Wow, Bob. My condolences on your blood pressure!
In the spirit of the original mission of the founders of the ARRL to educate and encourage fellow hams, I have also done what I can to teach and encourage hams to start working linear satellites, to pay forward the assistance I recently received myself from many on this list to start working linear satellites. You can learn much and have a lot of fun on FM birds, frustrations notwithstanding, but nothing is more satisfying than learning to operate two SSB radios to work a low elevation AO-7 or FO-29 pass in a short window of time, culminating in a successful contact with a very distant and exotic DX location not possible to reach via FM. As many here have pointed out, there’s plenty of bandwidth on linear birds, and I have often heard long ragchews about rainfall amounts and shack equipment modifications occurring at the same time in the linear passband along with DX chasers exchanging grids and newbies calling CQ!
The curmudgeon only serves to highlight the original point of encouraging more folks, especially the next generation of hams, to learn, experiment, and work linear birds. I’ll consider my own mission complete when the curmudgeon can tune through the passband on “his linear sats" to hear conversations of millennials and younger from rare “strips of dirt” not just exchanging grids and having fun, but also discussing the best artisanal avocado toast, the melancholy angst of unrequited love, debates over the best new wave death metal guitarist, and environmentally-friendly cloth diapering techniques to best protect the bottoms of the next generation of hams.
73! Adam, K0FFY
On Mar 17, 2018, at 10:52 AM, R.T.Liddy k8bl@ameritech.net wrote:
Don, Be careful about making suggestions about increasing activity on the Linear SATs! You may get personally ATTACKED in direct e-mails like I did. There are people out there that hate Gridders and feel the Linear SATs are to be held aside so they can have them to themselves for having chats with each other day after day. I won't reveal the gentleman's ID, but you can read excerpts of some of the e-mails that came to me directly for merely suggesting something to increase activity on his private Linear SATs. Or, save your blood pressure and skip his comments below. (So much hate!) 73, Bob K8BL
Simply stated you are the problem with this hobby today.
Go get in your car and prove the laws of propagation again and again from strips of dirt only people like you care about. Yeah that’s real modern HAHAHAHA
Talk to your same cronies over and over yelling a new grid at them. You call that fun ‘eh. Sats work, get over it, you don’t have to keep proving it. It simple to understand that.
Once again I say we don’t need your kind on the linear sats. Stay on FM and do us all a favor.
The mess I refer to is the operating practices of those on the FM birds. People calling over one another, not allowing someone to get a confirmation of their contact before yelling their call and grid out once again, and now I hear you have a jammer on 91 and 92. What frustration do you think is causing that ?
I don’t care what other hams do. Each have their own preferences,.. What I don’t like is someone coming up with a great “idea” to get more activity on what is now an enjoyable aspect of the hobby that I enjoy. I have to put up with nonsense contests every weekend on HF but I can go to WARC bands to get away from it. Don’t be looking to crap up my linear sats and turn them into the mess that’s on the FM sats. Its disgraceful what goes on there. Honestly I don’t think it will come to that since people have to use more that a pair of $25 boufangs and an arrow to get on linear sats.
From: Don KB2YSI kb2ysi@gmail.com To: Mike Diehl diehl.mike.a@gmail.com Cc: R.T.Liddy k8bl@ameritech.net; amsat-bb amsat-bb@amsat.org; Paul Stoetzer n8hm@arrl.net Sent: Saturday, March 17, 2018 8:58 AM Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] idle comments - Idle SATs
Plain QSO's or grids? I might be able to do 40 contacts by years end.
An award is a goal, goals are easy to quantify, and you can see progress as you are working towards them.
73, Don KB2YSI
On Fri, Mar 16, 2018, 08:07 Mike Diehl diehl.mike.a@gmail.com wrote:
How about an 88 on 88 or 40 on 4B award? 73, Mike Diehl W8LID
On Mar 15, 2018, at 23:46, R.T.Liddy k8bl@ameritech.net wrote: Paul, Having "Linear SAT Activity Days" is a GREAT idea! Maybe an AMSAT "Linear SAT 100" Award for 100 Q's would be interesting. Perhaps, endorsable, too. 73, Bob K8BL ________________________________ From: Paul Stoetzer n8hm@arrl.net To: R.T.Liddy k8bl@ameritech.net Cc: Joe N3XLS n3xls@yahoo.com; Bob- W7LRD w7lrd@comcast.net; amsat-bb amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2018 10:06 PM Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] idle comments - Idle SATs
I admit that the launches of AO-91 and 92 have reduced my linear operating time. As much as I enjoy operating on the linear sats, operating portable as I do, I'm not going to be able to operate every pass. I have made fewer than two dozen linear sat QSOs this year.
Perhaps some linear satellite operating days are in order where everyone decides to work as many passes of the XWs as possible or CAS-4B or UKube-1 or something. FO-29 and AO-7 do seem to draw a decent amount of activity still.
73,
Paul, N8HM
On Thu, Mar 15, 2018 at 11:00 PM, R.T.Liddy k8bl@ameritech.net wrote: Unfortunately, I've been roving the past couple weeks and operating from several uncommon Grids/Gridlines and usually find no one or only one on the Linear SATs. Does that make me want to drive to some odd place and set up to rarely make a QSO? People shouldn't worry abt being exactly zero-beat, if that puts them off. Just get close & we'll find you. If people keep avoiding them, eventually no one will bother using them, period. Maybe, the "Easy SATs" are so easy that folks don't bother with the others. 73, Bob K8BL /4/5/9 ________________________________ From: Joe N3XLS via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org To: Bob- W7LRD w7lrd@comcast.net; amsat-bb amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2018 6:43 PM Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] idle comments
Its not too many satellites, not enough ops!
> -------- Original message --------From: Bob- W7LRD w7lrd@comcast.net Date: 3/15/18 6:23 PM (GMT-05:00) To: amsat-bb amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] idle comments
Hello from Seattle
I read the bb almost thoroughly throughout the day. A small common denominator is subtly appearing. I read, "I was on the bird all alone", or something like, "no one to talk to". The unusual conclusion, we have too many satellites! I never thought this ham would even think of it. If I look at Satpc32 with "only" a dozen listed, in fast forward a bewildering barrage of circles floats across the screen. I am not saying this is a bad thing, it just spreads us out and at times, there is, "no one to talk to". I do testing like try different power levels, talk to myself til as close to AOS as I can get. You know the drill. From what I read there are more on the starting block. I'd like to see more L band time, maybe a bird with a S band DL a MEO, a HEO- I know, idle comments. We have the five & dime coming at us, which sounds like a whole other world, I'm looking forward to it. Then there is the massive off air time making all this stuff work. Currently testing between two L band antennas and between two different 70cm antennas. At this time I have my Satpc32 talking fine with the radio but not with the rotor. A com port issue which currently I can not figure out. Assistance solicited. On the ISS it would be fun to see one of the "hams" up there have that "burning in the belly" to yuck it up, get WAS, VUCC, DXCC or whatever. Again, just idle comments not a criticism of the ARISS system. Sunny day in Seattle, xyl says yard work.
73 Bob W7LRD Seattle
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