Hi!

I will be at the Radio Society of Tucson's second annual spring hamfest on Saturday, 27 March 2010, at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson with an AMSAT table. The Kino Sports Complex is on Ajo Way, east of the I-10 freeway and Tucson Electric Park baseball stadium. The hamfest will run from 7am to 11am (1400-1800 UTC).

During the hamfest, I will be on various satellites as WD9EWK for on-air demonstrations. Although the hamfest officially starts at 1400 UTC, I plan on being on the air for passes starting around 1300 UTC give or take. FM satellites, along with a few non-FM birds (VO-52 and AO-7), will be used. Although there will be FO-29 passes in the morning, communications systems on figher aircraft at a nearby air base normally wipes out reception of the FO-29 downlink and makes that satellite unusuable from the hamfest site. I may try it on Saturday morning, to see if the situation has changed since the last time I tried FO-29 down there.

After the hamfest, I have not decided which route I will take back home to Phoenix. Last fall, I drove to the Arizona/New Mexico state line in grid DM52 after a hamfest. I could make another visit to the DM51/DM52 boundary and/or possibly the DM52/DM53 boundary east of Tucson. If I go west, I could visit other grids like DM32 and/or DM31. Since I have not set any firm plans for my afternoon/evening return, any feedback on grids that you might want to hear on the Saturday afternoon/evening passes (FM birds, and possibly AO-7 or FO-29) would be appreciated.

Anyone working WD9EWK either at the hamfest or on the post-hamfest drive back to Phoenix on Saturday who wants a QSL card only needs to e-mail me the QSO details. If you are in the log, I will send the QSL card (or cards).

Thanks in advance, and 73!

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