[amsat-bb] Topic Change -- Now FM Rule -- was -- RE: N8HM Field Day Report - 1B MDC -- Topic Change FM Rule

[Gary "Joe" Mayfield]

Awesome Field Day report Paul! Good Job!

Now the week after Field Day is the time for RATIONAL discussion of the
single contact FM satellite rule:

Does anyone think it works? Does anyone think it is better than the past?

I will once again trot out my idea for the slings and arrows of others. + I
would love to hear your ideas.

Here is my idea:

We call on our membership to establish two well equipped stations for the FM
satellites on Field Day.  A possibility would be a station using the call
W1AW in the east and another using K6KPH in the west. The only FM satellite
contacts that would 'count' would be those working W1AW or K6KPH. These
commanding stations would be able to hand out contacts quickly and many more
folks would be able to get a satellite contact in the log. As it is now the
best station to call is one that just completed a contact (because you heard
their exchange information) - but that station is prevented by the rules
from returning the call without going over their limit.

Think of it as two stations running and everyone else searching and
pouncing. It has got be better than what we have now.

My Opinion, 73,
Joe, kk0sd

-----Original Message-----
From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of Paul
Stoetzer
Sent: Monday, June 27, 2016 2:12 PM
To: amsat-bb at amsat.org
Subject: [amsat-bb] N8HM Field Day Report - 1B MDC

I only worked satellites during Field Day and I ended up making 97 QSOs on
24 passes of all active 10 voice satellites during the 24 hour period. My
score for AMSAT Field Day was 83 points.

The breakdown by satellite is below:

AO-7B - 2 QSOs
AO-73 - 10 QSOs, 1 dupe
AO-85 - 1 QSO, 5 excess FM QSOs
FO-29 - 37 QSOs, 4 dupes
LilacSat-2 - 1 QSO, 1 excess FM QSO
SO-50 - 1 QSO
Ukube-1 - 6 QSOs
XW-2A - 11 QSOs
XW-2C - 6 QSOs, 2 dupes
XW-2F - 8 QSOs, 1 dupe

Total - 83 valid phone QSOs, 8 dupes, 6 excess FM QSOs = 83 points

The major difference between AMSAT and ARRL Field Day rules for satellite is
that "satellite" is considered a single band while for AMSAT Field Day, each
satellite transponder is considered a separate band. For example, if I
worked WD9EWK in SSB on FO-29 and then in SSB on XW-2A, that would be worth
two points under AMSAT rules, but only one point under ARRL rules. VE3YRA
was my most worked station this year - I worked them on six different
satellites.

I was operating 1B from the parking lot/courtyard of my apartment building
in southwest Washington, DC.

The equipment I used was as follows:

2 x Yaesu FT-817 (with 3000 mAh internal LiPo batteries) Microset VUR-30
dual band amplifier
5100 mAh LiPo battery for the amplifier
High Sierra Microwave LNAA432 preamplifier High Sierra Microwave LNAA146FIL
filtered 2m preamp Arrow II 146/437-10BP Dual Band Handheld Yagi

All of this was carried in a camera bag and held by shoulder straps while I
held the Arrow in my hand.

It was lots of fun, though tiring to head downstairs and outside for
24 different passes. I only slept for about 2.5 hours between 3:30am and
6:00am (and skipped a pair of AO-7 passes as a result).

One big issue I notice during Field Day is the use of excess power on the
transponders and the inexperience and/or inadequate stations used by many of
the satellite operators. Many times I would call a station and not receive a
reply or someone would start CQing or tuning up on top of me. This was
especially noticeable on AO-73 and UKube-1 as the frequencies for the uplink
are somewhat different than published. It sounded like many were trying to
use their computers to correct for Doppler and did not have the experience
necessary to set the uplink offset. I heard several "ditters" trying to find
themselves for entire passes. Operating satellites isn't difficult, but it
does take some practice and experience to understand the characteristics of
each satellite. Trying to figure it out at 1800Z on Field Day Saturday is
not the recipe for success.

I would note that my excess FM QSOs (both ARRL and AMSAT rules allow only
one QSO per FM satellite, AMSAT rules further limit APRS digipeater QSOs to
one per satellite as well) were made because stations were calling and
attempting to make a contact with no one else replying and I wanted to make
sure they got their QSO.

It's fun doing Field Day from home, but next year I think I would like to
head to a Field Day site and help with satellite operations for a club (and
maybe fill in elsewhere between passes).

73,

Paul, N8HM
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