Agreed, that's the stated intent of the rule from both AMSAT and the ARRL. And yeah, generally I think it's better to hop off the FM sats, not tying it up and preventing other people from getting their QSO. But, as I have done several times, I normally just monitor the FM passes. If I hear a lot of callsign dropping, CQing, and carriers for a decent amount of time during the pass, I'll start calling some of them - especially the weak ones who seem to be likely using an HT to get their bonus points. If I hear others start actually making contacts instead of blind calling, then I back off and go back to monitoring. Is that preventing others from using the sat, and keeping them from making qsos? I don't think so. Does that comply with the spirit of the rule, which is to allow more people to make qsos on FM? I think it does. I know of at least two people from FD 2017 who would not have gotten their sat bonus if I hadn't done just that.
I would say, just use your judgement. If you're in a position with a decent enough station and experience to actually operate like I've described (and heard others do this weekend), then you probably aren't one of the ops that the rule is intended to address.
Rules aren't going to keep people from doing dumb things. I think the best way to address the alleged "problem" of FM sats on field day is not to add more rules, but to spread some operating skill and knowledge like Sean (Kx9x) did in his QST article for June. There's no substitute for practice and experience. And once you've got both, you can make the call yourself on what to do during any given pass, field day or not.
73
- Matthew nj4y
On Wed, Jun 27, 2018 at 9:49 AM, JamesDuffey jamesduffey@comcast.net wrote:
To me this rule:
“7.3.7.1 Stations are limited to one (1) completed QSO on any single channel FM satellite.”
Precludes stations from making more than one QSO on a FM bird.
I suppose that this is subject to interpretation, but to me that the intent of the rule is to make the FM satellites available to more people by rationing QSOes to one per bird. Making more than a single QSO and not scoring them or not entering them into the log does not make the satellite available to more operators and seems to fly in the face of the rule. I understand why people do it, and under some circumstances it may be a good idea, but to me it is against the rule.
Of course someone could ask the ARRL Contest Manager if this practice is OK, but remember the old adage of not asking questions you don’t really want to know the answer to. - Duffey KK6MC
James Duffey KK6MC Cedar Crest NM
On Jun 27, 2018, at 05:26, Matthew Stevens matthew@mrstevens.net wrote:
Neither rule prevents you from making more than one FM contact. Both rules just prohibit you from SCORING more than one FM contact.
73
- Matthew nj4y
On Wed, Jun 27, 2018 at 12:21 AM, George Henry ka3hsw@att.net wrote: To have an AMSAT rule that directly conflicts with the ARRL one-and-done rule is ridiculous.
George, KA3HSW
-----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Bruce Sent: Monday, June 25, 2018 11:53 AM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Field Day (whew)
In the AMSAT rules we do state, because someone asked about it, you can be a net control type station and work every station you want. You would only be able to score one contact yourself but had given many out to those trying to make the 100 point satellite bonus.
We still feel by limiting to one FM contact that if you worked someone and both of you leave the bird, two more stations can work each other thereby maximazing the number of possible contacts on the satellite during a single pass.
73...bruce
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Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb