Brad, I don't think anyone was making the point that FM birds aren't useful, fun and needed. What some people have observed is how congested they can be and what poor operating practices result in. (and are all too common on the FM birds, especially on weekends.)

The same people that make FM birds difficult for the portable ops, take those same bad habits to the Linear Birds when they get a 9700, only they add-in the inability to stay on frequency (doppler) on top of it.

Forgetting about the linear birds for the moment, the FM birds are suffering from a lack of Elmering. It is so easy to get on, with no background on how to do it, that the baseline noise encourages people who have power and antennas, to use them to overcome the rubbish. The thought of the guy with an Arrow and an H/T standing in his drive is far, far from the mind of those people.

We need feedback, we need to exercise patience and not just keep keying up trying to get that new grid. *We need to leave 'holes' not only for the portable stations to get in with*, but also home stations using a simple 1/4w vertical for 2m. *We need to let people finish a started contact.*

If you hear a station clearly responding to another station (they are actually 'in contact'), please ...there is no nice way to put this: shut up.

Let them finish, don't start calling someone else right on top of them. Don't say you don't hear them...bull. I've watched it. The station in qso is full quieting. The respondent is full quieting. Some knucklehead, also full quieting starts calling another station. Too bad, so sad, they don't care...they just gotta have that new grid, and "I'm not gonna be worried about you not being able to finish a contact."

*This is commonplace on the FM birds,* I'm sorry to say and it is caused by the scarcity of the resource and the poor operating habits of many in the user community. *Until we set good examples, provide feedback (including emailing the offenders), and educate new users. the problem is not going away.*

...and one other aside. Working the linear birds requires considerably more technical skill than working the FM Birds. This should not degenerate into an FM vs. Linear satellite rivalry. They require completely different skill sets and manifest some different problems.

Having and using an SDR does not make one an elitist or snob, nor does it take massive investment, but it does permit you to be a more proficient and considerate operator.

SDRs are far from elitist. If you have an SDR, you can operate far more considerately than those using a box-radio that cannot see the beacons and the passband at the same time. Not being able to see the beacon and the passband at the same time is a disaster on the linear birds. It has always been so, since AO-6. That is where the "rule" don't be louder than the beacon came from, over 30 years ago.

But, that's a discussion for another day in a different thread.

73, N0AN Hasan

On Thu, Mar 19, 2020 at 10:04 AM Brad Smith via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote:

<Hopefully, AMSAT and other entities will continue to make available FM satellites as well as more SSB satellites and APRS satellites, so everyone who wants to participate will have that opportunity.Steve AI9IN> I echo what Steve said. Those of us who love to rove and work outdoors enjoy the FM birds. We may not have the huge, rotatable and elevating, computer controlled antenna system, connected to a 9700 in a permanent shack, with SDR and thus to some hams may be just "little people," but we have fun with the FM birds. When it ceases to become fun, I get another hobby. I am a minimalist and love working portable, with an D72 or other smaller radio. I do not understand why any manufacturer would have made a radio that put out 75-100 watts in FM satellite mode. I have worked the birds since 2013, both linear and FM. The FM birds are just plain FUN and can get a person a lot of new grids, which is fun too. Please, guys, keep your power down, so we portables can have a chance to get in and mostly, give us a space to get in. Brad KC9UQR

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