I have L band gear. When the bird is in L/U Luc and I have a great time talking to each other. When the bird is in V/U I'll make half a dozen or more contacts in a pass. I voted for mode L, because I didn't believe V/U was an option and S band is becoming too full of interference.
I have a couple questions:
1. The folks who can't eek out a contact with the handheld and Arrow during Field Day, have you practiced? It's how I have done it the last couple of years without that much trouble, patience and timing are the keys :-). We have a good Field Day location where I can see down to the horizon.
2. Has the single contact per FM bird rule really helped anyone? In the old days a couple big stations got on and essentially ran the bird. Is it fair? NO! but they handed out a lot of QSOs and we seemed to get more AMSAT Field Day entries as well.
The one bird one contact has been a noble experiment, maybe it is time to examine the results.
Hats off to the controllers for starting the discussion!
73, Just My Thoughts, Joe kk0sd
-----Original Message----- From: amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Andrew Glasbrenner Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 4:33 PM To: Ng, Peter Cc: amsat-bb@amsat.org; ao51-modes@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Field Day mode for AO-51
Ng, Peter wrote:
...sorry, I meant to vote for V/U mode as I only have VHF/UHF equipment!
Keep in mind there will likely be three or four transponders birds, and two to four other FM birds available that weekend!
It's been my perception that a good portion of AMSAT's sustaining members leave and breathe the highest tech they can manage. Eight out of eight satellites being V/U seems counter to that goal.
Mark and Bob both make good points supporting at least one area of refuge for this portion of the AMSAT population. Personally, I think the V/U FM experience on Field Day is a big turnoff to newbies, especially since so many under-prepared, over-powered and out of practice once-a-year sat ops fail miserably to get those bonus points on FM.
I bet someone in your area has 1.2 Ghz capability!
73, Drew KO4MA _______________________________________________ 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