I want to further elaborate on Matt's point he just made. I'm very likely the number one suspect when talk of 'calling out' people comes up - and I fully admit to it as well. I am also quite often accused of 'noob bashing' for the comments I've made on the BB and the different social media platforms. With very few notable exceptions, the people I've called out have been hams longer than I have been alive, let alone operating on satellites. I've only had my ticket for 3 1/2 years, so by most accounts I'm just as 'noob' as the folks that think they're under perceived attack when the other 'class' of operators make comments about bad operating etiquette.
So, let me just say this - as plainly as I can for everyone to see: New operators are not the problem. A clear majority of the rovers are 'newer' operators, both in AMSAT and in Ham in general. I was given my 488th CONUS grid by a guy who is FM only, had been operating a few months, and was working me from a rare grid *on an anniversary trip* with his wife. That is the kind of dedication ONLY a die hard new guy will have. The new operators are the ones that flock to social media for the latest gear reviews and camaraderie with other ops. They're the ones asking about whether an arrow or an elk is best, and what kind of radios to buy. They're the ones pushing the vendors to build new stuff, and keeping the used market alive for Satellite rigs. And they're the ones that are *really* active on the birds. I would dare say the majority of the ops that I work on a regular basis have been doing sats for less time than me, and that's great. I love it - so much new blood is constantly changing things every day and that keeps it exciting. New operators rock. I sincerely mean that.
On the flip side, you have a class of operator that "has been doing this since sputnik" and thinks the current fleet of LEO's needs an AO-13 class array to be successful. This class of op might also run 100W into an Omni, cause that's the only way they can 'hear' their owns beeps coming down off of AO-7, which they might have watched get launched, and will tell you about when you send them an email asking why they're running so much power. This class of op might also be amazed that they can actually hear the newly launched AO-91 using their radio shack rg174 coax fed eggbeater, and is excited to talk to the same neighbor day after day, because it's the first bird since AO-51 they can brute force their way into with the power that they're obligated to run since they've been a ham for 20 years. I have yet to run into a new ham that has caused AO-7 to reset with an arrow and a pair of Baofengs, yet I can name 5 old hams right off the top of my head that do it pretty much consistently, in every year since I've been operating. This kind of op is the problem. And I will not hesitate to (continue) to call these kinds of bad apples out for their deliberate interference with this hobby.
-Dave, KG5CCI