few miles and do a "controlled drift" or do donuts until it's time to head in.
I'll keep an eye on the navigation charts, and will update the BB if it looks like we'll be in a wet grid when there's a pass coming up.
Meanwhile, I'll finish getting my logs together and get ready to sign off the ship when we arrive at Charleston. I'll post a trip wrap up in a few days once I get the numbers compiled.
Tks for helping to make the two-month voyage a memorable one!
73 for now,
Jim, ND9M / VQ9JC
Jacksonville / EM90
On Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 8:28 PM, Clary, James T, Civilian wrote:
Tks for helping to make the two-month voyage a memorable one!
Jim,
We all owe you a big thanks for sacrificing your sleep to active those rare wet grids in the wee hours.
I logged 48 new grids thanks to you. It could have been more if I hadn't had to be at work during a number of your operations.
73 and let your vacation time begin!
Glenn AA5PK in DM91
I'm sure most on here don't know that Jim was also supplying many non-satellite hams with very rare grids on both 2 meters and 70 cm as his ship left the western tip of Cuba, all the way to Jacksonville Florida.
NZ5N and I emailed Jim a few days ago, to see if he would be willing to spend even more time holding his antenna outside and talking into his mike when he wasn't working the satellites. He replied saying he would be very happy to.
Jim would send us periodic emails listing the time and grid he would be at, and we agreed to use 144.230 on 2 meter SSB.
The 144 MHz propagation logger was also used to notify hams in the area, including N3LL near Tampa Florida to the west, C6ANX in the Bahamas to the east, and several others near Jacksonville and perhaps above.
We also had various opportunities to chew the rag with Jim. And yes, there were pileups!
The antenna Jim uses (an Elk I believe) was simply amazing. On 2 meters, to the south I worked him at a distance of 151 miles, and to the north a distance of 204 miles. On 432 my distances were a lot less, but thats because I presently only have my circularly polarized satellite antenna that is just 12 feet off the ground.
These contacts were made on 'normal days' with 'normal conditions', no tropospheric ducting was involved.
Other than the grids being rare, it's a rare opportunity to find such a kind and patient person. Thanks Jim!
73 de Sebastian, W4AS
On Mar 29, 2011, at 10:31 PM, Glenn AA5PK wrote:
On Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at 8:28 PM, Clary, James T, Civilian wrote:
Tks for helping to make the two-month voyage a memorable one!
Jim,
We all owe you a big thanks for sacrificing your sleep to active those rare wet grids in the wee hours.
I logged 48 new grids thanks to you. It could have been more if I hadn't had to be at work during a number of your operations.
73 and let your vacation time begin!
Glenn AA5PK in DM91
Hi Sebastian!
I'm sure most on here don't know that Jim was also supplying many non-satellite hams with very rare grids on both 2 meters and 70 cm as his ship left the western tip of Cuba, all the way to Jacksonville Florida.
I wasn't aware he was doing that, but he did the same thing for some Mexican hams as he sailed down the Mexican Pacific coast toward the Panama Canal. It's great that he was able to take the additional time for terrestrial activity along with his already-busy schedule on the many satellite passes he's worked - and spending all that time on the helicopter deck!
Jim's trip has been great for those of us chasing grids. I know I didn't log as many new grids as others, but I was getting a bunch as he approached the US west coast. Regardless of the number (the count is at home, maybe 16 or so), it's been great to get ND9M/MM in the log all those times - in FM, SSB, and even a few QSOs in CW.
Thanks, Jim, for all your radio work in your spare time! It's time to get my QSL request prepared. :-)
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/
participants (4)
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Clary, James T, Civilian -
Glenn AA5PK -
Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) -
Sebastian