Hi! Last weekend, I made a quick trip to Mexicali in northern Baja California. I had a couple of vacation days I needed to use, and I wanted to see my friends out there. I had not been there since February, and in particular I wanted to see how things were since the Easter Sunday earthquake that hit that area in April. I also had about 3 weeks left on my 6-month XE ham permit, so I took the opportunity to work some passes while I was out there.
This trip was the first time I took my all-mode satellite station (two FT-817NDs) into Mexico. I did not do this on my trips earlier this year and in 2009 to Mexico, and wanted to try out the SSB birds from there. I used the same bag that I carried my radios in when I went to Canada for the radios this time, to keep things a little more organized if Mexican authorities were interested in what I had in my truck. That worked out very well, as I received the red light when I first entered Mexicali last week. Mexico uses a red/green traffic light to "randomly" determine if a Customs inspector will take a look at you and your vehicle and other stuff, and I had to allow a Mexican Customs inspector to look through my truck. After the quick look, including seeing my bags with radio gear and my Elk log periodic antenna laying disassembled in the back of my truck, I was allowed to enter Mexico without any further hassles. Thursday (29 July) started out with the 4-hour drive from Phoenix to Mexicali, and working an AO-27 pass shortly after crossing into Mexico. I parked at a shopping mall less than 2km (about a mile or so) southeast of the downtown Mexicali border crossing, and worked an AO-27 pass from grid DM22gp at 2039 UTC. I logged 11 QSOs, and probably lost a bit of weight in sweat from the humid 115F/46C heat. After working that pass, I met up with David XE2DAK, and we decided to make a quick trip south of Mexicali onto the Laguna Salada dry lakebed just across 32 degrees South to grid DM21. As we were reaching the southern edge of Mexicali, we stopped in grid DM22hn for the west- coast AO-27 pass around 2221 UTC to make 6 QSOs. Then we continued the drive to grid DM21. Once we parked at the same spot I used in February, along route 5 connecting the border with the seaside town of San Felipe further to the south, I worked an AO-51 pass just after 0000 UTC followed by an FO-29 pass as XE2DAK took pictures and video. Twenty contacts were logged on AO-51, and then 5 more QSOs on the FO-29 pass. David and I saw trucks with Mexican Army soldiers going north on the highway, including one very-well-armed Humvee, but nobody stopped to ask what we were doing on the side of the road. When those two passes wrapped up, we returned to Mexicali for the evening where we met up with Alex XE2BSS/N2IX and Larry KI6YAA. On Friday (30 July), there wasn't much operating. I was with Alex XE2BSS/N2IX and his family in Mexicali for the day, and I did not try working satellites until late in the afternoon. From the "Ciudad Deportiva" (Sport City) athletic complex near the USA border in Mexicali (grid DM22gp), a place I worked from in 2009, I worked an AO-7 pass followed by an FO-29 pass. Two QSOs on AO-7, and 5 on FO-29. Not too bad, considering AO-51 was down at this point and I wasn't planning to stay there for later passes. Larry KI6YAA and Larry Jr. KI6ZXU came over to see me work these passes, and KI6YAA took video of those passes. I also received the XE2/KI6YAA QSL cards from his trip to DM10/DM11 on the Pacific side of Baja California the previous weekend, a very nice bonus. :-) Saturday (31 July) was my last day in Mexicali. Another hot day in the desert valley out there, around sea level, and I worked only one pass. AO-27 was going by in the mid-afternoon, and I was giving another demonstration for local hams in that area at XE2DAK's house (grid DM22go). Ten QSOs went in the log on this pass. A few hours later, I crossed back into the USA and drove home that evening. A quick, and fun, trip. :-) I will post some videos on YouTube from this trip in a few days. Thanks to all the stations that made contacts with XE2/WD9EWK! QSL cards... I am finishing up the design of all the QSL cards from my Canada trip last month, and now will add the printing of additional XE2/WD9EWK cards from last weekend. I have received many requests for VA7EWK QSLs, and a few requests for XE2/WD9EWK QSLs. I will attempt to mail all of those cards in the same envelope, and I hope to start mailing them out in the coming week. There is no need to send me an SASE, but I do appreciate them when they show up with the QSLs. I *do* want to receive QSLs for VA7EWK and XE2/WD9EWK, to see how close I can get to various awards while operating from these two countries. July 2010 was definitely my busiest month for travel with satellite operating, with 1879 miles (3024km) of driving in Canada in addition to the distance covered by the flights between Phoenix and Vancouver, followed by 679 miles (1091km) of driving on the 3-day trip to Mexicali. And many grids - 9 from Canada, plus DM21 and DM22 in Baja California. Maybe not a record in terms of numbers of grids (ND9M's trip earlier this year will have that covered for a long time!), but certainly a good way to get some that are not normally heard in the log. It was a fun month, and I have already started thinking about potential destinations for "road trips" later this year and in 2011. 73! Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ _______________________________________________ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. 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
