FD is a mess every year. No matter what bird(s) you try.
Most of the FD stations have no clue about satellites, they just get the idea they need to make 1 satellite contact or as many as they can. They don't know about all the rules particular to AMSAT, and they dont' care.
They ask somebody what frequency to transmit and listen on and then they get their 500 watt amp, big beam or no beam, no preamp, and start calling and calling. They don't hear anything so they just mess up the whole works. Happens every year.
You either have to bear with it and make your one contact or give up.
73, K6YK
On Mon, 27 Jun 2011 21:33:34 +0100 Gordon JC Pearce gordonjcp@gjcp.net writes:
On Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:48:48 -0500 Patrick Green pagreen@gmail.com wrote:
The ARRL should impose an ERP limit for satellite contacts. That would solve the problem. I don't see how running amplifiers on FD
is
in the spirit of what FD is all about. I've made contacts using
50 mw
so why do stations use 100+ watts *before* the antenna.. I
wouldn't
want my kids playing around a FD site with this time of setup.
Wouldn't that be AMSAT's job? It's certainly possible to work an FM bird with 5W from a handie, and a hand-held yagi.
I don't understand the obsession with having all-singing-all-dancing computer-controlled setups, where it automatically updates its orbital elements, automatically calculates when the next pass is, automatically calculates where to steer the aerial and what to tune the radio to and leaving the operator to just push the PTT and shout over the top of the QRP/P stations.
All the computer-controlled stuff just plain isn't amateur radio. If you want to sit in front of a computer and talk to people, use Skype.
Gordon MM0YEQ _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. 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
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