John, Congratulations on a job well done!
What a great recap of your journey over these many years to complete this achievement. I know it took hundreds of hours, patience, more patience and lots of effort to get there. I am sure the journey to this achievement was a tremendously satisfying experience that only few people will ever know. Hope you are doing well. I have not been much on the air due to family issues and other personal issues. Best regards, Adrian AA5UK >________________________________ > From: John Papay <[email protected]> >To: [email protected] >Sent: Friday, August 23, 2013 1:08 AM >Subject: [amsat-bb] The USA Lower 48 Worked all 488 Grids non-Award > > >Some of the active grid chasers on the birds are aware >that KA6SIP just gave me my last USA grid when he operated >from CN72 in Oregon. And I thought it might be interesting >to look at the stats and how one manages to work and confirm >all 488 USA lower 48 States grids. > >Satellite operators come and go and grids come and go with them. >A grid might have a very active operator in it and then it is >off the air when that person goes away for whatever reason. >Interestingly, about half of the 488 grids that were worked were >from those operating portable, not in the sense of using a radio >with batteries, but in the traditional sense of operating away from >their home station location. Once you have experienced being on the >other end of a small pileup, you will want to do it again. Just ask >W7LRD who tried it recently and is planning another trip. Here is >a list of operators who exited the comfort of their home station and >put a grid on the air. The callsign is followed by the number of new >grids they gave me towards the goal of working all 488. Others may have >been worked but these totals represent the first time a new grid was >confirmed. > >ND9M 54 >WD9EWK 27 >WC7V 19 >KD4ZGW 16 >KB0RZD 10 >KC0YBM 9 >AA5CK 8 >KA6SIP 8 >KD8COQ 8 >N5ZNL 7 >W6GMT 7 >N0JE 6 >N2SPI 6 >WA4NVM 5 >KB5WIA 4 >KB9BIT 4 >KC0ZHF 4 >KK0SD 4 >AA5PK 3 >K7CWQ 3 >UT1FG 3 >W6ZKH 3 >WA6ARA 3 >WA7HQD 3 >WA8SME 3 >AC0ZA 2 >AJ9K 2 >K0BAM 2 >K7DRA 2 >K7TRK 2 >KA0RID 2 >KC2LRC 2 >KE7DOV 2 >N3TL 2 >N5AFV 2 > >Jim, ND9M, is a seasoned grid expeditioner. Along with working >satellites he is also active on the county hunters nets. Most of >his activity was between 2009 and 2011. He was also active from a >cargo ship and gave out the very rare DM02. Jim would travel for >months at a time and worked from a few hundred grids. Most of that >operating was done on FM birds rather than linear ones. It was >great to have many daily fm passes when AO-27 and AO-51 were active. >HO-68 and SO-67 were in the mix for a while too. 54 new grids came >from Jim and he tops the list. > >Most everyone knows Patrick WD9EWK. He has done a lot of traveling >both in the US and Canada and he gave me 27 new grids. He was very >active on the birds until recently. He was an alternate on the AMSAT >Board of Directors and was recently appointed to oversee the AMSAT >Area Coordinator program. He virtually has no home station and most >all local contacts were made from a park near his apartment in Phoenix. >He knows how to do it and he is a meticulous planner. > >Next on the list is Kerry WC7V. He lives in sparsely populated Montana >and travels around by car and in his light aircraft. He went to many >grids at my request and made a lot of us very happy by operating from >many rare locations. He is in slot number 3 with 19 grids. > >Next on the list is Rob KD4ZGW/m. Rob drove an 18 wheeler and we all >heard him on a satellite one day. He didn't know his grid square but >he knew his milepost on the interstate. From there we had the grid >square. Rob went on to improve his mobile station and activated over >100 grid squares. He is no longer driving on long hauls and has not >been active for some time. He is fourth on the list with 16 grids. > >The next three are very special because they all became new operators >during the quest to work all 488. Gail KB0RZD is very active today, >usually operating with a handie-talkie. He went to 10 grids around him >and sent some photo qsl cards that were just outstanding. KC0YBM operated >from his home location for a long time before I realized he was very >close to other grids. Chris didn't have portable equipment so I suggested >he look into an AC inverter for the car. He did just that and soon he >was operating portable from some new grids. This speaks to the ham radio >culture that you find a way to operate with what you have. Chris continues >to be active and hands out grids in the US and Canada. And then there >is Ted, AA5CK. He has operated in grids around his home qth as well as >some rare ones in New Mexico. He lives in EM04, not far from EM05 where >I made my first grid expedition contact with KD8CAO from EM05 in front of >the White Dog Ranch on old Route 66. I remember Ted's first sat contact. > >There are a few very special operators that can't be left out. My son, >KD8CAO, provided 8 new grids for his dad. He knows how to operate >portable and gives out the grids when he travels. Then there was >Richard N2SPI. I asked him about some grids in Maine that hadn't been >on and he took the challenge and drove to all of them, getting back to >his dad's place during the first snow of the season. Dave KB5WIA made >quite the trip by backpacking into CM79. It took two trips to transport >the equipment into the grid. He has a video of it on youtube. > >I started with satellites in June 2006 and only had 47 USA grids by August >2008. From August 2008 till Jan 2009 I worked another 109. In 2009 199 >were worked. 2010 was 76 and 2011 was 44. Only 4 new grids were worked >in 2012 and 9 were snagged in 2013. Eight of those final 9 grids were >handed out by Tom KA6SIP. He heard about the need and decided to make a >grid expedition to put them on the air. He did 7 of them in one trip. >Then Bob W7LRD went to the beach in CN77, operating away from home for >the first time. That left CN72. Tom just got back from Hawaii and quickly >made plans to camp out in CN72 and gave me the final grid on AO-7B, 20 August >2013 at 2332z. Then he put CN71 on the air on 22-23August, also a very >rare grid square but one that I already had. Many others worked him there. > >There is no award for working all 488 grids on satellites as there is >for six meters (FFMA). The ARRL awards committee has looked at it and will >implement it if someone on the Board of Directors brings it up for a vote >and it passes. Hopefully that will happen soon. Having that type of award >gives everyone something to work for. It promotes grid expeditions and >interest in working through the satellites. If we all contact our >ARRL Director, it might just happen. > >There may be others who have already worked all 488 grids on satellites. >K6YK might be one of them. I know there are several others who are >getting close. It is not any easy thing to accomplish even if you operate >every day. It is something you can work towards over the years. > >I want to thank everyone that made satellite contacts with me that ultimately >led to working all 488. Many went out of their way to put on a grid. Over >half of the grids worked were from grid expeditions! If you haven't >experienced >operating away from home, please consider it. With new operators showing up >on the birds every day, there is always a need for an uncommon grid. And you >will have a lot of fun doing it! Just ask anyone on my list. > >73, >John K8YSE > >_______________________________________________ >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 > > > _______________________________________________ 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
