Most Memorable QSO for n5bf

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The Ops Net

In reviewing my archives for this story, I looked through my station notebook for most of the time that I was AMSAT-NA VP-Operations, 1988 through 1991.  There were many memories there, many call signs of other serious amateur satellite operators.  Some of them are officials in the organization today.  Some have moved on to other things, in or out of amateur radio.  Some are silent keys.

In my official capacity I had established the "AMSAT Operations Net" as a routine get-together on AO-13 for these serious operators.  The argument had been that you couldn't have a regular net on the satellite because the nature of the satellite orbit would make it impossible for anyone to ever remember when it was.  You couldn't just say "noon Sunday" and have everyone show up on frequency like you might on some non-satellite net because the satellite wouldn't be there at noon every Sunday.  But, I felt this was merely a challenge, not a show-stopper.  The satellite was predictable if not convenient.

Using Instantrack (a capable, graphic satellite tracking program) I would look for times with the following constraints:

- Visible over all of the continental US (CONUS).  (Beyond was fine too.)
- Between 3:30 a.m. and 10 p.m. pacific time, 6:30 a.m. and 1 a.m. eastern time.  (that is, 1030-0500 UTC summer and 1130-0600 UTC winter)
- A time when I could be at my station (i.e., not working hours, sometimes ... stretched)
- AO-13 Mode B or JL available for at least an hour under the above conditions.

I would then prepare a schedule for four or five of these nets on a quasi-weekly basis and publish it in the AMSAT News Service.  One such schedule from that period looked like this:

UTC Date    Time   Phase  Mode   NCS

15 Apr 90   0210   168     JL   N5BF
22 Apr 90   0400   127     B    N5BF
28 Apr 90   1300   221     B    N5BF
06 May 90   0145   168     JL   N5BF

(This is from a column I wrote for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Amateur Radio Club newsletter, W6VIO Calling.)

These nets were well attended, had good interaction among participants, and often had "guest speakers" from AMSAT officialdom.  I took copious notes in my notebook writing down every callsign, what they said, when (in UTC) they said it, uplink and downlink frequencies, power levels, satellite orbit number and phase, and any mode switch times when they interrupted the net, or nearly so.  Afterwards I would carefully transcribe the pertinent information into my official log.

It was my recollection that this "Most Memorable QSO" had occurred on the tail end of an Ops Net and that I had been called because I was net control (NCS).  I found the QSO in those notes but none of the usual over-transcribed detail is there, not even the date!  Not even the other operator's name!  Only the end time 0205 UTC (1905 local) is noted.


The Special Circumstances

There is a notation that I ran or at least participated in an Ops Net on 1990 July 16 at 0049.  There is another notation that I copied a new satellite BADR-1 on 1990 July 22 at 0905 (0205 local <yawn>).  The next notation is scribbling where I was trying to copy the call sign for the subject QSO.  The next thing after the sign off time of 0205 UTC (1905 local) is an entry for 1990 August 18.

The actual log in which I would have entered the QSO has been misplaced for years.  Several times, including late last night as I was starting to think about this, I have wondered where to.  Those logs ought to be in a box in the attic.  (I got a good start into "cleaning out the attic" last night, but not good enough.)  The attic can be cleaned out as soon as there is staging space in the garage.  The garage can be cleaned out as soon as there is a shed for emergency and yard supplies in the back yard.

The shed is being built today, as we type.

OK, so for today I'm winging it without my official log book.  (I didn't keep personal journals in which this might have been mentioned that far back either.  They started in 1991, part of the process by which I ended up stepping down as an AMSAT-NA official, another story.)

So the QSO was sometime between 1990 July 23 and 1990 August 17 and ended at 0205 UTC.

Looking at those dates, I suddenly realized what the problem was.  My son John (now KG6HCO) was born on 1990 August 7, by emergency C-Section, a month early.  My wife Viann (WD5EHM) had been laid up with placenta-previa for three months prior.

No wonder my notes are sketchy at this point.  No wonder my usual levels of over-documented regimentation weren't being followed.  Yes, I remember those days.  It appears that this most memorable QSO was my last satellite QSO before John was born.  That's not why it was memorable (I didn't even realize this until last night), but what a coincidence!

John, has two older sisters, Viannah (KG6GXW) and Katy (KG6HUI), and is now a senior in high school.  Thinking back, things have not been very organized ... ever since.

I was able to find my non-satellite logbook for this period.  It indicates that my last QSO (of any type) before John was born was the prior evening, 1990 August 7, 0403 (August 6, 2103 local) with Steve, N4RVE of Computing Across America fame.  Not the most memorable QSO, but a strong contender for the most memorable radio amateur I've encountered!

Update as of 2009 January 26

My XYL, Viann, WD5EHM, is applying to PhD programs in nursing.  One thing she needs is examples of her professional writing.  We were looking for her master's thesis....  Spent half an hour cleaning up maybe 20% of the garage Thursday (01/22/09), not because we thought it was there but because it was an easy place to look.  Then I went off to the attic.  After an hour and cleaning out / throwing away about 1/3 of the stuff up there, we had located a copy of the thesis.  The first thing I noted when I went in there, however, was that a box had fallen over and split open a sack of papers marked "1994."  Strewn around the other junk on that end of the attic were all those old logbooks!

So, yes, I have a satellite logbook entry for this QSO.  There are, in fact, two, one for Karen's check-in to the Operations Net, the other for the QSO thereafter.  The entries are:

1990 July 27 435.338.5 / 145.950.0 SSB 100  "Ops Net 50"  0030 WA1THQ/OX 0139 Karen "Time" 479.
1990 July 27  ditto / ditto CW / SSB 100 0142 WA1THQ/OX 519 OK 0205 72 N 38 W 12000 feet Karen 492

CW / SSB means mixed mode QSO.  I was talking, Karen was sending CW, mostly.
519 OK means that I sent a 519 RST.  She was reading me OK.
I don't know what "Time" means.

479 and 492 are the annualized satellite QSO numbers for 1990.  I had a lot because I ran the Ops Net which typically had 20 - 30 checkins weekly.  Total for the entire year was 572.  Total for 1991 was 76 plus 120 for a satellite-only Field Day from home before a QRT notation on 1991 July 13 followed by blank pages.

The good news here is that the mess in my notebook was not the official record.  I had properly logged this QSO.


The QSO

Copy on AO-13 (Amsat-OSCAR satellite #13) was fair that day.  My first note says

Z2 DES 3 W 38 W BK

This means 72 (or 82) deg. north and 38 west.  A location was being sent.

(Those of you familiar with Morse will see the effect of dropped dits or dahs during fades, "7" or"8" becoming "Z" for example.)

Also there is the note "435.448.5," probably the uplink frequency.  I was trying to over-document and probably thought I would remember the Ops Net downlink frequency when I cleaned this up later.  I don't remember now.  I never cleaned up.  145.9 something MHz.

Then there were several attempts at the callsign

WA1EHQ/OX
WA1IHQ/OX

I finally decided it was WA1THQ.  (Note more dropped symbols and sub-symbols.)

Then there's a possibly unrelated note:

"WB6LLO NCS volunteer -- KA8WTK WD0E"

These were AMSAT regulars.  Does this mean that Dave (WB6LLO) ran the net that day or that he had volunteered to do it at some later time and I just happened to write it down here?  Does this mean that all these other operators were standing by on frequency?

WA1THQ/OX was trying to call on USB (phone) but signals just weren't good enough.  Next, some hand copy of CW.  (In amateur radio, "CW" means "Continuous Wave" means "Morse Code.")

HI COURTNEY IM ON GREENLAND ICI CAG AT Z2 N ES 38 M  SAY HI TO STEVE ES BILL WB1BRE STILL THN? BK  NOT ON EMAIL

Translated this indicates that I have sent my first information and she has replied:

Hi Courtney.  I'm on Greenland ice cap at 72 north, 38 west.  Say hi to Steve [N4RVE?].  Not on e-mail.  (This was before any global coverage system like Iridium.)

Another exchange:

OK ITS COLD IN MY TENT SO HVING TROUBLE WITH KEYER HI  ITS 9 F OUTSIDE 15 F IN BT I DON'T HAVE PWR AMP SO HVE TO USE CW BT I WILL TRY TO BE ON 13 SUN BK

Translated this means:

It's cold, inside and outside!  My hand is stiff on the Morse keyer.  [Would have been easier to hold a microphone with gloves.]  No power amplifier means they have to use Morse Code to get through.  Will try to be on AO-13 (the satellite we are using right now) Sunday.  [Was this a Saturday?]

NO WEVE SUN ALL DAY ES NIGHT   ITS ICE FOG NOW  WARMER THAN USUAL BT I'M SOLAR PWR TO BATTERY ES ABT 25 WATTS USING CUSHCRAFT ANT 20 EL ON 2 M ES 18 EL ON 70 CM BT

Translation:

It is light around the clock with ice fog.  Power source is solar to battery at about 25 watts.  Antenna is a Cushcraft 20 element beam on 2 meters (145 MHz, the "downlink" from the satellite to the ground) and 18 element beam on 70 cm (435 MHz, the "uplink" from the ground to the satellite).

State of the art for AO-13 (the satellite) was circularly polarized antennas (about twice as much gain as these) and about 100 watts, which is what I was using on my end.  This difference of a factor of eight or ten was why this operator needed  to use CW (Morse Code) rather than USB (phone) modulation to get through nearly "comfortably."  I remember using USB myself, a time saving move.  See pictures of stations below.

WE ARE DRILLING ICE CORE BT WE ARE AT AN AL - ITUDE OU 12 K FEET SO CANA DO LOTS OF DRILLING HI   HW WX IN CA?

Translation:

They are on a scientific expedition drilling ice cores at 12,000 feet.  "HI" is telegraphy for "laugh".  How's the weather in California?  The answer was "Hot".

(I wonder if there is still 12,000 feet of ice on Greenland today?)

YES UR HOT HI   ITS VY NICE HR I LIKE IT BT   I WILL BE GOING BACK TO NH IN 3 WEEKS SO AM GOING TO TRY TO HVE FUN  TELL THE NET HI   [TNX FOR] THIS NET ES TNX TO U FER RUNNING IT BT

In CW, "U" means "you" and "ES" means "and" and "TNX" means "thanks" and "VY" means "very" and "HR" means "here" and many other abbreviations are made, such as "FER" for "for" (where "E" is one dit and "O" is three dahs).  "BT" is a "prosign" that is used as a paragraph break or in lieu of a period.  "BK" means "break" often used similarly, or to hand back and forth quickly.

And "NH" means "New Hampshire".  (hi)

So maybe I had been running the net that day after all.  Then where are the notes?  Directly in the logbook?  Well, once we clean the garage out into the shed and the attic out into the garage, maybe those old logs will turn up.  If that happens, I'll update this story.

I WRK AS 10 ES I CAN GET EVERY PASS ITS GREAT BT    I AM ON HF AT 12 UTC ON 14278  THR IS SPECIAL EVENTS STN IN SOUTH GREENLAND THAT IS ON AT SAME TIME BUT THEY ARE DIGGING OUT 2 WM 2 AIRPLAN FRO ICE BT  N5BF DE WA1THQ/OX

Translation:

I work AO-10 (another satellite similar to AO-13) every pass.  Also operate short wave.  (In amateur radio "HF" means "high frequency" means "short wave.")  The frequency is 14.278 MHz and the time is 1200 UTC (0500 local to me, something like 1000 in Greenland, as if that mattered in continuous sunlight).  I don't know what "AIRPLAN FRO ICE" means.  Was someone somewhere having to dig an airplane out of the ice?

N5BF DE WA1THQ/OX is the signature at the end of each transmission.  It means N5BF (my callsign) DE (French "from") WA1THQ (her callsign) /OX (operating in Greenland).

And a final reception:

NO 72 N  YES 80 N WUD BE TOO FAR N HI OK COURTNEY I WILL SAY 73 ES TNX FER QLKING W

0205 mode switch

I had asked the question "is that 82 north or 72 north?" thinking it might be 72 (check your atlas).  Yes, it was 72 north.  "73" is "Best Wishes" and is the general "goodbye" used for all amateur contacts, like "Aloha".  ... and thanks for calling.  It also has a musical ring when sent on CW.

Then is was 0205 UTC (1905 local to me) and the satellite switched modes.  I was called to dinner (or perhaps called to make dinner) and it was over.

I don't have signal reports or even the operator's name in the notes, but it's Karen.  Based on these notes and my very foggy memory, I would have given a "23" on phone and a "349" or so on CW.  The first number, "readability" means:  3 - tough but solid, 2 - tough but not solid.


Researching on the internet today I find the WA1THQ/OX operation listed at

http://www.dc8ts.de/dc8ts/satellite/A&A.html

with this picture




The grid square given, HQ02SN, converts to 72 d. 34 m. N and 38 d. 28 m. W.  The other information at that site, apparently someone else's log of "Arctic and Antarctic Stations worked using various Satellites" agrees with the probable date of my QSO, and AO-13 as the satellite.

A qrz.com search shows Karen, AA1AH, previous callsign WA1THQ, who lives in New Hampshire.  This is also in agreement with my information.

All this difficulty, communication and otherwise, is in the true spirit of high arctic adventure!  ... and ... Barely Works Amateur Radio!


For comparison, here are pictures of my station and antennas from that period.  (The station picture was taken in the garage, but this particular QSO was made after the radios were moved into the dining room.  Pictures of that installation appear to be absent.)


 



Most Memorable

The notion of "most memorable QSO" is not particularly an honorific, it is merely the operational contact that first comes to mind when I think, "This is what amateur radio is all about at its core.  This is what I'm in it for."  It is, in short, "most memorable."

Here's hoping that some of your QSOs are as memorable!


created 2007 October 12, updated 2009 January 26, cbd