Re: [amsat-bb] FM - APRS Satellites

[tlang@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Tony Langdon)]

Hello Howard.

01 Jun 00 08:03, you wrote to All:

 HL> Great words, especially the 'LISTEN' bit!
 HL>
 HL> You should try operating in Europe. The other night we even got
 HL> someone playing music, an act I still hoped was solely dedicated to
 HL> the odd terrestrial repeater.

We've had a clown down here in VK whistling and dropping carriers.  He seems to
have given up in the last couple of days, fortunately.

 HL> Although I've worked the FM sats in Europe, I had the opportunity to
 HL> watch an AMSAT demo at Dayton. Far more gentlemanly. I almost thought
 HL> the demo was rigged!

Hehe, I have only heard short snippets of American actiity, mostly from AO-27.
I thought it sounded hectic, but well ordered.  Down here, FM activity varies
from leisurly ragchews (listen to some of my UO-14 recordings) to very busy,
though usually still quite orderly.

 HL> The order of the day in Europe seems to be Power, Power and more Power
 HL> on the FM sats which is a shame. I therefore only rarely operate on
 HL> the FM sats.

That's a pity. :-(  Down here, QRP is regularly worked, and the minimum station
for SO-35 down here is a handheld running 0.5-1 watt (into a good handheld
whip).  The lower limit is not usually QRM, but simply being able to get enough
signal into the bird.

 HL> Regarding the FT-847 operator (aka a 'silver-spooner' like myself), I
 HL> had my radio six weeks before I got my first downlink, and that was on
 HL> RS13. It took another two to get a QSO. I think that a very large
 HL> amount of the problem for me was getting aquainted with the radio. In
 HL> my opinion, this radio has a very steep learning curve for the
 HL> beginner if you seriously want to use it on sats. Lots of buttons to
 HL> get the knack of. IMHO, a beginner (such as I was) would be better off
 HL> cutting his/her teeth on a separate simple transmitter and receiver.
 HL> Now I've got the knack though, I wouldn't give up my '847.

You might be right.  Had a couple of satellite newcomers ger bamboozled by
their 847's.  I started with a couple of HTs (and still use the same), and
always had reliable performance.  Only "cockpit trouble" I've had is the day I
got my Doppler shift back to front, or the odd  time I didn't check the
downlink Rx and wondered why the bird seemed dead! Stupid mental blanks. :-)

 HL> There were times during my first six weeks when I really thought I was
 HL> going to be a listener on the sats for the rest of my life! Patience,
 HL> as always, is a virtue.

Yes patience is a virtue, though I jumped right in myself and got good results.
:-)

Tony
--
|Fidonet:  Tony Langdon 3:633/284.18
|Internet: tlang@freeway.apana.org.au
|
| Standard disclaimer: The views of this user are strictly his own.


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