Patrick,
This is certainly a fine idea, which may very well gain traction. If I may, though, I'd like to propose an alternative experiment. Given the recent (and ongoing) disaster and recovery in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria,I was wondering how amateur LEO satellites could be used for emergency response (I know that the use case for the Phase IV satellite terminal is emergency response.). While DX and chasing grid squares is great fun (I do both myself.), I am hoping that there might be a way that LEO satellites could be used as a public service resource.
Traditionally, long-distance emergency response has relied upon shortwave communications. It takes a bit of infrastructure cost to set up and operate a shortwave station. Effective antenna deployment, available transceiver equipment, and a sufficient power supply are considerations to be addressed. Perhaps, a pair of hand-held radios (or single full- duplex), an Arrow antenna, and a computer (Raspberry Pi) could be used to send and receive emergency messages via LEO satellites and might be a viable alternative. The messages could be sent digitally via, say, Narrow Band Emergency Messaging System (NBEMS) to improve reliability of transcription.
I'm sure that you or someone else might say "Use the APRS birds for emergency response messaging.". That may be a fair statement, but my idea might, at least, be an interesting experiment to try. An experiment is still valuable when it shows that an idea does not work!
73,
Mac Cody / AE5PH
On 12/14/2017 04:26 PM, Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) wrote:
Hi!
Now that AO-91 has been going strong for about 3 weeks, maybe it is time to come up with something for it on Experimenter's Wednesdays, like we have seen with SSTV on AO-85. Although I think the SSTV has run its course and maybe something else should be tried, I'm not suggesting any particular change to AO-85 on Wednesdays. This is only intended as a suggestion for AO-91.
After Sean KX9X published his recent document with a list of good operating practices for FM satellites:
https://www.amsat.org/fm-satellites-good-operating-practices-for-beginning-a...
my suggestion would be a way to encourage this, especially focusing on one item. I tweeted a little earlier this afternoon the following:
"An AO-91 Experimenter's Wednesday suggestion: 5W or less, ideally using HTs or portable setups & handheld directional antennas or whips/duckies. Let's take full advantage of how well this satellite hears & can be heard on the ground."
One comment I received on Twitter questioned having something for Experimenter's Wednesdays on both AO-85 and AO-91, suggesting that another day of the week should be used for AO-91. I disagreed with that, given that it is "Experimenter's Wednesday". Unlike with AO-85 where the focus has been SSTV, my suggestion would still allow for FM voice QSOs on AO-91 - but with a focus on using less power and smaller stations. This would also go directly to the recommendations that were recently published.
For those who may be concerned about doing something like this on 2 of the 3 FM satellites, there has been Experimenter's Wednesday SSTV activity for a while now. Most of the time, this has been done when we only had two working FM satellites (AO-85, SO-50). Maybe we could see some coast-to-coast QSOs on AO-91 where both stations are using power levels at 50mW or 100mW, for example.
Thanks, and 73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK or http://twitter.com/WD9EWK _______________________________________________ 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://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb