I set up a quick "satisfaction survey" earlier this month for visitors to my "How to Work the FM Sats with your Handheld Radio" Web site. I wanted to make sure I was on the right track for what I am trying to accomplish with the site: Provide all the info needed to get on the FM birds painlessly - as a "reference" site for my talks.

The responses have been marvelous. I think it is important to keep in touch on all levels with one's audience. To try to elicit as much as I could from visitors, I made sure that the entries were all anonymous. Here's a summary of what I have been told ...

- Clint, you fail to cite Orbitron for satellite tracking software ...

Orbitron is a Windows app, which I have personally not run. I wasn't impressed with the fact that it has not been updated since September of 2005. But if it is working and accurate for people, that's great.

- Clint, you fail to cite SatScape for sat tracking software ...

I did try out SatScape. It is a Java app, so it should run on most any Windows PC, Apple, or Linux machine. It took me longer to set it up than, say, Nova for Windows. But it appears to be a supported, solid application. On my MacBook Pro, it makes me close and re-open to accomplish some basic ops. But it is showing current location of my chosen sats correctly.

- Clint, SatelliteTracker Plus is a less-expensive app for the iPhone and iPod touch ...

It is, indeed. I am just a fan of PocketSat. And you are correct: Of the 102 apps that I have paid for for my iPod touch, PocketSat3 was the most expensive, at $24.95. Maybe it's because I have "grown up" with PocketSat+ for the Palm, and it is "comfortable" to use for me. It certainly is more "pleasant" to look at, with its great graphics of the Earth and sat passes. SatelliteTracker Plus by Susan Mackay looks like a solid app.

- Dude, where's the 'Droid apps?

Android is a platform that I have NO machines to test. But a participant recommends ...

HamSatDroid - http://sites.google.com/site/hamsatdroid/

- I'd like to see projects like easy to build elevation rotors ...

Beyond the scope of what I am trying to accomplish with THIS Web site! I want to get fellow hams on the air with the easy-to-work sats, using equipment they probably already own. THEN they can graduate to sats that require elevation rotators.

- ... mention the use of a GPS for location Lat/long for tracking programs and Maidenhead for the report ...

I am using Maidenhead on my iPod touch. Although my "target audience" for this site is mostly hams at home (and we SHOULD all know our home grid squares, right???), if one travels out of their immediate area, quickly obtaining grid square info is important. I mention this in my presentations (" ... If you're at a fellow ham's house, their QRZ entry shows grid square info ... " and " ... the ARRL.org site has easy-to-use grid square locators ... "). I'll make sure to add a Web site or two for reference on my site.

- How to connect a tripod to a yagi or beam.

Interesting! The Arrow satellite antennas are tapped for tripod mounting (pull off the foam grip). And the Elk log periodics and their PVC pipe construction just BEG to to mounted in all sorts of different ways by resourceful hams! This is a great topic for a photo album in the future.

- ... the need for 440 preamp on the mast ...

Not a necessity for the "easy FM sats." When it's not snowing outside (grin). There's been a couple sat antenna construction articles in QST recently, where the use of a pre-amp was called for as if it were "standard operating procedure." But to successfully work several satellites, we're just slightly improving the stock duck on a handheld ... or using handheld Yagis. Pre-amps have their place - but not for my audience at the beginning stages of working the birds.

- Maybe a section or two about more advanced amateur satellite operation, such as packet radio, and downloading telemetry and images from satellites such as ITUpSAT1 and the ISS ... homebrew diplexers ...

MORE GREAT IDEAS - but I just want to keep the current site "plain and simple" for getting folks started on the birds.

THANK YOU ALL for your input!

Clint Bradford, K6LCS http://www.work-sat.com 909-241-7666