[amsat-bb] AMSAT-BB Digest, Vol 13, Issue 383

[Michael]

Nope, not at all. I never have and never will think that way. I'm a 
General class licensee who was grandfathered in because back in the day, 
one had to pass the General written to upgrade from Novice to Technician 
but got credit for 5 wpm code. When the code requirement was lowered to 
5 wpm before eventually being dropped completely, all I needed was my 
CSCE, which I had, and I was instantly a General class. I have been 
derisively called a "no code General' more times than I can count even 
though I actually passed 5 wpm to get my Novice. When I was active on HF 
(my rig is fried right now) I worked CW on occasion but was never the 
crack CW op my late Father, the original W4HIJ, was. He was fine with 
that too, he just wanted me to have fun doing what I wanted. I am fine 
with an influx of new hams and new sat ops anyway we can get them. I 
just think because we seem to be bending over backwards to make sat 
contacts so easy that we end up hurting ourselves in the long run. After 
a while, I would think simply exchanging grid squares would get old for 
anyone. My own personal barrier has always been economics. I only was 
able to get into sats by parlaying some of the gear I inherited from my 
Father into a TS-2000X and even that was a struggle. My old Az/El 
rotator  system was home brewed and so were my antennas. I had to sell 
my TS-2000X  a couple years after buying it to pay for an unexpected and 
major car repair. Subsequent rigs and setups met the same fate because 
of various family medical expenses over the years. My latest foray into 
a base setup with my fried FT-991, a Funcube Dongle Pro + and an AMSAT 
preamp ended up doomed before it started. I'm sorry but you are barking 
up the wrong tree my friend!

Anyhow, more power to those who want to work a GEO sat. I guess it's 
good for the hobby. It just doesn't seem much of a challenge to me after 
procuring equipment and said procurement would be my greatest challenge! 
I'll be lucky to get my rig fixed and be back on even HF anytime in the 
near future. I wish I'd never sold my Flex 1500 but that's another story.
73,
Michael, W4HIJ
On 11/18/2018 12:55 PM, Devin L. Ganger wrote:
> Another thought — perhaps what you see as an over-emphasis on easy (as 
> you are an established gam) is from another view an attempt by some to 
> lower the barriers of entry in order to keep new people coming in to 
> the hobby in general and this niche of it in particular?
>
>
> --
> Devin L. Ganger (WA7DLG)
> email: devin at thecabal.org
> web: Devin on Earth
> cell: +1 425.239.2575
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Michael <mat_62 at charter.net>
> *Sent:* Sunday, November 18, 2018 5:03 AM
> *To:* Devin L. Ganger; amsat-bb at amsat.org
> *Subject:* Re: [amsat-bb] AMSAT-BB Digest, Vol 13, Issue 383
> So I work out the kinks for however long that takes.... a week, a 
> month, etc. Then it sits at the ready, only needing an occasional 
> test. Any emergency  or public service work I do is most likely going 
> to be from here in the shack anyway. Not all of us are able to be out 
> in the field, on the front lines anymore. While I have great respect 
> for those who  rush to the scenes of emergencies with "go box" in 
> hand, it's not something I can do. I agree that it would be boring  if 
> we all wanted to do the same thing. Crowded too! I just feel  that the 
> hobby in general and the satellite end especially, puts  too much 
> emphasis on the "easy" part these days. Let's keep pushing the 
> "challenge" part too. I just don't feel there is enough emphasis on 
> that anymore.  In all things, balance.
> 73,
> Michael, W4HIJ



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