One thing that I like about the satellites is their predictability. I can look at my software, and know exactly when I have the ability to use my station to work into a particular part of the world.
The HF bands haven't been in very good shape over the last few years, so it's nice to be able to work stations in other countries in a band such as 2 meters or 432 MHz, which the average ham would have no idea is full of signals.
73 de Sebastian, W4AS
On Jul 5, 2011, at 4:09 PM, Peter Portanova wrote:
John,
What do I know, but the FM satellites in addition to providing grids and awards have evolved into another type of social media, after making many contacts and a few friends on the FM satellites, I continue to visit,in spite of the crowds, to say a quick hello to Rick, Tim, Marc, Allen etc. not as often, spending more time on the Linear satellites, which we all should and can evolve to. A lot of us are interested in building our grid count, or working a station in Mexico or Brazil or someone on a grid expedition. I can fully appreciate others who cannot embrace any of this and are bored with the congestion, so they move on. But for many of us, the thrill and goose bumps we get working thru a satellite spinning in space never gets old, so we accept the situation and feel that the positives outweigh the negatives and plan for another pass.
73's Pete WB2OQQ