Dale and Pat, I'd like to add a few more comments. I know the passes are short, but I've observed a lot of time wasted by multiple stations transmitting at the same time, not letting a station finish their exchange, and the use of excessive power. The handheld stations don't have a chance when big guns blasting away with gobs of power. The other night a K1... station was obliterated and stomped on. How many "1" calls do you hear these days?

Please folks, especially on the busy FM birds. A chaos is inevitable, but we can minimize it if we... 1. Run the minimum power necessary to reach the satellite - 5 watts or less if your radio allows. 2. Listen for the weak station operators. 3. Operate full duplex so you can hear the downlink while transmitting. 4. Be patient and let others complete their exchange. If we stomp on each other nobody wins. 5. If you hear multiple stations (usually just a grunge sound) on the downlink, stop transmitting. Nobody makes a contact when everybody transmits at the same time. 6. If you can't hear the downlink, don't keep transmitting. Just because you can't hear the bird doesn't mean that the bird can't hear you and that you are not interfering with others. 7. We all mess up from time to time, so be patient with us. 8. Oh, and did I say, "Use the minimum power necessary....?"

And yes, I'm probably preaching to the choir, but I guess we all need to be reminded from time to time.

John Kopala - N7JK

From: Dale-KL7XJ daleh@alaska.net Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: A reminder re: phonetic alphabet and digits... To: amsat-bb@wd9ewk.net Cc: amsat-bbs amsat-bb@amsat.org Message-ID: 480E562F.6020501@alaska.net Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

I have been diligently waiting and trying to work the XE stations. It is as exciting for me as I suppose it for them. The other night I had a call from XE2BRL I was not sure on his suffix so I asked him to repeat to be sure and when he came back he was covered up by QRM by other stations trying to get him that I never was able to complete the QSO or grid squares. I know the passes are short but for fringe area to fringe are on the foot print I sure wish folks would give some consideration. I try to keep my transmissions short and consider other folks needs over mine. I will keep trying though. I do have confirmation from Japan on the other hand... That was pretty cool.

73, Dale - KL7XJ BP40