Is that condition true for all hams? I think not. If 50 percent of all hams could work S band 50 percent of the time I would call that a great success. When S band didn't work try U/V or is it to be V/U?
The HT sat users can use LEOs and try a HEO at close range. Tracking ground stations I think would prefer a good HEO that came into their view once a day or even once every other day or two. I don't know about you but I do not have the time to be on the air all the time. Even one good pass for me on a HEO once a week would be a joy to use.
For example lets say that P3E gives me one good pass on Friday evening, my time. Then if the planners are smart they will make Eagle give me at least one good pass on Sat or Sunday. Then if and when we get a 3rd HEO up that one should give me a good pass on perhaps Wed? Get the idea. Stagger the openings for the users. We don't need a sat visible everyday when we only have one or two HEOs in orbit. Don't compromise. Make the sats user friendly to the max number of users, ... and then start to experiment with pushing the frontiers to new bands. Can that idea be done?
Les W4SCO
At 07:31 PM 9/8/2006, you wrote:
2.4 GHZ is an RF waste land.. It is a garbage dump for any and all part 15 and 802.11 consumer stuff. I enjoyed working AO-40 SSB with great signals. It was NOT a CW only bird as some with less than adequate 2.4 GHZ receive setups claim. BUT, the last few months on AO-40 were troublesome.... Normal noise levels of S5 turned into 20 and 30 DB over 9. It was traced to 2.4 GHZ internet provider 10 miles away, YES 10 miles away. It was also traced to a government training center only 3 miles away. Most likely WI-FI. Please give up on the 2.4 GHZ dumping ground. Please join with me and be excited about abandoning it and moving on to greener pastures. Thanks Rick K9KK