KH6 mini operation Big Island/Oahu March/April 2012:

Aloha and greetings fellow Satellite Operators,

Thanks to the many of you that have already emailed me for sked requests. As I mentioned before, I cannot guarantee which passes I will be on due to vacation activities with my significant other. I will try to get on the satellites as often as my schedule permits within vacation activities. I do encourage you to look back here once I am on KH6, also check AMSAT BB and Twitter.

My primary focus will be on FO-29 and AO-7 Mode B passes. I will try to be on VO-52, SO-50 and AO-27 when there are good passes to the West coast. From Kona, I will also make an effort to try to work ZL(North ZL) AO-7, VK (Brisbane/East Coast)AO-7 , JA FO-29 and RU FO-29 & AO-7. Look for announcements via AMSAT-BB and AMSAT-VK. Please note Kona has some tall 13,000ft Volcanoes facing East which limit low angle passes to CONUS. I will have a better idea on the logistics once I have had the opportunity to do a local survey from the Kona side. I may try a run to BK19 if there is a chance of working over the volcanoes. I will advise later.

March 21 - Fly from Chicago via LAX to Honolulu. Arriving late evening Hilo.
March 22-25 BK29nn - South of Hilo < Best opportunity to work central and Eastern CONUS, VE/XE/KL. 3/22 TBD, 3/23 afternoon, 3/24 & 3/25 < Best dates.
lMarch 26 - April 1 BK29ao - Kailua-Kona, Big Island < Very limited CONUS visibility due to volcanoes. Good ZL,VK, RU and KL passes.
April 2 - April 4 BL11cg - Oahu, Waikiki beach < Limited opportunity due to Mountain blockage from hotel.

I plan to get on HF time permitting and I will concentrate on SSB and digital modes RTTY and PSK31.

Operational recommendations:

AO-7 > Use Low power: Please use the least amount of power necessary to make contact on the linear satellites. This is very important especially on AO-7. If you use too much power the satellite downlink will be degraded considerably limiting contacts for all users on the transponder!!

Are you new to linear modes? If you are new to linear satellites please do not wait until the last minute to iron out Doppler tracking. The pile-ups will be intense and the passes short. Many operators will try to work me and I will be operating contest style: fast and furious. I will make an effort to work as many stations as possible due to the heavy demand for Hawaii for WAS. So please make an effort learn the SSB satellites now if you are new to this mode.

Stay tuned, more to come! Look for Tweeter updates. Looking forward to working you on the birds.

QSL requests:

If you need a QSL card please send direct via AA5UK, buro, LOTW or eQSL.

Direct card instructions:

• For US stations: please include a SASE and send directly to my US home address.
• For DX stations outside of US: please include an envelope with US$1 or 1 IRC (latest version) to cover postage, otherwise return QSL cards will be sent via Buro.

73, Adrian AA5UK