On Tue, 2011-01-11 at 12:17 -0900, Edward R. Cole wrote:
A satellite with 25 channels would probably help. LOL This is why a lot of the old guard satellite ops wish for the translator days with 100-KHz of bandwidth and CW/SSB. But I do NOT want to start up a RANT on this -everyone knows this.
Single channel FM repeater satellites will always be saddled with this problem - too many users/one channel. Goes with the territory. that is reality. Another reality: lots of unused satellites while everyone is on a single satellite - why?
Because AO-51 is the most reliable satellite in terms of actually finding and working it. SO-50 seems to be almost impossible to lift, and the linear transponder ones require extremely expensive radios. You can work AO-51 with an el-cheapo dual-band handie and a homebrew antenna, and you can work /P really easily because you don't need a rotator or satellite tracking software.
I'm not going to rush out and buy a VHF/UHF SSB rig just to work the odd pass, especially since I've never heard anyone on the linear birds. I don't know if VO-52 works - I've never even heard its beacon - and AO-27 is only ever enabled over the US, making it useless for most of the world. It would be great to attempt a QSO through AO-7 but again I'm not going to go and buy a rig that costs as much as a car to do it.
Gordon MM0YEQ