When I first started out on sats a couple years ago, I had a single half duplex HT and a borrowed arrow. I listened to two or three passes of so50 and ao85 (the only fm sats available at the time), before ever even trying to work anyone. The passes were pretty hectic, with NPOTA stations and rovers, and callsigns getting thrown around. My first contact was a few days later with Fernando, NP4JV who knew I was going to be on and answered my call when I finally got brave enough to throw it out there. I've had my share of irritating passes, missed contacts, getting up at three in the morning to work a 2 deg pass and getting stomped out by somebody calling cq who couldn't hear the sat well enough to even tell people were calling him... And - getting up at 2 in the morning for a different pass and not making a contact with station in Spain because I thought I knew what I was doing, but really didn't... that's good motivation to practice and learn :-)
It was all fun, part of the challenge of learning a new skill. The coolness of talking to people through a thing that's flying around 400km over my head with an HT or an 817 is still incredible.
So I personally don't understand the idea of people getting scared away from sats because of crazy passes. Sure, it can get hectic. Sure, we all complain when somebody transmits a carrier over the entire pass and nobody makes any contacts. But, that's all just going to be part of the ham radio experience! The same thing happens on HF, during CQWW it gets crazy but I've never heard anyone say that "scares new ops away." Sometimes its a zoo, other times it's not. Seems to me that people who are really interested and want to learn, grow, and enjoy operating stick with it. The ones who get spooked and never come back, more than likely would have eventually lost interest for some other reason (in my observation.) If I am personally helpful to new ops; and exhibit good operating practice myself, then there is no reason for me to get upset by what some other lid does on (or off) the air. Let's try to encourage good operating practice, rather than just complaining about all the perceived problems on the sats.
- Matthew nj4y
On Thu, Feb 21, 2019 at 10:15 AM Clayton Coleman W5PFG tasmac@w5pfg.us wrote:
I support a laissez-faire approach when it comes to FM transponder use. Not everyone chases grids. Not everyone chases DX. There are busy passes and there are slow passes. It balances out.
When I am out roving, I don't sit and call every station on the pass. I normally give my callsign once and wait for others to call me. On average, if I'm in a desired grid square, I might receive 20 direct calls. If most stations are hearing adequately and adhering to generally-accepted operating norms, there is plenty of room in a 11-13 minute pass for twice that number of QSO's.
Last week, while I was operating from a remote grid in West Texas, another station was operating from desired grids further northwest. Between us there were nearly 40 clean QSO's, with the potential for more. It was amazingly orderly for an FM transponder - on a weekend!
Any transponder is a shared, multi-user resource. Except for emergency communications I don't believe consensus exists to prioritize use for particular groups (backyard/handheld warriors, rovers, home stations, club demo's, hamfests.) Who would make that determination? It would likely be unpopular. I try to prioritize the young people, Scouts, demos, and new calls but that is MY personal preference. HEARING the satellite is critical but LISTENING(comprehension) to the cadence of the pass is equally important.
Often I listen to transponders and hear very few stations. Time of day and footprint coverage are key elements to determine when a transponder will have activity. If someone new is expecting to make their first-ever QSO on a Saturday afternoon pass covering an entire continent, their expectation might not be met.
73 Clayton W5PFG
On Wednesday, February 20, 2019, 11:30:09 AM EST, Jerry Buxton <n0jy at amsat.org> wrote:
Not to deter grid chasing and awards, does every FM bird have to be
that
way? I do miss my start with "portable stuff" a decade or so ago, and just having quick QSOs with new contacts on SO-50 from the pizzeria parking lot when I visited Mom and Dad...
Jerry Buxton, NØJY
On 2/19/2019 21:02, Bob wrote:
I can tell you from personal experience as a satellite mentor, giving presentations which always excite potential new satellite users, then having them go into the field to experience the bedlam of a FM
Satellite,
that they too often become discouraged and give up. Easysat is a very deceptive name, especially on weekends.
73, Bob, WB4SON _______________________________________________
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