[amsat-bb] Re: FM birds

[John Geiger]

Bruce makes a very good point about the popularity of the FM birds.  Many
hams already have the equipment to get on the FM satellites but may not
realize it.  This is where a club presentation can be very useful in making
them aware of this fact. Once they try out the FM sats and get hooked, then
they can invest in the equipment for the linear sats. Very few people are
going to drop the funds necessary for getting into SSB/CW sats without
trying out the sats first.

Another group to target is the VHF/UHF weak signal crowd.  Many of them have
the necessary equipment to get on AO7, FO29, and VO52, but might not know
it, or know how to proceed.  These birds will give them a chance to use
their multimode rigs between band openings.

73s John AA5JG

On Thu, Feb 3, 2011 at 11:06 AM, Bruce Robertson <ve9qrp at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Thu, Feb 3, 2011 at 12:31 PM, i8cvs <domenico.i8cvs at tin.it> wrote:
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Joe" <nss at mwt.net>
> > To: <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
> > Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2011 7:25 PM
> > Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: FM birds
> >
> >> I agree,
> >>
> >> With the money spent on all those birds, and launch costs,  they by now
> >> could have made at least one nice linear transponder bird.
> >>
> >> I'd love to see an old 2 meter up 10 meter down bird again!
> >>
> >> The Original Rolling Ball Clock
> >> Idle Tyme
> >> Idle-Tyme.com
> >> http://www.idle-tyme.com
> >
> > Hi Joe,
> >
> > I agree with you.
> >
> > Yes.... a lot of money spent on all those FM birds for very small in
> > satellite communications with a lot of QRM !
>
> Dom --
>
> I'm fond of linear transponder birds, too, and nobody likes hearing
> bad operating habits, either on a linear or FM bird. However, I think
> the comments above misunderstand the process by which satellites are
> funded and constructed. Would you begrudge the builders of SO-67 the
> opportunity to take part in their government's initiative? If you were
> able to, there's still no reason to believe that the funds and efforts
> expended to produce that bird could be pooled with other national
> groups'.
>
> > I like OSCAR-7, VO-52 , and FO-29 and I hope and pull for P3-E
>
> The first three of these were built by a national group that
> considered its own interests and opportunities, just as the groups
> today that have recently built FM birds. Of course, there are others
> that are making linear birds. Let's not forget that one such has been
> delivered to the ISS and will be hand-launched for us.
>
> For all that, it should be said that the the difficulty of 'getting
> into' AO-51, for example, indicates that it is a constantly popular
> mode of satellite operation. Given that we are struggling to expand
> our ranks, I feel compelled to say that my abiding interest in
> satellite communications was kindled by AO-51. For me, and I suspect
> many who are worried about being branded glorified CB'ers, the FM
> birds provided a lower-expense means of entering what I consider the
> most interesting aspect of ham radio today.
>
> >
> > 73" de
> >
> > i8CVS Domenico
>
> 73,  Bruce VE9QRP
> --
> http://ve9qrp.blogspot.com
>
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