Hi!

Here in central Arizona, I'm supposed to have over 300 days of clear and sunny weather every year. Today was not one of those days, and it has been wet into the evening. I did not get all of my gear out to work the FUNcube pass that just went over the continental USA around 0440 UTC, but I had no problems copying it with an FT-817ND hanging around my neck and holding my Elk antenna sticking out from the patio to the satellite. I heard K9QHO in CW and a few others in SSB (K4FEG, KD8CAO, W5PFG, and one or two others whose calls I did not remember in the walk from the patio to my computer). I didn't think to bring my audio recorder out; my mistake. I wasn't using a preamp, and had a 10-foot coax run between the antenna and radio.

I hope the FUNcube crew keeps this mode going, as I am hoping to get a chance to work it myself in a couple of nights. This should be fun, even with the limited availability for amateur use at present. Congratulations to everyone connected with this project!

73!

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