[amsat-bb] QRP Days for FM Birds?

[Hasan al-Basri]

Why Not?

I remember in "the old days" of Sat ops we used to have exactly that. A 24
hour period where EIRP was limited.
It was once a week on the same day. It started UTC 0000 and ran for 24
hours. Then the normal free-for-all resumed. People, in those days, had
enough self-respect and restraint to actually observe the QRP Day.

It was the "honor" system. But it did allow a lot of marginally equipped
stations to make a lot of satellite qsos. Even as recently as two years
ago, I can remember standing next to my EggBeaters (7' off the ground),
with a piece of coax going from my 5W H/T to the duplexer and up to the
eggbeaters. I was able to make a qso then. Now, in most cases, it would be
futile.

I don't know if something like this could be organized for the FM birds,
but if so, *it would need backing and publicizing by AMSAT*.

It would be wonderful to hear people easily using the bird for even a few
hours running nothing but an HT at 2.5 watts output and a hand held Arrow
(or the equivalent of that say 10 watts to a simple 1/4w vertical)

If we assume the handheld yagis have 10 dBi gain on 70cm, then the EIRP
would be 25 watts.

For home stations, the same idea. No more than 25 watts Effective Radiated
Power (RF Output + Antenna Gain - Feedline Loss)

A simple 1/4 wave vertical might be 2 dBi, so 10w would be in the ballpark.

The goal would be to keep uplink power limited to 25 watts effective
radiated power.

QRP day could be a celebration of sorts, if it became popular ...there
would be a sort of peer prestige thing take place, as opposed to worshiping
the mighty grid.

A grass roots approach won't work. It has to be led by people with some
standing and credibility, and for AO-91 and AO-92 it would have to be
AMSAT. It would require some real effort on their part, not just a by-line
in the weekly news.

Once it took hold, some self policing could probably keep it going.

Just and idea for the FM birds. It might be fun. It might give more rovers
and portable Ops a chance.

The linear birds don't need it, as the strength of the user downlink signal
is to be kept to no stronger than the CW beacon and we can easily identify
the offenders.
73, N0AN
Hasan