Hello All,
I too was disappointed by the pileups on all the satellites, our FD location, W2GSB,is part of our Town Hall facility, it is a great location for the public to experience what we do as amateur radio operators. However it is a very poor location for satellite activity, too much RF leakage from the cell towers buildings and large trees. I was using a hand-held antenna and low power and didn't have a chance. It was the type of chaos we see for a rare DX station or in one of the popular contests, having a mix of CW and SSB in the same space on the linear satellites was an additional challenge.
I had visitors during all my passes, we had groups from the Scouts, the Explorers etc., unfortunately they heard what I heard and it was not a good demonstration of what Field Day should be. I really don't know what the solutions if any, to fix it for us. What we do is a challenge during the best of times when you add the FD fuel, with less structure that terrestrial radio has, chaos ensues. I wonder if it's feasible to have a few satellite stations, around the country, that have a good FD location, act as "the DX stations" and set up a call in by numbers for a few designated passes, to demonstrate to the public why we love what we do and maybe interest them enough to join AMSAT and become a satellite operator.
73's Pete WB2OQQ www.massapequanyweather.com