Quoting Joe Krepps occupant@ytpress.com:

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Dave Guimont wrote:

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The reason for Echo (a two-user FM voice) escapes me also, Greg.

To me, money down the tubes...

I'll agree with that one also, a whole bird with one "Channel"

seems

...

like a HUGE waste. Cool? Yeah,, but single user uh,, nah.

I respectfully disagree. I'm very happy to get involved with birds for the second time, thanks to Echo. There was a time when I had an IC-820H,

Yaesu dual axis rotors, HyGain(?) CPs for 2m & 70cm. It was all just a bit much. This was (probably) before MacDoppler so I was struggling with

tracking and predictions. It sure was cool looking but I never got my use out of it. Sold the stuff for a song. Not a good song either!

Getting my feet wet...again...with an Arrow and my FT-817ND and/or FT-470 is perfect for my current situation! I wouldn't be on this list if it were not for the FM birds.

If no one else will stand up for them, I will! Not arguing the value of

HEOs but my sincere thanks to those who made the LEOs possible!

If it gets more people involved, why not? If it keeps them around for HEOs, isn't that good? "Real soon now" I'd love to take a stab at AO-7 with my setup + extra bits (preamp, maybe a bigger antenna.), correct modes of course. Will I get many complaints if I only shoot 5w, CW/SSB,

at AO-7 from my LEO rig???? I'm really a 20m guy. (Well, what else can you do with 5w when you're mobile?)

73s, Joe WB3CFN _______________________________________________

To start with your last question, I think it's accurate to say that nobody complains when a station is too far into the noise. I worked AO-7 with a pair of FT-817s for over a year and had a hoot, though 5w up on a small yagi will do better with CW than SSB. Sometimes folks will tell you they simply can't hear you, and then you can look at the map and see if this means your setup is better or if they are dealing with greater path loss. Other times, you struggle and your companion doesn't, and that creates new questions: is my beam pointing off, do I need better cable.

In my experience, AO-7 is quite variable in the downlink power for a given uplink power. This experience is gained not only when there are others on the band who might be changing the available power, but also testing it in relative silence. Experimentation is the name of the game.

You didn't mention VO-52: now there's a wonderful SSB bird to use as a stepping stone from the FM ones. Point your Arrow in the right general direction and look for the beacon, which is a continuous tone. It will, of course, be the only one that is slowly dropping across the band, so you can distinguish it from the tones that come from your neighbor's flukey VCR :-) Many have had success operating into it half-duplex handheld with a FT-817. I'd like to wire up something like the Nokia 810 pocket computer to do automatic doppler in the field. The constant-tone beacon lends itself to many interesting experiments, in my case showing just how badly the house attenuates 2m when the bird dips down behind it!

To address some of the recent general discussion on the list, it is very exciting that emerging space-faring nations like India and China are following in the US's footsteps by using amateur payloads to improve their international stature and to educate their people. Just as in the US, it is possible that these nations will eventually launch amateur HEO's for the same purpose before their capabilities are fully commercialized. We should cheer them, support them as they wish us to, and make grateful use of their equipment. Go CAS-1, go Hamsat2!

Furthermore, if we use this forum to announce or just bounce around cool ideas for payloads and modes, we just might see them implemented in Asian birds in the near future. That's why Eaglepedia is a great project, and why I think we all feel that Fred's work is by no means lost, even if it doesn't fly exactly as he built it this past year. With any luck, the designed found there will make their way into not only a P4 bird, but into other projects around the world.

Oh, and the PSLV launch that will include Delfi-C3 is now scheduled for around Jan 25th, not the earlier date I mentioned before. I should know to always consult W0RPK's excellent site http://showcase.netins.net/web/wallio/CubeSat.htm before posting.

73, Bruce VE9QRP