The primary problem is that the OSCAR VII inputs are now in the weak signal portions of the "band plans". With the proliferation of FM activity the weak signal portions have been compressed. It is unrealistic to even think of "blaming" the weak signal operators for interfering with OSCAR VII operations. Remember, OSCAR VII is 35 years old and was not expected to be in service for more than just a few years.
One should just be happy that OSCAR VII is still usable and work around the occasional situation with unintentional interference. Besides, there are not that many contests on the VHF and UHF bands and most of the time there is little activity in the weak signal portions of 2-meters and 70 cm.
As for garnering additional satellite operators that is definitely a possibility. However, I don't know how many new operators would actually be recruited.
Glen, K9STH AMSAT 239 / LM 463
Website: http://k9sth.com
--- On Wed, 9/16/09, Auke de Jong sparkycivic@shaw.ca wrote:
maybe the best one can do is to send QSL cards noting the time/freq/sat/mode to the ops. Of course this assumes that their callsign can be understood