[Ham-Mac] Solution to Maidenhead Grid Square to Map Converter

[Richard Kriss]

Thanks to several good tips I now have two URL's saved to help me locate
stations giving their Grid Squares.  For background I worked OK1TJB/P on
RTTY and wondered if his portable location at JN79HS would be a new country
for me.  My brain does not register in grid squares or Lat/Log.  I need to
see a map.   The following online conversion tip could come in very handy
for finding DX stations, lighthouses, county hunters and field day
operations. 

Step 1:. Go to the AMSAT Grid Square Conversion utility at

   http://www.amsat.org/cgi-bin/gridconvthe

and enter the JN79HS, then click on the Convert to Lat/Long button, Select
and copy the numbers.

Step 2: Go to MapQuest- Maps-Lat/Long at

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/latlong.adp

and enter the two numbers  for Lat/Long (49.7708 and 14.625) copied from the
AMSAT page. This will produce a map to let you know the location.

In the example I did now work a new country; however, I was able to find out
where the guy was located pretty fast.  Too bad MapQuest is not registered
to show Country Prefixes and Zones like the old Radio Amateurs World Atlas
that is still one of my favorite DX aids.

Save the two URLs for future reference.  The old DX rule is work the station
then figure out who and where is later.  Hopefully, this tip will be useful
and used.

73 de Dick, AA5VU
aa5vu@arrl.net