[amsat-bb] Re: Field Day mode for AO-51

[Gary "Joe" Mayfield]

I have L band gear.  When the bird is in L/U Luc and I have a great time
talking to each other.  When the bird is in V/U I'll make half a dozen or
more contacts in a pass.  I voted for mode L, because I didn't believe V/U
was an option and S band is becoming too full of interference.
 
I have a couple questions:

1.  The folks who can't eek out a contact with the handheld and Arrow during
Field Day, have you practiced?  It's how I have done it the last couple of
years without that much trouble, patience and timing are the keys :-).  We
have a good Field Day location where I can see down to the horizon.

2.  Has the single contact per FM bird rule really helped anyone?  In the
old days a couple big stations got on and essentially ran the bird.  Is it
fair?  NO! but they handed out a lot of QSOs and we seemed to get more AMSAT
Field Day entries as well.

The one bird one contact has been a noble experiment, maybe it is time to
examine the results.

Hats off to the controllers for starting the discussion!

73, Just My Thoughts,
Joe kk0sd


-----Original Message-----
From: amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On
Behalf Of Andrew Glasbrenner
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 4:33 PM
To: Ng, Peter
Cc: amsat-bb at amsat.org; ao51-modes at amsat.org
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Field Day mode for AO-51

Ng, Peter wrote:
> ...sorry, I meant to vote for V/U mode as I only have VHF/UHF equipment!
>
>   
Keep in mind there will likely be three or four transponders birds, and 
two to four other FM birds available that weekend!

It's been my perception that a good portion of AMSAT's sustaining 
members leave and breathe the highest tech they can manage. Eight out of 
eight satellites being V/U seems counter to that goal.

Mark and Bob both make good points supporting at least one area of 
refuge for this portion of the AMSAT population. Personally, I think the 
V/U FM experience on Field Day is a big turnoff to newbies, especially 
since so many under-prepared, over-powered and out of practice 
once-a-year sat ops fail miserably to get those bonus points on FM.

I bet someone in your area has 1.2 Ghz capability!

73, Drew KO4MA
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