Missed a word here:

I speculate that this sat op with only 5 watts started doing this because they could not get through at all in *any* other way due to many people using over 5 watts.

On 06/01/21 10:16, John Brier wrote:

At the same time, I know of a sat op who only had 5 watts and I heard this sat op not wait for a rover and call them immediately after someone else called the rover. I speculate that this sat op with only 5 watts started doing this because they could not get through at all in other way due to many people using over 5 watts.

Also remember that it isn't the wattage of your transmitter; You can have a bunch of antenna gain, concentrating all that power from a sphere into more of a teardrop going to the satellite, and overpower someone using 100W and a rubber ducky (assuming it didn't melt).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_radiated_power

Unfortunately, FM birds don't let you gauge how much power you're getting into their receiver by comparing your receive signal to the beacon.

--- Zach N0ZGO

Hi John,

I agree that the operating ethics, especially on the FM sats, have significantly declined in the last year or so. I think that some operators are increasingly desperate to get a contact, typically with a rover - seemingly at any cost. That may include the proverbial stomping of another caller, to whom the rover replied, or jacking up the power. As one who has elected to use a maximum of 5 watts (on all bands, HF, VHF, and UHF), I have a real problem with folks that might use the excuse of running 5 watts to justify their poor behavior. One of the things I've learned running exclusively QRP when contesting or DXing on HF: sometimes you just aren't going to make the contact! (It is hard pill to swallow when you might miss a rare DXpedition or a contest multiplier, or in this case, a new grid. But that's just the way it is!)

I think there are two primary reasons operators demonstrate some of the poor behavior on FM birds: ignorance and intentional belligerence. Some education will help with the first to correct their lack of understanding of how things should work. The second is much more problematic. I've always struggled with situations like you describe when a rover comes back to station A, but station B immediately calls the rover! Where is common sense? And of course there are situations when a rover calls station A, then station B immediately calls station A before the contact is QSLd! Weird!

IMHO I think that if everyone ran 5 watts on the FM birds we'd be better off - with consideration given for ERP of course. (I use an Arrow.) But that also assumes that everyone would practice good operating ethics. If everyone behaves, it is amazing how many solid contacts a rover can make on a single FM pass. I've made over two dozen contacts per FM pass on multiple occasions while roving. But again - if everyone behaves!

Just my two cents worth.

73, Randy, ND0C

-----Original Message----- From: John Brier Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2021 10:16 AM To: AMSAT BB Subject: [AMSAT-BB] Rethinking high power on FM sats

Hi folks,

When I first started working sats I used HTs so I was limited to 5 watts. In order to get into AO-85 easily which had the antenna connection issue that detuned it, I started using a 50 watt mobile radio. Since then I have often used 50 watts to ensure my signal gets in consistently even on sats that don't need it.

More recently I have noticed people no longer wait for a rover to reply to someone who called them. Instead, someone will call a rover and then someone else will call the rover immediately afterwards. This is not normal. People used to wait for the rover to respond.

At the same time, I know of a sat op who only had 5 watts and I heard this sat op not wait for a rover and call them immediately after someone else called the rover. I speculate that this sat op with only 5 watts started doing this because they could not get through at all in other way due to many people using over 5 watts.

So I think it's possible more and more people using higher power has backfired.

Since then I have been experimenting with using lower power, 10 watts, 5 watts. It can be frustrating because others are still using higher power and it's hard to get in.

I am not here to tell anyone what they must do. I don't think there are any absolutes in how one must operate and there are lots of variables that make different styles necessary,

But I do want to suggest anyone who usually uses high power consider times they might try not using high power.

At the very least I plead to people to give rovers a chance to respond before calling the rover.

Of course FM sats are inherently subject to being overloaded by multiple signals, but if many people model behavior that lets more people make contacts, it is possible to overcome some of that weakness.

73, John Brier KG4AKV

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