outstanding and nice story telling...well done Robert WB5MZO
> From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:51:05 +0000 > Subject: [amsat-bb] KB9BIT from DM86 and DM87 summary > > Hello all, > > I just returned from my trip to DM86/87 and wanted to post a short bit of > info about my adventures. > > The main purpose for my trip was to attend the Okie-Tex Star Party just > outside the tiny town of Kenton, OK in the far west part of the OK Panhandle. > At night I planned to do lots of stargazing from this incredibly dark > location and during the day I wanted to work as many satellite passes as I > could. Kenton, with a population of about 23, is located in grid square DM86 > and is just a few miles south of the OK-CO border and about 1 1/2 miles east > of the OK-NM border. (Kenton is the only town in Oklahoma on Mountain Time). > I also planned to make a few trips to the DM86/87 grid boundary to activate > that rare grid. > > On my way out west I had a planned stop Thursday night, 9/10, at Wilson State > Park in Kansas, Grid EM08. I had pass predictions for SO-50 and AO-51 but > only ended up making 5 QSOs from this location on SO-50, as I was unaware > that AO-51 had not been operating. These QSOs were from N38° 55.452' W98° > 29.523' > > On Friday night, 9/11, I ended up staying just outside my final destination > near Kenton at Black Mesa State Park in DM86 where I worked one pass of SO-50 > and made 7 QSOs. These QSOs were from N36° 50.587' W102° 52.942' > > On Saturday morning, 9/12, I arrived at Camp Billy Joe where the star party > was held at N36° 53.904' W102° 57.073' All of my contacts from DM86, except > the state park QSOs, were made from this location. My satellite operating > was mostly confined to mid-morning to early evening passes. I had to work > around the star party activities, meals and my sleep schedule. During the 8 > days I was here I made 44 QSOs on AO-51, SO-50 and AO-27 from DM86. > > For my DM86/87 operating I had to travel only about 8 miles north to the > CO-OK border. My location was just about 500 feet east of the point where > the states of New Mexico, Oklahoma and Colorado have their common border. I > hoped to operate from this common border where there is a granite obelisk > marking the tri-state point, but the coordinates of this point are N37° > 00.012' W103° 00.139' thus it seemed to be located just north of the true > grid boundary. I ended up working all DM86/87 contacts from exactly N37° > 00.000' W103° 00.000' This point was easy enough to find, fortunately, > because someone had created a small marker made from a pile of rocks to mark > this convergence point. I set my GPS on this rock pile and let it average > for about 10 minutes to confirm that I was standing on the exact grid > boundary. To the best of my knowledge this point is smack dab on the > Colorado-Oklahoma state line, or possibly just over the border in Colorado. > (Google maps show this as being in Colorado, but it's pretty close to the > true border, nonetheless). > > The DM86/87 site was accessible from the star party by driving north on an > unmarked but paved road just outside the entrance to the camp, around the > east side of Black Mesa (the highest point in Oklahoma) then north to the > Colorado border. At the border the pavement ends and continues north into > Colorado as a dirt road. At this point I needed to head west about a mile > down another dirt road, which leads to the tri-state marker. My operating > location was just about 50 feet north of this dirt road in the middle of an > open field full of cactus, Yucca and sunflowers. > > I made two trips to DM86/87. Both were chosen to coincide with simultaneous > AO-51 and SO-50 passes that were both high elevation passes and not far apart > in time. I ended up making a total of 34 QSOs from the two trips to the > DM86/87 grid boundary. It was a very fun experience hearing station after > station calling me, sort of a mini pileup! I was very surprised how well I > could hear SO-50 even down near the horizon. From home I usually can't hear > SO-50 until it's at least 30 degrees above the horizon in the clear from the > trees and buildings. On the first SO-50 pass I worked from DM86/87 I could > hear Patrick WD9EWK calling me very weakly but perfectly readable. This was > a few minutes before the Heavens-Above AOS prediction. The satellite was at > less than 10 degrees elevation at the time! > > I ended up with exactly 90 QSOs total from all three locations for the week. > I have not tallied up how many different stations or grids I worked on my > trip yet. > > The Black Mesa area is a very beautiful and remote region. My DM86/87 QSOs > were especially memorable because they took place near sunset which really > added to the experience and beauty of the area. I plan to use some of the > photos I took for making up the QSL cards. > > As for QSLs, I have received a number of nice emails and had a pile of snail > mail requests waiting for me when I got home. I'll get QSLs out ASAP, > hopefully within a few weeks. If you need a card just send me an email or > you can send a direct request to my QRZ address. No SASE needed. > > The only downsides of the whole trip was the speeding ticket I received in > Keyes, OK, having one of my van's windows completely shattered by a rock that > fell out of a dump truck on I-80 near Des Moines, Iowa on my way home, having > only three clear nights out of eight at the star party and driving 2300 miles > round trip. On the plus side, one of the emails I received thanked me for > the new grids and stated, "You've made my day." Well, that email made my day > too and made the whole trip all worth it. > > 73, Tom -- KB9BIT > _______________________________________________ > Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! > Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb _________________________________________________________________ Bing™ brings you maps, menus, and reviews organized in one place. Try it now. http://www.bing.com/search?q=restaurants&form=MLOGEN&publ=WLHMTAG&crea=TEXT_MLOGEN_Core_tagline_local_1x1 _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
