Well, you are partially right. With OSCAR 6 and 7 and their strong ten meter downlinks, it was just a matter of adding two meter transmit capability to an HF station. Now it does take a little more work to receive and transmit at VHF and UHF with SSB or CW and the prevalence of man-made noise on VHF and UHF these days generally requires a beam.
I am quite certain that many of the people that worked OSCARs, 6, 7, 8, and the RS birds never graduated from Mode A. Just like many of the FM satellite users never graduate from FM.
People tend to think it's more difficult than it is. I've made over 2,000 linear transponder contacts with nothing more than two Yaesu FT-817s (for a few hundred of those I used an Icom IC-R10 receiver) and an Arrow antenna handheld.
The radios for operating via a linear transponder are widely available and inexpensive. A Yaesu FT-100, FT-817, FT-857, FT-897, FT-991 or an Icom IC-706MkII(g), Icom IC-7000, or any of those plus a FUNcube dongle and computer to receive the downlink are all the radio you need and an Arrow or Elk antenna will get you going.
73,
Paul, N8HM
On Sat, Jul 4, 2015 at 1:19 PM, Joe nss@mwt.net wrote:
Funny how a linear bird is a technical challenge, wow, as a novice in 1975 I listened to Oscar 6 & 7 all the time. and once up graded used them also all the time. Sad to think that 1970's technology is high tech to anyone. Joe WB9SBD Sig The Original Rolling Ball Clock Idle Tyme Idle-Tyme.com http://www.idle-tyme.com
On 7/4/2015 12:10 PM, Paul Stoetzer wrote:
Michael,
The idea is to get people hooked on satellite operating and then have them "graduate" to more challenging aspects of satellite operating.
AMSAT is, of course, working on projects that be more of a technical challenge than FM satellites, like Fox-1E with a linear transponder and the geosynchronous P4B project.
73,
Paul, N8HM
On Sat, Jul 4, 2015 at 1:02 PM, Michael Mat_62@charter.net wrote:
Once again I feel the need to say that we have gone in the wrong direction by trying to convince everyone how easy a "sat" is to work with a handheld antenna. I got into satellite communication because of the technical challenge involved, not by how "easy it was". This whole half or full duplex issue is a symptom of "dumbing down" There should never be any question on it. Full duplex should ALWAYS be used. 73, Michael, W4HIJ _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb