[amsat-bb] Field Day (whew)

[Matthew Stevens]

Agreed, that's the stated intent of the rule from both AMSAT and the
ARRL. And yeah, generally I think it's better to hop off the FM sats,
not tying it up and preventing other people from getting their QSO.
But, as I have done several times, I normally just monitor the FM
passes. If I hear a lot of callsign dropping, CQing, and carriers for
a decent amount of time during the pass, I'll start calling some of
them - especially the weak ones who seem to be likely using an HT to
get their bonus points. If I hear others start actually making
contacts instead of blind calling, then I back off and go back to
monitoring. Is that preventing others from using the sat, and keeping
them from making qsos? I don't think so. Does that comply with the
spirit of the rule, which is to allow more people to make qsos on FM?
I think it does. I know of at least two people from FD 2017 who would
not have gotten their sat bonus if I hadn't done just that.

I would say, just use your judgement. If you're in a position with a
decent enough station and experience to actually operate like I've
described (and heard others do this weekend), then you probably aren't
one of the ops that the rule is intended to address.

Rules aren't going to keep people from doing dumb things. I think the
best way to address the alleged "problem" of FM sats on field day is
not to add more rules, but to spread some operating skill and
knowledge like Sean (Kx9x) did in his QST article for June. There's no
substitute for practice and experience. And once you've got both, you
can make the call yourself on what to do during any given pass, field
day or not.

73

- Matthew nj4y


On Wed, Jun 27, 2018 at 9:49 AM, JamesDuffey <jamesduffey at comcast.net> wrote:
> To me this rule:
>
> “7.3.7.1 Stations are limited to one (1) completed QSO on any single channel FM satellite.”
>
> Precludes stations from making more than one QSO on a FM bird.
>
> I suppose that this is subject to interpretation, but to me that the intent of the rule is to make the FM satellites available to more people by rationing QSOes to one per bird. Making more than a single QSO and not scoring them or not entering them into the log does not make the satellite available to more operators and seems to fly in the face of the rule. I understand why people do it, and under some circumstances it may be a good idea, but to me it is against the rule.
>
> Of course someone could ask the ARRL Contest Manager if this practice is OK, but remember the old adage of not asking questions you don’t really want to know the answer to. - Duffey KK6MC
>
> James Duffey KK6MC
> Cedar Crest NM
>
>> On Jun 27, 2018, at 05:26, Matthew Stevens <matthew at mrstevens.net> wrote:
>>
>> Neither rule prevents you from making more than one FM contact. Both
>> rules just prohibit you from SCORING more than one FM contact.
>>
>> 73
>>
>> - Matthew nj4y
>>
>>
>>> On Wed, Jun 27, 2018 at 12:21 AM, George Henry <ka3hsw at att.net> wrote:
>>> To have an AMSAT rule that directly conflicts with the ARRL one-and-done
>>> rule is ridiculous.
>>>
>>>
>>> George, KA3HSW
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: AMSAT-BB [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On Behalf Of Bruce
>>> Sent: Monday, June 25, 2018 11:53 AM
>>> To: amsat-bb at amsat.org
>>> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Field Day (whew)
>>>
>>> In the AMSAT rules we do state, because someone asked about it, you can be a
>>> net control type station and work every station you want. You would only be
>>> able to score one contact yourself but had given many out to those trying to
>>> make the 100 point satellite bonus.
>>>
>>> We still feel by limiting to one FM contact that if you worked someone and
>>> both of you leave the bird, two more stations can work each other thereby
>>> maximazing the number of possible contacts on the satellite during a single
>>> pass.
>>>
>>> 73...bruce
>>>
>>>
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>> _______________________________________________
>> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
>> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed
>> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA.
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>