Good morning all I like reading the amsat-bb everyday. I have learned alot by doing so. I am a newbie to the satellites, only starting around Christmas time. Yes AO-51 and ISS can get crowded, much like a contest station. When it does get like that I usually don't try to transmit. Instead I listen and practice copying down all those fast calls and grids. I consider Ham Radio to also be a listening hobby not just a transmitting hobby. What I have done is look at what passes will work the best for me. In my case its the early morning passes before work, the ones that come down over Canada. I tend to do alot of listening on the evening passes no matter how crowded it gets. The fact that I can hear XE2PHH or XE2MWY or Patrick portable in Mexico off of a satellite and I am sitting in a basement in Minnesota is still pretty exciting to this old man.
Yes, even I know who the K3 station is on AO-07. But he took the time to work me when I was running only an elk antenna and a none duplex radio that was off frequency. He also took the time to send me an e-mail to encourage me to work the satellites. In fact it was my very first satellite contact and I had little idea of what to do
So from this newbies point of view the good parts of satellite radio by far out weigh any negative parts of satellite radio
73 Steve Howard AB0XE