[amsat-bb] We Need FM Birds

[Hasan al-Basri]

Brad,
I don't think anyone was making the point that FM birds aren't useful, fun
and needed. What some people have observed is how congested they can be and
what poor operating practices result in. (and are all too common on the FM
birds, especially on weekends.)

The same people that make FM birds difficult for the portable ops, take
those same bad habits to the Linear Birds when they get a 9700, only they
add-in the inability to stay on frequency (doppler) on top of it.

Forgetting about the linear birds for the moment, the FM birds are
suffering from a lack of Elmering. It is so easy to get on, with no
background on how to do it, that the baseline noise encourages people who
have power and antennas, to use them to overcome the rubbish. The thought
of the guy with an Arrow and an H/T standing in his drive is far, far from
the mind of those people.


We need feedback, we need to exercise patience and not just keep keying up
trying to get that new grid. *We need to leave 'holes' not only for the
portable stations to get in with*, but also home stations using a simple
1/4w vertical for 2m.  *We need to let people finish a started contact.*

If you hear a station clearly responding to another station (they are
actually 'in contact'), please ...there is no nice way to put this: shut up.

Let them finish, don't start calling someone else right on top of them.
Don't say you don't hear them...bull. I've watched it. The station in qso
is full quieting. The respondent is full quieting. Some knucklehead, also
full quieting starts calling another station. Too bad, so sad, they don't
care...they just gotta have that new grid, and "I'm not gonna be worried
about you not being able to finish a contact."

*This is commonplace on the FM birds,* I'm sorry to say and it is caused by
the scarcity of the resource and the poor operating habits of many in the
user community. *Until we set good examples, provide feedback (including
emailing the offenders), and educate new users. the problem is not going
away.*

...and one other aside. Working the linear birds requires considerably more
technical skill than working the FM Birds. This should not degenerate into
an FM vs. Linear satellite rivalry. They require completely different skill
sets and manifest some different problems.

Having and using an SDR does not make one an elitist or snob, nor does it
take massive investment, but it does permit you to be a more proficient and
considerate operator.

 SDRs are far from elitist. If you have an SDR, you can operate far more
considerately than those using a box-radio that cannot see the beacons and
the passband at the same time. Not being able to see the beacon and the
passband at the same time is a disaster on the linear birds. It has always
been so, since AO-6.  That is where the "rule" don't be louder than the
beacon came from, over 30 years ago.

But, that's a discussion for another day in a different thread.

73, N0AN
Hasan


On Thu, Mar 19, 2020 at 10:04 AM Brad Smith via AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
wrote:

> <Hopefully, AMSAT and other entities will continue to make available FM
> satellites as well as more SSB satellites and APRS satellites, so everyone
> who wants to participate will have that opportunity.Steve AI9IN>
> I echo what Steve said. Those of us who love to rove and work outdoors
> enjoy the FM birds. We may not have the huge, rotatable and elevating,
> computer controlled antenna system, connected to a 9700 in a permanent
> shack, with SDR and thus to some hams may be just "little people," but we
> have fun with the FM birds. When it ceases to become fun, I get another
> hobby. I am a minimalist and love working portable, with an D72 or other
> smaller radio. I do not understand why any manufacturer would have made a
> radio that put out 75-100 watts in FM satellite mode. I have worked the
> birds since 2013, both linear and FM. The FM birds are just plain FUN and
> can get a person a lot of new grids, which is fun too. Please, guys, keep
> your power down, so we portables can have a chance to get in and mostly,
> give us a space to get in.  Brad KC9UQR
>
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