Well first of all the article that appeared in QST a little while back made it sound too darn easy, which yes it is, but not on field Day.
The problem with Satellites and field day in my mind it relates to the way the rules are set up. Yes ARRL and AMSAT both stipulate that only one FM QSO per FM Satellite per field day station. The issue is in ARRL rules is that all Satellite contacts whether FM or SSB are seen as the same, then if somebody does hog the transponder trying to get multiple contacts on an FM bird, there is no way on the field day logging rules to throw those extra contacts out. On 91, I threw my call out twice made one contact and was gone. I spent most of my effort on linear satellites and ignored other FM passes.
I do think you should look at this in a positive light. The growth in the number of amateur radio satellite has spurred a renewed interest in this aspect of a hobby and thus we have a potential easier time promoting AMSAT to more and more hams. Field day is a great place to do that because most of the people that come out are either already into amateur radio or new to the hobby and get excited about interest areas and that’s where AMSAT people need to get out of their house and to local clubs and field day set ups to do what we do will help to educate people and maybe save some of the bad behavior on the FM birds.
I had my share of issues and problems this weekend, but I had fun and in ONLY six hours of operating beat my score from last year so that was a win. I also got to do some education too and that helps the future of our aspect of the hobby.
73. Tom. N5HYP