All,

I heard quite a few new ops on the 435.300 repeater tonight. Many seemed to be getting the hang of things quickly, and I even heard some coaching in the background as contacts were made. That's great! I've noticed that the new ops who do the best are those that follow a simple practice. When trying to initiate a contact, they pick out a station they can hear, and call them directly, as in "KO4MA, this is KJ4XYZ EL78". When someone hears that, they know that op can hear the satellite, and they can answer quickly and give them the QSO. This is a good thing.

On the other hand, there are those that merely state their call and grid, without calling someone, over and over. Tonight, sometimes even over top of ongoing QSOs. Over and over. This type of procedure often indicates someone who cannot hear the satellite and calls to them often go unanswered, a waste of everyone's time. Do this enough and people start ignoring you. Make a habit of it, and people might describe you as a synonym for a container top or cover. This word used to have more meaning among our ranks than it does today, and I don't use it here for the sake of the ladies amongst us.

So far we have not tested the orbital Rettysnitch on AO-51, and I'd prefer to keep it that way (Google it if you don't know what it is, or for what it is used.)

Seriously tongue-in-cheek, Drew KO4MA AMSAT-NA VP Ops