Alan, comments well stated and I agree with you but its kind of just part of the human condition. I have seen the same attitudes in r/c planes clubs, r/c boat clubs, gun clubs, sports car clubs, etc. There always seems to be a group of the 'old guard' who would complain if you hung them with a new rope. Then there is a group at the other end of the spectrum that have a better way (at least in their minds) of doing things. Then there is the core group who just wait out the battle and things return to sanity.
This thread soon will pass and someone will ask "what happened to HO68..." and away we go again.
73, Ted, K7TRK Proud No Code Appliance Operator and Ham Radio Hobbyist
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Alan Cresswell Sent: Monday, October 24, 2011 3:10 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: There's no usable satellites
Unfortunately it seems that this sort of posting has become almost the norm on this bb. The attitude that my way is the only way and your way is a load of rubbish and to prove it I will produce caricature of your way which shows how simple minded you are. So those who operate computer controlled stations buy everything and have apparently never built anything in their lives. Cubesats become beepsats which are poorly built and never operate in orbit and the builders don't care. FMsats are the realm of poor operators and the linear sats are the only way to go. LEO,s are a waste of time and HEO is all that matters. etc. etc.
I am old enough to remember when there was such a thing as "The Amateurs Code". Article 4 stated that "Kindly assistance, cooperation and consideration for the interests of others; these are the marks of the amateur spirit." Presumably written at a time when diversity of interests was celebrated and not denigrated. Oh well, I guess I am just living in the past.
73 Alan ZL2BX
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Gordon JC Pearce Sent: Monday, 24 October 2011 16:29 To: [email protected] Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: There's no usable satellites
On Mon, 24 Oct 2011 10:47:00 -0500 John Becker [email protected] wrote:
I got to agree with you.
The FM sat's in my option is near useless with all the "using them famous words of the late W2OY" Just way to many "kids, lids and space cadets " Standing in their back yard on a FM HT.
Standing in your back yard with an FM handie and a homebrew antenna is a great way to communicate, and I'd recommend it to anyone. It takes skill to build a decent aerial, build a diplexer, set it all up and work out where to point. These are skills that anyone can learn, if they choose to. Where's the skill in the "armchair copy" computer-controlled stuff? You buy some aerials, buy the brackets, buy a rotator, buy a CAT cable, buy some proprietary software to drive it, and then plug it together. If you can wave a credit card and click through the install wizard, you're on the air.
Pass after pass it seems to always to be the same people.
Yup, it's nice being able to catch up with friends in another country, quickly and easily.
Sure do (still) miss AO-40....
If you want to sit in front of your computer and have it steer the aerial and do all the tuning, then that's great. You could get the same effect by using Skype.
I honestly cannot see the attraction in HEO satellites, and I *am* old enough to have experienced them when they were working. Maybe there's something subtle I'm missing, I don't know. I just don't get it.