Tks Norbert. It was definitely a lot of fun for both of us. To answer your question and even go a bit farther, every grid line and particularly the four-grid point in KS I operated from was measured using a Garmin 60CSX GPS.
The VUCC rules indicate that an GPS receiver shows an accuracy of 20 feet or better is required for operating from a grid line or point. Each critical operating position during this trip was identified to this standard. Numerous photos were taken from various angles at every location so that additional identifying references were included. The GPS' display was photographed at close range as well. In most cases, the photos of the set up show the GPS placed directly in front of the rig sitting on the car's hood. (That said, several of the grid line operations were alongside roads with nothing but non-descript crop fields and asphalt as backgrounds, but the pix were taken anyway.) By the way, as I held the GPS at a grid line and directed my XYL, Cori, at the wheel, she'd move the car back and forth until the car's hood was exactly on the line. She found out just how tricky (and annoying!) it can be when the GPS would appear to have stabilized on the line, only for one of us to grab the camera and find that the last digits had changed to .999 or .001. That's only an error of about five feet, but it wasn't good enough, so she'd have to move the car again! 73, Jim, ND9M / VQ9JC Message: 16 Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:06:31 +0000 From: Richard Cubero <[email protected]> Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: ND9M Road Trip To: <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" To: Jim ND9M Thanks for a great article, I see you had a lot of fun on your road trip. Quick question, what tool were you using to find the grid lines ? 73s Norbert KP4WK Tampa FL EL 87 _______________________________________________ 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
