Darin Cowan wrote:
W9VNE said:
Unfortunately the operation of AO 51 is a large embarrassment. I have never in 56 years of operating ever seen demonstrated such poor operating procedures.
I'd be happy if people would just use the proper phonetic alphabet. So many logs have been messed up by "kilowatt" which is KW to me, as opposed to the correct "kilo" and the other bizarre appellations of letters. And it's not just on satellites that this is a problem. When I hear something like "Kilowatt Capacitor Eight United Airlines" (made up example, if you are KC8UAL, I'm not picking on you or accusing you) I can pretty much guarantee it won't end up correct in the logs. That makes it a non-QSO and a waste of time for both ends.
Combine proper phonetic use with "listen before transmitting" and 90% or better of the issues we see would go away.
I am often guilty of not using the correct phonetics, but I do have a reason. 95% of the time, if the other station has marginal reception, they come back as VE5, not VA5. I think it's just the other ops' brain filling in the blanks with what they expect to hear, so I will correct as "Victor America 5" and it usually seems to solve that problem. I do try to stick with the ITU phonetics 99% of the time though.
I'd be happy with people just doing the listen before you transmit thing. I can't count the number of times I've had my transmissions cut off mid exchange.
I would also add to that the following: If you can't hear the bird, don't transmit! I have NEVER had a situation where I can't hear the sat. Even when the satellite is coming down from the north and no one else is in the footprint, the background noise changes when it comes into range.
Hopefully with my preamps arriving today (gotta pick them up after work), I will be able to use the linear birds a bit. Maybe relieve some pressure on the FM sats.
73 all, and see you on the satellites.
-- Sean - VA5LF