Hello to everyone interested in the Big Bend area grids. This will
probably be our last post before we leave. Some of us are leaving on
Monday afternoon and some very early Tuesday morning.
We continue to have problems come up that require emergency solutions.
Yesterday, I could not get the BGAN terminal to work with my laptop. I
spent 2+ hours on the phone with their tech support and we tried lots of
different things. I finally tried one of the purpose built 12V
computers that Andy-KE5EXX built up for us two years ago. It worked
just fine. So that led to the concept that there was something wrong
with the laptop. I made a crisis run over to Andy's computer shop and
he worked his magic on the two purpose built computers(they run off
=12V) and the laptop. I am going to test the three computers again with
the BGAN terminal tomorrow. Hopefully, they will work.
There were heavy rains in the Park two days ago. This is really bad for
us. Hopefully, there won't be any more rain after that. When Tim-K7XC
was there on Wednesday, it was reported that the road that we need to
travel down was covered by mud for 100ft or more. Tim wisely decided
that for his safety and that of his wife, he would not attempt to "ford"
the mud. Hopefully, the mud will have dried up enough that we can get
through that. We have built up some mats from 2 x 10 x 8ft lumber to
help us get across the famous arroyo that stuck Danny-N5OMD and
Bill-K5YG two years ago. I know that we will need these, but they may
not be enough. We will just have to see.
Here are the general instructions for working us:
1)K5N will be in DL88 and will operate SSB/CW on 50.165MHz. We will
operate meteor scatter(MS) on 50.265MHz using FSK441 and ALWAYS FIRST
SEQUENCE. Using First Sequence only is standard procedure for
DXpeditions. N5K will be on the DL79-DL89 grid line and will use
50.170MHz for SSB/CW and will use 50.270MHz for MS, again, First Sequence.
2)K5N will be on the Internet via BGAN terminal(assuming that I can get
it to work). We will be monitoring the K5N Private Packet Network and
the ON4KST 50MHz Region 2 chat pages. The address of the K5N Private
Packet Network is AB5K.NET with Port 2323. You can enter the K5N
Private Packet Network by using your favorite packet spot software by
entering the address and port above. I want to thank Terry-AB5K once
again for setting this up for us. The ON4KST 50MHz Region 2 chat page is
a common gathering place for 50MHz ops in our Region. To use those chat
pages, you must already have an account there, so if you don't have one,
sign up now!!
3)N5K is planning to have Internet via some kind of a cell phone
connection. George-NR5M was working on that when I last saw him on
Thursday. Hopefully, he will get that going all OK. He will use the
ON4KST 50MHz Chat pages and maybe the Private Packet Network(see above).
4)Both groups are hoping to be operational in the afternoon of
Wednesday, June 20th. However, all that is subject to the situation in
the Park, the condition of the roads, and the WX down there.
GL to everyone that needs DL88, DL79, and DL89. We hope to work a lot
of stations down there and to move these grids out of the "most wanted"
category.....
73 From the K5N Grid Activation Group
Group1
Bill-N5YA
Jason-N5NU
Tim-KD5IKG
Russ-KB8U
Marshall-K5QE
Group2
George-NR5M
Colin-KU5B
John-W0UN
Tom-NQ7R
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