[amsat-bb] FM Satellites: Good Operating Practices for Beginning and Experienced Operators

[Mike Thompson]

I was one of the people who was trying to work WX4TOR that day. I was able
to work Patrick at his hamfest, but try as I might, on at least 2 AO-91
passes, I was not able to get through to Matthew. He heard me calling him,
but as he said, it didn't happen. Would have liked to have that
"interesting" one in my logbook, confirmed or not.

On Mon, Dec 11, 2017 at 4:38 PM, Matthew Stevens <matthew at mrstevens.net>
wrote:

> Nothing wrong with that guideline, it’s just common sense. Doesn’t have
> anything to do with what you call “chase-a-grid” game players. Last
> Saturday I was operating as WX4TOR at a weather station in Ruskin Florida,
> for Skywarn recognition day. The grid was EL87, but no one cared about
> that, I didn’t even include it in the exchange most of the time. I got on a
> couple of FM passes, AO-85 and AO-91. People on the pass seemed to want to
> work me (a “special event” station which I don’t even have the ability to
> QSL for), as well as Patrick, WD9EWK who was at a hamfest in Arizona.
>
> AO-85 was a fun pass, patrick and I  worked many stations who were calling
> both of us. AO-91 also went well, until another op at his home station in
> Arizona began calling every person he heard - including several who were
> not calling him, rather they were calling me and/or Patrick! Instead of
> allowing the portable station who a person was calling answer, this op
> called them instead! Around 1/2 of the pass was tied up in this manner,
> while this op worked a bunch of people he could easily work on any pass,
> any day. At least 2 people who called me, I was not able to answer because
> of this other op who used enough power that my attempts to
> reply were drowned out; and I heard the same happen to Patrick several
> times.
>
> Why do I mention this? Because THAT is what Sean’s “Rule 6” is intended to
> address. Who cares about grid squares particularly...it’s just courteous to
> give priority to the guy who has taken his time to stand out along the side
> of a road, at a hamfest, doing a demo for a club, or yes even handing out
> rare grid squares or DX entities.
>
> 73 from someone who’s been on both sides of the pileup.
>
> - Matthew nj4y
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Dec 11, 2017, at 16:48, Zach Metzinger <zmetzing at pobox.com> wrote:
> >
> >> On 12/11/17 14:55, Paul Stoetzer wrote:
> >> Sean Kutzko, KX9X, has written a helpful document explaining good
> >> operating practices for working FM satellites. It's been posted to the
> >> AMSAT website at
> >> https://www.amsat.org/fm-satellites-good-operating-
> practices-for-beginning-and-experienced-operators/
> >
> > While I think that _most_ of these guidelines are good, I disagree with
> #6.
> >
> > 6. Rare/Portable Stations Take Priority
> >
> > This prioritizes the chase-a-grid-square game players, which not
> > everyone cares about.
> >
> > If you want to play that game, go use a linear bird with more available
> > bandwidth. The easy sats should be reserved for new satellite operators,
> > which, buy definition, will be less experienced and not care much about
> > your fancy grid squares.
> >
> > 73,
> >
> > --- Zach
> > N0ZGO
> >
> >
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