Hi!

Yesterday's road trip out to DM54/DM55 had been on my mind since my July 2008 road trip around northern Arizona. I have worked from most of the Arizona grids, and had thought I would need to make a multi- day road trip along the Arizona/New Mexico border to reach these two grids. After lots of looking at maps, I found a couple of spots near the I-40 freeway in eastern Arizona that could be reached in a day- trip from Phoenix. I e-mailed a few people, asking if they needed either grid (or both) and if they were available to be on the radio if I went out there. Things fell in place, leading to yesterday's 558.8-mile/899km road trip.

After spending some time this morning transferring the QSOs from my mini-logbook to my log spreadsheet, I saw that I made a total of 69 QSOs. I worked 4 passes from the DM54bx/DM55ba grid boundary (2 AO-27 passes, 1 pass each on AO-51 and SO-50), and one shallow AO-51 pass from a location northeast of the grid boundary in grid DM55ba. The location that was not on the grid boundary was a different sort of boundary - the line between Navajo and Apache counties. There were 56 QSOs made at the grid boundary, and 13 more from the county line.

For all of these passes, I used my normal FM-satellite setup when I do these road trips - Icom IC-2720H 2m/70cm FM mobile transceiver, Elk Antennas handheld 2m/70cm log periodic, Sony ICD-P620 digital audio recorder. I had another mobile radio as a backup (Yaesu FT-8800R) as well as assorted HTs I could have used in case of a problem with the IC-2720H.

Here's a summary of activities from the two locations...

*****

east of Goodwater, Arizona, along old US-66 east of I-40 exit 303 in Navajo County (grids DM54bx and DM55ba) 35 0.000 N 109 53.745 W

In recent weeks, I had identified this area as the easiest way to work from DM54/DM55 in a day-trip. This area is approximately 50 miles/80km west of the Arizona/New Mexico border, where there is a portion of the old US-66 highway next to the I-40 freeway. I was able to park at an Indian trading post to be on this grid boundary. This part of Arizona is on a plateau, a desert without cactus, but this particular spot is lower than the surrounding area. Except for shallow passes to the east or west (below 10 degrees elevation), it worked well.

Once I parked and took the photos to establish my location, I waited for the first of two AO-27 passes at 2046 UTC. This old satellite has been performing well lately, and this was a busy pass covering almost all of North America while the repeater was on. I was able to work 21 stations during this pass, so I guess there was some interest in this location. :-) The second AO-27 pass to the west at 2226 UTC was not as crowded, with 8 more QSOs going into the log. This pass was the only time I worked a Canadian station at DM54/DM55 (VA6BMJ).

Later in the afternoon, I worked two more passes from this spot - an AO-51 pass at 0042 UTC, followed by an SO-50 pass at 0137 UTC. The AO-51 pass was a very high pass, with maximum elevation of 75 degrees at that location. Other than a 3-minute span just after the midpoint of the pass when I could not hear myself through the satellite, this was another good pass - 17 more QSOs, with stations from all over the US and a couple of Mexicans. SO-50 at 0137 UTC put 10 more QSOs in the log, with more stations across the US plus a Mexican station. This made a total of 56 QSOs logged at the DM54bx/DM55ba grid boundary, not bad for a handful of passes during a single afternoon.

I had mentioned before the trip that I might try working an earlier AO-51 pass from this spot. Had I stayed here, I would not have had a chance to see/hear the satellite, due to the local surroundings. That's why I moved up the road a few miles/km for that pass, and I apologize if that meant some of you were not able to work both of these grids while I was out there. There will be other trips I can make to this area, now that I know of a quick way to get to DM54 when there is no snow in northern or eastern Arizona.

*****

Navajo/Apache county line in eastern Arizona, along old US-66 3.4 miles/5.5km east of I-40 exit 303 (grid DM55ba) 35 1.122 N 109 50.694 W

Between the two AO-27 passes, I drove around the area to find a spot where I could possibly attempt a 7-degree AO-51 pass at 2306 UTC. This location was northeast of the grid-boundary spot, with a nice clear view down to the horizon toward the northeast - where AO-51 would be. Since the grid-boundary spot was not a location I could have tried a shallow pass, I had a choice.... move to a better spot, or take a long break between the last AO-27 pass and the high AO-51 pass around 0042 UTC. Not wanting to lose a chance to make QSOs and give out at least one of these two grids, I went down the road for this pass.

The county line was at a cattle guard on the road. I found a marker on one side of the road that appeared to mark the county line, and saw the signs on each side of the cattle guard announcing the county names. I took a series of pictures of the area including where I parked my truck, along with pictures of my GPS receiver's display. Once I did all of that, I drove away until just before the AO-51 pass.

A couple of minutes before the start of the pass, I drove back onto the cattle guard and set up my station. I was surprised at how soon into the pass I could hear the AO-51 downlink. The increased power made a difference! I was able to work several minutes of the pass, logging 13 QSOs. A better way to spend that time, instead of driving to a nearby truck stop for an early dinner (I did that later).

*****

It was nice to have the additional power on the AO-51 downlink. That helped me with the shallow pass at 2306 UTC, where I heard it earlier than on a similar pass last month up in Utah. AO-27 has been working well, and I had no problems on the SO-50 pass I worked up there. I did not stay out there for the later passes on AO-51 and SO-50, since I would have had to find another location with a better view to the west for a 9-degree AO-51 pass. The 3.5-hour drive home was also on my mind. There will be other times I head out there, now that I have a nice spot where I can park and be off the road at the DM54/DM55 grid boundary.

I am printing QSL cards for yesterday's trip now, and those cards - along with other cards from my road trip last month - will start going to the post office tomorrow. If you worked me yesterday and want to receive a QSL card for any QSOs, please e-mail me directly with the information for each QSO. If you're in my log, I will send the card(s) for those QSO(s).

Thanks to AMSAT's AO-51 Operations Group for having another weekend on AO-51 with a V/U voice repeater mode, as well as for the increased power on the 435.300 MHz downlink. As K8YSE mentioned in a recent post to the -BB, stations on the FM satellites from unusual/rare locations draw more activity to these passes. And, as always, thanks to all the stations who made contacts with WD9EWK yesterday.

73!

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