Hi!

Going back to the hamfest I attended in Sierra Vista AZ on 7 May, I saw Fernando NP4JV and his daughter, Yalitza - call her "Yali". They were at the hamfest to see what was there, and so Yali could take her Technician license exam. She passed the exam, and then the waiting began. Fernando, proud father that he is, wanted to see Yali get on the radio as soon as possible, once her call sign was issued by the FCC. Fernando and I began checking the FCC database, waiting to see her call sign appear.

Fast forward to Tuesday (17 May)...

I had checked the FCC database in the morning, and still hadn't seen Yali's name appear with a call sign. I received a message from Fernando in the late morning...

"Good morning Pat. At what time you get home today? Can you work AO85 at 6pm today? Somebody wants to talk to you."

I figured that "somebody" wasn't Fernando, but a signal that Yali had her call sign. I checked the FCC database, and there it was - KI7EJR, issued on 17 May. The time in the message, 6pm (0100 UTC), was an AO-85 pass that went very high over Arizona, passing almost directly over my head in the Phoenix area and Nogales where Fernando and Yali are. We had made a plan, that I would call Yali a few minutes into the pass.

When the AO-85 pass finally arrived at 6pm, Fernando, Yali, and I were ready. I heard some activity early in the pass, working Ted K7TRK in Oregon before the satellite was very high in the sky. Instead of making a call for KI7EJR as planned, Yali called me. I answered her, and we made a quick QSO. It may not have gone as we planned, but it worked. Yali had her first QSO via AO-85.

During that pass, Fernando had someone take a picture of Yali on the radio. Fernando was at the edge of the photo, taking care of the antenna as she made her contact. Fernando sent the photo out using his @NP4JV Twitter feed last night, and this has been a very popular tweet in the past 24 hours. If you missed the photo, or don't use Twitter, you can see it at:

http://twitter.com/NP4JV/media

It's one thing to remember your own first radio contact, first satellite contact, contact with an ISS crewmember, etc. It's just as fun to be part of a first for someone else. Thank you, Fernando and Yali, for letting me be a part of Yali's first contact on the radio. It's also easy to document this "first", with photos and audio recordings of the contact. A QSL card will go in the mail for Yali, and hopefully she starts using Logbook of the World like her father... :-)

73!

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