Nope, not at all. I never have and never will think that way. I'm a General class licensee who was grandfathered in because back in the day, one had to pass the General written to upgrade from Novice to Technician but got credit for 5 wpm code. When the code requirement was lowered to 5 wpm before eventually being dropped completely, all I needed was my CSCE, which I had, and I was instantly a General class. I have been derisively called a "no code General' more times than I can count even though I actually passed 5 wpm to get my Novice. When I was active on HF (my rig is fried right now) I worked CW on occasion but was never the crack CW op my late Father, the original W4HIJ, was. He was fine with that too, he just wanted me to have fun doing what I wanted. I am fine with an influx of new hams and new sat ops anyway we can get them. I just think because we seem to be bending over backwards to make sat contacts so easy that we end up hurting ourselves in the long run. After a while, I would think simply exchanging grid squares would get old for anyone. My own personal barrier has always been economics. I only was able to get into sats by parlaying some of the gear I inherited from my Father into a TS-2000X and even that was a struggle. My old Az/El rotator system was home brewed and so were my antennas. I had to sell my TS-2000X a couple years after buying it to pay for an unexpected and major car repair. Subsequent rigs and setups met the same fate because of various family medical expenses over the years. My latest foray into a base setup with my fried FT-991, a Funcube Dongle Pro + and an AMSAT preamp ended up doomed before it started. I'm sorry but you are barking up the wrong tree my friend!
Anyhow, more power to those who want to work a GEO sat. I guess it's good for the hobby. It just doesn't seem much of a challenge to me after procuring equipment and said procurement would be my greatest challenge! I'll be lucky to get my rig fixed and be back on even HF anytime in the near future. I wish I'd never sold my Flex 1500 but that's another story. 73, Michael, W4HIJ On 11/18/2018 12:55 PM, Devin L. Ganger wrote:
Another thought — perhaps what you see as an over-emphasis on easy (as you are an established gam) is from another view an attempt by some to lower the barriers of entry in order to keep new people coming in to the hobby in general and this niche of it in particular?
-- Devin L. Ganger (WA7DLG) email: [email protected] web: Devin on Earth cell: +1 425.239.2575
*From:* Michael [email protected] *Sent:* Sunday, November 18, 2018 5:03 AM *To:* Devin L. Ganger; [email protected] *Subject:* Re: [amsat-bb] AMSAT-BB Digest, Vol 13, Issue 383 So I work out the kinks for however long that takes.... a week, a month, etc. Then it sits at the ready, only needing an occasional test. Any emergency or public service work I do is most likely going to be from here in the shack anyway. Not all of us are able to be out in the field, on the front lines anymore. While I have great respect for those who rush to the scenes of emergencies with "go box" in hand, it's not something I can do. I agree that it would be boring if we all wanted to do the same thing. Crowded too! I just feel that the hobby in general and the satellite end especially, puts too much emphasis on the "easy" part these days. Let's keep pushing the "challenge" part too. I just don't feel there is enough emphasis on that anymore. In all things, balance. 73, Michael, W4HIJ
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