[amsat-bb] Re: [sarex] MIR

[Frank Grossman <71042.1303@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks Jon... And everyone who flamed me on this one...  <s>

>>Here we go again.  We are at nearly the peak of the sunspot cycle right now.
Try working those Japs in about 5 years.  Not so easy.  Secondly, pileups
are fun.  When P3D is up, it will likely be the same (we all hope).  And by
the way, you contradict yourself.  You have a ground mounted vertical with
100 Watts.  I thought you needed LOTS of power and BIG antennas to work on
HF.<<

Well, perhaps I did not express myself well here...  Yes, it is easy to work 
Japanese stations with low power because we are at the sunspot peak, but it's 
not easy to do it reliably on HF, day in and day out, 24/7, at all phases of 
the sunspot cycle.  That may take some juice and antennas.  I've been around 
through two sunspot minima and heard what it's like.

Also, the term "big antenna" is relative.  For those of us who live in 
apartments even a 15 meter dipole is "big" if we're restricted from tossing 
wires out our windows.  I can manage it, barely, at my parents' apartment 
because the landlord was cooperative years ago, but can't do it my co-op, 
we're they've threatened all sorts of mayhem to anyone who puts anything 
outside of a window.  But I can take an HT outside on the Coney Island 
boardwalk and work the Easy-Sats.  And I may be able to take an FT-847 and 
Arrow outside too, if I can find a way to power it without lugging around a 
marine battery.  <s>  (Can an 847 run off a Power Station battery pack?)

I've considered HF operation on the boardwalk too, but stretching wires all 
over the place may piss off the local gendarmerie.  <s>

>>  Who cares if it is easy!  The "EASY SATS" are EASY.  That's why they
are called that.  That's why you like them.<<

They're easy to work but were they easy to design and build?  I suspect the 
real contribution to "the radio art" was made by building them.  And the 
prestige of those who do good ones is no doubt greatly enhanced.  How many of 
us would ever have heard of the Electronic Systems Laboratory at 
the University of Stelenbach in South Africa if there was no SunSat?  (Great 
job, Johann!)

TTYL,
Frank -- WB2BXO
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