[amsat-bb] AO92 L/V mode??

[Mark L. Hammond]

Thanks for pointing out some things for consideration, Patrick and others.
  There is, naturally, a long list of pros/cons for any day we might
choose.  I seem to have good memories about AO-51 (a LEO) experimenter's
nights--and it seems like it was usually a Tuesday night event?  Anyhow, no
matter when we schedule, we'll have conflicts.  What we'll do is run an
experiment, on Experimenter's night!    Effective this week, we'll switch
AO-92 L/v operations from Sat/Sun to Tues/Wed, and run it that way for a
few months.  Then we'll reevaluate to see if it makes sense to keep it on
Tues/Wed or switch to another night.

Hopefully this will change it up enough that some who could NOT attempt
L-band on our usual schedule due to conflicts, might now be able to give it
a shot!

73,

Mark N8MH



On Sun, Sep 22, 2019 at 10:23 PM Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) via
AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote:

> (The following is my personal opinion on the subject, and I am not
> speaking on behalf of any organization with this message)
>
>
> Hi!
>
> I understand there may be interest in moving the AO-92 L-band period
> from the current Sunday (UTC time - starting on Saturday evenings in
> North America). The past "Experimenter's Wednesdays" worked well with
> AO-10 or AO-13, where the length of passes was measured in hours.
> With AO-92's passes around 10 minutes each, and factoring in a weekday
> where those working or in school aren't probably going to work the
> morning passes, it cuts down on the available time for trying this
> mode on a given day. For weeknights, the pass times for those working
> or in school may be too late, so there could be weeks where someone
> isn't able to work even one AO-92 L/V pass, based on the time of the
> best available weeknight pass for that location.
>
> This came up last year around JOTA, and AMSAT's decision not to
> accomodate JOTA by leaving AO-92 in the normal U/V mode. Drew
> Glasbrenner KO4MA, AMSAT's Vice President of Operations, made the case
> for not accomodating JOTA at that time:
>
> https://amsat.org/pipermail/amsat-bb/2018-October/069962.html
>
> Since then, AMSAT has accomodated a trip to the Florida Keys and this
> weekend's trip by AD0DX and N7AGF to DM02 by not switching AO-92 to
> L/V mode. If these accomodations are more of the "exception" rather
> than the "rule", I think leaving the current schedule of AO-92 L/V
> on a weekend would be better. Otherwise, it makes little sense to have
> this mode available on an AMSAT satellite, and make it difficult for
> many to use it. We still have a few other satellites for the FM crowd,
> and many more for those capable of working SSB and CW, in addition to
> AO-92.
>
> If a reason for considering the shift of the AO-92 L/V schedule is
> availability of a command station to make the mode change, maybe
> Fernando KF7R is right - the Operations group needs more command
> stations. Maybe adding one in the western USA, at least, so there is
> some geographic diversity in the locations of these stations.
>
> There are new stations trying AO-92 L/V all the time. It's not a huge
> number, but I hear new call signs regularly. Many have started out with
> an HT and either a cheap Chinese Yagi or some homebrew antenna, or just
> bought an IC-9700 with the 1.2 GHz band included with an appropriate
> antenna. AO-92 gives them an opportunity to do more than just U/V or
> V/U satellites. I think AMSAT should make an effort to ensure the
> availability of this mode, where operators will consider obtaining the
> equipment needed to try it for themselves.
>
> Thanks, and 73!
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK
> http://www.wd9ewk.net/
> Twitter: @WD9EWK or http://twitter.com/WD9EWK
>
>
> On Sun, Sep 22, 2019 at 10:41 PM Mark L. Hammond via AMSAT-BB <
> amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote:
>
> > Hi, rest assured it was an oversight from command stations. Sometimes we
> > get busy with other things (real life) and miss an email.  We’ll try to
> do
> > better. And by “we” I mean the whole command team. KO4MA and me ;)
> >
> > Hopefully users will cooperate on Tuesday night so we can put into L/v at
> > that time.  I’ve been pondering and suggesting a long term swap to
> > Tuesday/utc Wednesday, like we did for many years as Experimenter’s
> night.
> > There are so many grid events and activations on weekends—seems like a
> good
> > move to change our schedule so we can have our cake and eat it too!
> >
> > 73,
> > Mark N8MH
> >
> >
> >
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-- 
Mark L. Hammond [N8MH]