"One-and-Done" is fine for the FM satellites. The (ONE!) guy I worked on SO-50 even said "Well, that's it on this bird!", and I got him later on AO-7.
We had a group of people who wanted to watch us work the satellites, so my son graciously surrendered his headphones, and several people listened as I ran AO-7 and VO-52.
They really enjoyed it, and now have a better understanding of what "Doppler Shift" is, and by watching the SatPC32 display, and the antennas, also have a basic understanding of satellite orbits, and why you need to keep moving the antennas.
I let them listen to some low passes of SO-50 and AO-51 that were mostly out over the Pacific, and as K6LCS said, the operators were well behaved.
I wouldn't dare let them listen to a pass over the middle of the country, as I'm sure they'd be discouraged!
73, Jim
On 06/28/2011 04:04 AM, Gary "Joe" Mayfield wrote:
I can absolutely claim at least 3 satellite converts as a result of the old get on the air and hammer away method, but 0 converts since the one and done era.
Joe kk0sd
-----Original Message----- From:[email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Majdi S. Abbas Sent: Monday, June 27, 2011 4:42 PM To: Diane Bruce Cc: AMSAT Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: FD Mess
On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 05:18:54PM -0400, Diane Bruce wrote:
Now hear me out before you hit that reply key. Field day operators are interested in those bonus points, we (amsat) are interested in promoting amateur radio sat operations. How many of these field day operations actually result in new satellite operators? Where are the surveys, stats? Does the extra massive battery use of our sats justify the PR? Keep in mind the state of AO-51 and FO-29.
Am I the only one? I'd be interested in a non-flame war discussion.
Sure, the person operating the radio is trying to collect the bonus points for their operation.
But most Field Day operations are a *group* effort. Many of the hams present may never have operated a satellite, and if shown that they can get on the FM sats relatively easily, may give it a try. There are typically dozens of people present besides the satellite operator, at least a few of which express some interest.
People who collect bonus points usually go for the public location/information table bonus as well, so you may be introducing possible future hams to satellite work.
If the argument is 'show me the data,' feel free to go collect it; the published FD scores is a good starting point for reaching out to the involved parties. Or you could fund a survey.
It seems silly to demand that outreach be justified for you; without it, you won't need those satellites anyway. Lack of outreach is a self correcting problem -- just add time, and there won't be any satellites left.
73,
Majdi, N0RMZ _______________________________________________ Sent [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings:http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings:http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb