I'm an extra, and grew up learning ham etiquette from my grandfather, although I've only been a ham a relatively short time. I had never been exposed to satellite work, taught very little by other elders, and have found it rather difficult to find a good source that taught the various aspects. I entered this facet of the hobby via request from a local school wanting to make contact with the ISS (scheduled for end of October). I have had a struggle gaining good Intel on getting it done right and inexpensively.... Until jumping into this facet, I had no idea there were certain freq's I needed to avoid. And it took another few months to realize that I needed to use caution on power output! I was being told I needed a amp of up to 200 watts to talk to the ISS, but never was informed of the damage I could cause to other birds with this amp....(no, have not done so!) . And I honestly am worried about being too strong for the ISS. My point, these basic concepts are just not taught well enough. Many basic concepts aren't being taught or expected to be learned.... I dont know who is try so hard to make it so easy to be a ham, but it is working, and at the same time causing problems of all kinds for the rest of us... My apologies for not knowing these frequencies of concern.... I sincerely hope I never walked on another! It should be protested to have more teaching and test questions on the Tech exam to avoid this. May also help to have these freqs listed on the band plan chart? I feel like I am learning a whole new hobby, with a very long way to go.
Doug Bennight K4GKJ
-------- Original message -------- From: Lizeth Norman normanlizeth@gmail.com Date: To: "<,amsat-bb@amsat.org>," amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] local yokels
Hi all! Was monitoring the 1645z pass of AO-73. Got blown out of my chair by direct, in the passband interference on 145.95. Looked like FM. Sure enough, two of the good old boys have a local simplex channel. Did send one (the other doesn't have an email on QRZ, go figure!!!) an email explaining that their conversation could have been retransmitted all over north America, had FO-29 or AO-7 mode A been overhead. Is there any regulatory body to report this type of stuff to? There is enough RF trash being transmitted by xboxes and the like. Don't need more. Norm n3ykf _______________________________________________ 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://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb