Hi!
WB9SBD commented:
"Are the linear sats too complicated?
NO!
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As far as doppler correction,,, we turned the large knob on the front of the radio, thats our doppler correction system.
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Simple and very effective thousands of hams did it for decades, no reason it won't work now.
It still works in 2011.
Until very recently, I did all my satellite operating with portable stations in the field - city parks, parking lots, hamfests, the proverbial "middle of nowhere", or wherever I could set up and operate. I intentionally started out without relying on a computer to control my radios, and have stayed with that for the past few years I have been on the SSB birds. For me, a computer would add to the complexity of operating in the field - have to power it, be able to see the LCD display (a problem with many laptops that use glossy LCD panels like my Acer netbook), and hoping it doesn't suffer a failure.
Now that I just moved into a house, I hope to take some time to finally dust off my SatPC32 and USB/serial adapters and see how things are with computer control, working initially from my back yard. I'll probably still deal with the antenna by holding it, and then getting a tripod it can sit on. Down the road, I *might* look at an az/el rotator setup that can break down and fit in the back of my truck, as well as work from the back yard at home.
K5TRI also added:
But again, bashing on the newcomers doesn't help anything. If they're only shown how to work a satellite with a HT and a store bought antenna then that's what we get. Let's help these folks get to the next step and show them that you can actually have a real QSO on a satellite but in an informative way, not talking down on them.
I hope you are able to be on VO-52 on Saturday, 22 October, when I am doing demonstrations on FM and SSB satellites from a hamfest in Tucson AZ that morning. If there are FM passes available that morning, I will be on them - as well as the VO-52 passes. At the hamfests I have operated from, the SSB demonstrations usually attract the larger crowds. When they see it does not take much more equipment to work SSB than FM via satellite, that turns out to be a pleasant surprise for the audiences.
I use a pair of FT-817NDs (or sometimes I substitute a TH-F6A in place of the FT-817ND I use to receive the downlinks) and a "store bought antenna" (an Elk log periodic) for my all-mode satellite station. This station, except for the Elk, fits in an old laptop bag that has seen tens of thousands of miles of travel in the past couple of years around North America and - recently - Australia.
Working SSB via satellite is like working FM via satellite - you need the right equipment, and need to allocate time to practice with all the gear. More time is usually needed for the SSB birds compared to FM, but it will open up more satellites that you can work. And it is fun!
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/