Now, as far as the bad behavior on SO-50. At least 75% of that is due to people who can't hear the thing, but the Fox satellites are going to be 13 dB stronger than SO-50 (9 dB advantage due to the 2m downlink, about 4 dB due to the 750 mW power output compared to SO-50s 250 mW), so hopefully things will a bit more civilized when everyone can hear the satellite.
That is the great advantage of "Mode B" UHF to VHF satellites, the downlinks are much easier for newcomers to receive.
The great thing about CubeSats is that even small groups of people can launch a CubeSat that caters for their particular interest. The technology is not even limited to small groups of 4 or 5 people, we've even had an individual develop and launch their own CubeSat.
I hope in the future we will see many more groups develop their own Amateur Radio CubeSat.
73 Trevor M5AKA
On Tuesday, 22 July 2014, 16:21, Paul Stoetzer n8hm@arrl.net wrote:
Damon,
They can certainly be frustrating when you have all these lids calling CQ and keying up who obviously cannot hear the satellite, but there is a ton of popular demand for FM satellites. I had a lot of people ask me what FM satellites were working at Dayton and at the hamfest I did a demo at in February. There are also a ton of callsigns that haven't been heard from on any satellite since the demise of AO--51.
I've worked several new grids and states on FM. I have two states only on FM - AR and DE. I've never heard anyone on SSB/CW from either state. I also wouldn't have worked Dominica without an FM satellite. They are a very useful tool!
Now, as far as the bad behavior on SO-50. At least 75% of that is due to people who can't hear the thing, but the Fox satellites are going to be 13 dB stronger than SO-50 (9 dB advantage due to the 2m downlink, about 4 dB due to the 750 mW power output compared to SO-50s 250 mW), so hopefully things will a bit more civilized when everyone can hear the satellite.
Of course, we should be encouraging those interested in satellite communications to add linear transponder capability to their stations. There are quite a few stations that never miss an SO-50 pass. Why not get on the linear birds? It's not that difficult or expensive at all and it's a lot of fun!
73,
Paul, N8HM
On Tue, Jul 22, 2014 at 10:49 AM, wa4hfn@comcast.net wrote:
I hope someone can launch a 100 of them, single channel ,pileup ,total chaos ,someone keying down on the entire pass what more would you want. All we need to bust a crazy pile up is a 300 watt mfj amp right? Lets all work to the good of the satellite part of the hobby. SSB/CW birds are the only way to go and if you build it they will come . Now if someone can build a multi channel FM bird then do it. Lets face it guys ,everyone got mad trying to work AO51 and AO27. Was it fun making a call to a grid you wanted only to have someone key down on him coming back to you, Is this what you want , Then go to 20 meters DX. Single channel FM birds are obsolete, Damon _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
_______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb