Hi!

Thanks again to Ron W6ZQ for another Hawaiian grid on AO-51. Ron drove not too far south of where he is currently staying on Kauai (BL02), to put BL01 on the air on the 0246 UTC AO-51 pass. Robert NH7WN from Honolulu (BL11) was also on the same pass.

I had a maximum elevation of 4 degrees for this pass, and was able to work W6ZQ at just under 2 degrees elevation and NH7WN at just over 3 degrees elevation. I think W6ZQ logged some QSOs before I could hear the downlink, then I worked him and heard him work 6 others before I lost the downlink. Robert was also working a few stations during the pass, and I think Ron and Robert worked each other for an inter-island QSO out there. Thanks to both of them for making the effort to work us on the mainland, and to the other operators for an orderly pass that allowed for many QSOs!

Ron did not say when he would try to work the US mainland via satellite again on his trip, but said he wants to get on again at some other point this month from Hawaii. If I get any more news from him on his plans, I'll post it on here. Robert comes on from time to time, and hopefully he's getting more of an assortment of calls in his satellite log in Honolulu (and, maybe, some other grids).

73!

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

(I'm heading to DM31 tomorrow; hope to work a bunch of you then!)