Hi Everyone,

This weekend I was able to sneak in some satellite operating during a camping trip with my XYL. We went up to Eagle Lake in Lassen National Forest, which is in Northern California and grid CN90. I had no idea if satellite operation would even be possible from that location (time-wise or terrain-wise) but it turned out it was pretty good! The lake had low mountains around it, not more than a few degrees above the horizon in all directions. I was able to work quite a few satellite passes there, and it was a lot of fun talking to friends in the sat community from that somewhat remote location!

The equipment worked well, and I learned the importance of verifying the computer has updated keps before leaving home! My netbook computer had keps that were several months old, which made computer-aided tuning of the linear birds almost impossible! Ugh, lesson learned, and another opportunity to practice manual tuning. Patrick's suggestion of headset and voice recorder really worked well though!

I've put some pictures on the website at: http://kb5wia.blogspot.com/2011/07/camping-and-satellites-grid-cn90.html

Anyone who worked me and wants a QSL card, just send me an email.

73 de Dave KB5WIA