Hi!

I will be at the Pacificon convention in San Ramon CA, east of San Francisco, this weekend. I plan on leaving Phoenix early Thursday (13 October) morning, so I can make it to San Ramon in about 12 to 14 hours. The convention runs from Friday (14 October) through Sunday (16 October), although I don't know at this point how long I plan on being at the convention on Sunday. More information about Pacificon is available at:

http://pacificon.org/

After the convention wraps up, I will drive home. I am planning on stopping somewhere Sunday evening, and finishing the rest of my drive home by Monday (17 October) afternoon.

I plan on doing demonstrations of satellite operating during the convention, supporting Alan WA6DNR and his crew who traditionally have an AMSAT tablet at Pacificon. I don't have a fixed schedule for the demonstrations, but would look to work FO-29, FM satellites, and any ISS passes that may come by while the convention is in session. For now, my plan is to operate using my own WD9EWK call, but there is a chance I could use W1AW/6 which will be on the air from Pacificon.

As for operating on my drives between Phoenix and the Bay Area, I am not going to work with a fixed schedule for passes and grids I will plan on operating. Thursday, in particular, is going to be focused on making the long drive in one day, so I might not make many stops. I will have my AmsatDroid Free app and a printout of passes starting on Thursday, and might be able to get on the air if there is a safe place to pull off the highway or freeway to do so. I will use either my TH-D72A or TH-D74A to run APRS as I drive, with WD9EWK-9 as my APRS call sign. This should appear on various web sites like http://aprs.fi/WD9EWK-9 once I am on the road. I should have a fair bit of flexibility in how I make the drive home on Sunday and Monday, which could involve visiting some rarely heard grids and/or NPOTA sites.

I will upload my logs as WD9EWK to Logbook of the World. If you would like to receive a QSL card for a contact with WD9EWK during this trip, please e-mail me directly with the QSO details. There's no need to first send me a card and/or SASE to get my card. If I am able to use W1AW/6 at Pacificon, ARRL will take care of the QSLing and LOTW uploadfor that call sign.

I will use my @WD9EWK Twitter feed to post updates while on the road and at Pacificon. Pictures, too. If you don't have a Twitter account, you can still see what I tweet. Point a web browser to http://twitter.com/WD9EWK to see my tweets.

73!

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