[amsat-bb] Re: S band, experience from UK

[jules@g0nzo.co.uk]

All

My station  is in a built up area in the UK, which I would assume has a
level of S band licence exempt traffic that is typical of most areas. I can
see 5 video senders on my ATV receiver and a 4 WLAN networks on my PDA with
built in antenna.
When I listened to AO40, I only had problems below 10 degrees elevation.
This represents a small percentage of a pass, that it did not worry me. (I
am aware that the orbit of Eagle may not be quite so favourable). Also, AO40
signals WERE rock crushing for me. With a 5ft dish, very non optimal linear
feed and pretty average NF, I could hear VK stations as armchair copy in
ssb, even
at apogee. Often they were still copyable at LOS, unless I was pointing
straight at the WLAN.
I will try and make some quantive measurements and submit them, but my gut
feeling is that S band is still a viable downlink in my location.


My 2 penneth worth....
I am not an AMSAT-NA member. Any donations I make go indirectly through my
local AMSAT group. So I am not going to get into the politics of this.
But...
I expect that the decision to drop S-band was not taken lightly.
The people who take on these satellite projects, do so at great personal and
sometimes financial expense. Given the great commitment that these people
make, it seems a little discourteous to moan about not being able to use a
small part of our stations. Our S-band capability will still be useable for
P3E. Also, by building an S-band station, you have already reaped the
greatest reward, which is the experience of doing it, isn't that what
Amateur Radio is all about.

In all hobbies, it seems that there is so much in-fighting, that people
loose sight of the bigger picture. There are people in authority who are out
to get us. In this case it is the commercial pressure on our spectrum. The
old adage, 'Use it or loose it', is very true here. So if the bit that we
are able to use doesn't happen to match the box that we have on our mast,
then we must adapt. Who knows, you may learn something on the way.

Jules
G0NZO