I really like Walters’ idea of having an HT only (or QRP) time for an FM satellite.

Once a week or even month would be fine. I have special memories of using my TH-D72 with a long whip getting into AO-91 and working ZL3GAV (from RF73 to RE66) back in 2018.

My thought is this non-QRO time would allow new-to-sat hams and those testing portable equipment an opportunity to experience the wonder of satellites without having to wedge themselves between other QSOs.

And to Walters’ final comment about operating with an HT and an Arrow That was my experience for two years with ONLY SO-50 available and a Yaesu FT-530 running 2.5 watts. The competition for SO-50 was intense with other rovers and QRO stations.

Hector (congrats GridMaster #13) suggested I use a larger battery for full 5 watts from the FT-530. This could be one of potential results for an operator using this ’special’ time for HT-only FM sat usage.

73 and Dream On Walter. Great idea!

Doug, N6UA

Douglas Tabor dtabor52@gmail.com