This episode of HamTalk Live is brought to you
by Tower Electronics. For connectors, cables,
and more, call 920 -435 -2973 or visit pl -259
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for more information about ICOM radios. Here
we go, welcome to Amtok Fly. Hey, good evening,
everyone. It's time for HamTalk Live. It's episode
number 218. Satellite etiquette and hosting special
events recorded live on Thursday, June 25th,
2020. I'm your host, Neil Rapp, WB9 VPG. Thanks
for tuning in to this episode of HamTalk Live.
Tonight we're joined by Kevin Zari KK4 YEL and
Robert Bankston KE4AL and we'll take your calls
live in a few minutes. Last week Paul Bork was
here in 1SFE. To talk about field day, and that's
coming up this weekend, so if you missed that
show, you can listen anytime at HamTalkLive .com
or your favorite podcast app or YouTube. Because
of the rule changes, there were some interesting
questions last week and some interesting discussions
on what class to run. uh... how the club scoring
works and everything so if you missed that i
i'd encourage you to to go back and listen to
that when we did it a week early because of uh...
all the questions and some scheduling issues
uh... as well actually but it worked out well
uh... that we did it a little bit early so uh...
check that out hope to hear you on the field
day this weekend and uh... will talk uh... a
little bit more about that tonight actually with
the satellite contact because there is a bonus
for that so we'll talk a little bit about that
so if you missed it go back and catch that on
hamtalklive .com and don't forget we're rebroadcast
on WTWW that's 50 85 a .m saturday afternoons
And that's about 3 .30 p .m. Eastern Time when
we're on for that. So get your questions ready
to go here for Kevin and for Robert. If you're
listening to us live on Thursday night, you can
call after the interview. I'll go ahead and give
you the number so you have it and write it down.
Punch it into your phone. Don't call it just
yet though, because we're going to talk first.
and get some of the obvious stuff out of the
way. But that phone number to call is 859 -982
-7373. Again, 859 -982 -7373. You can also tweet
us. It's at HamTalk Live on Twitter. Some people
actually already sent in some tweets, so we already
have a couple. So you can do that whenever you
like and we'll check that as we go out. throughout
the evening, I should say, and I'll check those
and the comments on Spreaker as well. And I'll
be back with Kevin and Robert right after this
word from Tower Electronics right here on HamTalk
Live. Jerry, what's up, man? I haven't seen you
at Sunbucks in a while. I used to see you every
morning getting coffee. What's up? Well, I can't
afford Sunbucks five days a week anymore. I had
to spend my money on PL -259s. You know, those
antenna projects I've been meaning to do. I had
to do them before my HOA finds out I have antennas.
That's too bad, Jerry. I miss seeing you and
catching up over coffee. You should get your
PL -259s from Tower Electronics. They have great
stuff. Jerry, you're back! Oh! QRM Heterodyne
Frappuccino. That's a good choice. How's it going?
Did you get all those antennas up before the
HOA police showed up? Yeah, I got them all done.
Thanks for telling me about tower electronics.
Now I can have my coffee. I just saved a bunch
of money on my PL259s by switching to Tower Electronics.
Don't get caught without PL259s. Visit Tower
Electronics online at PL -259 .com or at a ham
fest near you or give them a call at 920 -435
-2973 and be sure to pick up some power poles,
adapters and cables too. We're not sure what's
up with the fifth dentist. but four out of five
dentists recommend listening to HamTalk Live.
Welcome back to HamTalk Live thanks to Scott
and Jill at Tower Electronics for sponsoring
the show tonight. To help bring you HamTalk live,
they'll be back on the HamFest trail as soon
as all this pandemic stuff settles down, but
you can reach them online anytime at PL -259
.com. My guest tonight, Kevin Zari, KK4YEL, was
licensed in 2014 and went from nothing to extra
all in that same year. He is the president. of
the Kennedy Space Center Amateur Radio Club,
N1KSC. He revived the club after it had been
idle for a number of years. He is a graduate
of Florida Tech and spent 17 years as a payload
test engineer with NASA. Especially for the Space
Shuttle program, he is now the International
Space Station Integration Manager and Acting
Chief of the Strategic Implementation Office
at Kennedy Space Center. Kevin enjoys operating
satellites and Whisper and has built his own
kit just for Whisper. Robert Bankston, KE4AL,
is from Dothan, Alabama and is the vice president
of user services and the treasurer of AMSAT.
He is a certified public accountant and a principal
in the accounting advisory tax and assurance
services group of an accounting firm. And he
reserved his BBA and MBA in accounting, graduating
with honors from Troy University. And he enjoys
operating satellites, QRP, and portable. So Robert,
welcome to the show. And Kevin, welcome back.
Thank you very much. Thanks so much. Yeah, it
was good to catch up with you a little bit before
the show and just You know all kinds of things
going on this weekend I was in another meeting
right before this and we had a great virtual
Yoda day yesterday and now we've got field day
coming up and it's all kind of Kind of piling
up here. So we're going to talk a little bit
about field day tonight, but also we want to
look at Some special events that have happened
in the past and also we want to talk about some
satellite operation and we know that a lot of
people are going to try for that bonus this weekend.
That's a field day thing that a lot of people
who normally aren't on satellites will you know
give it a shot and so you know you want to prepare
for that and so tonight we're going to we're
going to talk a little bit about satellite etiquette
and you know aside from field day because field
day just kind of turns into a big mess but But
we want to talk a little bit about satellite
etiquette because it seems like, and we were
even talking about this before the show, it seems
like the operating etiquette on especially some
of the FM birds, it's kind of like it used to
be on weekends. It's jam -packed. people are
kind of getting cut off and some things are happening
that there's just only room for so many people.
And so we want to talk about some things that
can help with satellite operation tonight. So,
you know, we've talked a few times about it on
the show. There's still a lot of opportunities
for learning out there and we don't want people,
you know, getting bent out of shape, you know.
No, we're not telling you what to say and what
to do and what you have to do But we do have
some ideas about how you can make the most of
that very limited amount of time and on Satellites
you don't have courtesy tones, you know on repeaters
people kind of get Spaced out a little bit from
the courtesy tone You wait for the courtesy tone
and you know that gives a chance for somebody
to pop in there if if they need to and they wait
And we don't have that on satellites. And there's
a lot of competition for that limited amount
of time. And, you know, a repeater, it's there
24 -7. A satellite, you get, you know, 10 minutes
at a time, pretty much, and that's it. And it's
an exercise in making things concise and really
making things quick. and and get your contact
and get out and let somebody else in and We've
all done stupid things on the air and and ham
badges does a great job of reminding us about
those in a fun way We're all guilty of doing
things that you know may have kept somebody off
or may have kept somebody else from being able
to make a contact too, but Hopefully we learn
from it. So that's kind of what tonight is about
So let's talk about some of the things that we
should set as our ideal so that we can get the
most contacts but other people can too and make
the most out of this very limited time. So, Kevin?
Yeah, great point, Neil. First off, you're correct,
right? We've all made mistakes and I think this
is really kind of... trying to help folks get
a good idea of best practices. While the operating
on satellites does add some unique aspects, like
you mentioned, I think really the most important
thing with satellite operation is no different
than when you operate on an FM repeater or even
maybe during an HF contest. It's like the number
one rule. You should listen first. Listen before
you talk. I think it's something that is a courtesy,
and of course you don't want to cause undesired
interference because there might be another transmission,
another QSO happening at the same time. So along
those lines of listening first, I think one of
the first things I've learned, the most important
things I've learned from seasoned satellite operators
like Patrick, WD9EWK, He mentions in a lot of
his articles that you really need to operate
in full duplex. And full duplex is important
because you actually hear the downlink of the
satellite even while you're transmitting up to
the satellite. And there are some full duplex
radios out there. For example, Kenwood has a
model, the THD72A. But you can even do it with
two simplex radios hooked up. At the same time,
but you really do need to operate in full duplex
Because it's all about being able to listen you
need to listen first and if you if you can't
hear the downlink of the satellite While you're
transmitting up to it you wouldn't be able to
stop transmitting if by accident you were causing
some doubling right and Another thing with the
full duplex is you can easily know that you're
getting into the bird And if you're able to hear
yourself in the downlink as you're transmitting,
you can be rest assured everyone else can hear
you, everyone that's in that footprint of the
satellite. So I think listening first is definitely
one of the most important ideals, if you will.
Also, that relies on having a good antenna set
up that can hear. And just because you look at
YouTube and you see somebody being able to get
on satellites using an HT with its rubber duck
antenna, you probably shouldn't do that, right?
And there's some other aspects of equipment that
I think Robert might be talking, so we'll let
him talk on that in a bit. One other thing, Neil,
I think is just about courtesy. If the satellite,
for example, is quiet and you don't hear anything
on it, you probably should call your call sign
in your grid. And if nobody answers, and you
should know because you've heard yourself in
the downlink since you're operating in full duplex,
if nobody answers you, there's really no need
to call out your call sign again every five seconds,
every 10 seconds. Stand by, wait a little bit.
Perhaps give the satellite a chance to move over
to a different footprint over some new territory,
and then try it again. But that's pretty important,
I think, as far as operating. If there is activity
on it, again, be courteous. Wait until people
finish their QSO before you try to call a station.
So you don't wait until you hear silence because
the silence might be the person waiting for the
other person to come back to them. It means wait
until the QSO is complete. So please don't call
the Robert if you know Robert's trying to call
Neil. Let there be a chance for the exchange
of their call signs and their grids. And when
that's over, then go ahead and call Robert or
Neil or whoever you want. I think it's important.
It's also important to know how folks are using
satellites. And one of the fun things about satellites
is being able to collect the maidenhead grids
that folks are in. And as part of that, sometimes
people, they travel, they take long trips and
they'll go to a grid that's kind of rare where
maybe there's not a lot of satellite operators.
We call that roving, Neil. And that roving is
like kind of a very coveted thing that you might
want or you might need that rare grid. So having
situational awareness of knowing who's on the
satellite and from where they're operating is
probably another one of the etiquette scenarios
that we should point out. And I'll just mention
there's various tools to kind of know when these
roves are occurring. We've got online presence
in things like Twitter or the AMSAT webpage.
has a page that lists when folks are going to
be operating from different grids. And even on
DMR, we've got a weekly net that's run on Wednesday
evenings on our AMSAT talk group on DMR where
you can learn about who's roving and when. So
to kind of summarize, I think listening first,
operating in full duplex, and maintaining that
situational awareness are all ideals that we
should try to strive for. Yeah, you know just
was on yesterday and and I remember you know
I made a call and You know immediately somebody
called me and it's like wait a minute I was trying
to call this other person and you know and that
happens and you know like I said We've all done
that and and you know part of my transmission
was cut off so you know They probably weren't
sure who I was calling. So yeah, that's gonna
happen, you know sometimes but but the ideal
is You know wait until you're called or you call
someone Filling up time with your call sign and
grid over and over and over again when other
people are trying to Actually call somebody kind
of gets in the way a little bit. So Robert, what
do you have to add here on this? Listening is
absolutely the best thing to do. Not only do
you know what's going on, but you kind of get
a rhythm of how it's working. It's really no
different than for guys on HF that chase DX expeditions.
So you hear P5 comes up on the air, it is going
to be a big dog pile. And listening, finding
out how they're operating and how you can slip
in there and make your contacts is the best advice
I can give to you. And then remember that everybody
is on the satellites for a different reason.
And so you have to respect those. So if you think
somebody step on you, we waste so much time contradicting
each other on the satellites. So just know. Try
to be a little courteous, a little understanding
of what's going on. Maybe somebody's new. Maybe
it's a new ham, a young ham. And they're just
learning. So take the time and put aside your
own personal ambitions for that pass and help
them out. And then we all become better for it.
It's just always good to listen. And, you know,
my mentor, my Elmer, said, you know, he was one
of his favorite sayings was they shouldn't call
it a PTT, a push to talk button. It should be
the RLL or the RTL, release to listen. And, you
know, the more I think about it, the more that's
true, because You know, if I hear a satellite
fading out and, you know, and I know it's going
to come back in a minute or so, I'm not getting
on there and calling because I'm just going to
eat up bandwidth and I'm not going to get anything
out of it. And I'm going to mess up somebody
else's call. And so, you know, if you can't hear
it, then don't, don't transmit. And that's where
that full duplex comes into was. If you can hear
whether you're getting there or not, and if you're
interfering or not, that just makes things a
whole lot easier. Go ahead, Kevin. No, I'm sorry,
Neil. I just wanted to say one additional thing,
which I think is kind of obvious, but it's probably
important to know. When you are new and you're
listening, sometimes you're going to get examples
of what to do, and other times what you're listening
to. will be examples of how not to act. And so
with a lot of new folks, you can imagine they
might listen for a day. We're given great advice,
right? Listen first. Spend a couple of passes
listening, maybe a couple of days on different
times of the day, understanding when it might
be busy, when it's not busy. And sometimes you
might hear the very things that we're suggesting
not to do. Sometimes you might hear a station
that's calling over and over and over again.
or stepping on top of somebody. So I just want
to say, when we mention listen, listening and
also being self -aware and trying to understand
that what you're hearing is like what Robert
and Kevin were mentioning or hey, that's exactly
what they're saying not to do. So just kind of
get that situational awareness and listen and
say to yourself, geez, does that sound like that
operator did what? What made the most sense on
this pass and it's a tool for you to learn what
to do also and sometimes what not to do That's
kind of what I wanted to add And I think it even
in net situations sometimes in net situations
There's there's a time that you can get on and
you know talk and converse and but then you know
if there's an emergency then you got to keep
everything concise and and I think That's a balance
that a lot of people have trouble finding is,
you know, sure, on a satellite when there's nobody
around and you're trying to drum up business,
you know, you're trying to get some activity
going, yeah, you may throw your call sign and
your grid out there a few times on a pass. But
when it's busy, you know, just throwing your
call sign out there is just, it's just eating
up time. and it doesn't serve a purpose and when
you have such limited time that's what makes
this different is when you have such limited
time there's only 10 minutes and everybody's
got to get in there it just becomes really important
so again we're all making mistakes okay it it's
just you know These are the ideals. These are
what we're striving for. Well Robert Let's talk
a little bit about field day because field day
is a time when The FM satellites are jam -packed
even more than they are on weekends And by the
way, Sean Kutsko, KX9X, wrote a great article
back in 2008 in QST in the Field Day edition
about working satellites on Field Day that has
a lot of great suggestions like work a satellite
contact before the chaos of Field Day. What are
some things that people should be doing before
Field Day this weekend for for satellite operation
and then maybe even a little bit about, you know,
what to do during field day this weekend. Okay.
Well, anybody that's, uh, listened to a field
day satellite contacts, you know, pass, uh, it's
just total chaos. So all the rules go out the
window. Uh, and it's just everybody fighting
for themselves. And what that is, is we've got,
you know, satellite passes are normally busy.
There's a lot of people, it's not like your local
repeater that can just talk, collect everybody
locally. Satellite passes, you can get a pass
that covers the entire United States at one time.
So there's a lot of people that can access that.
So those are your normal satellite operators,
so it's always busy. And now we're gonna compound
that with Field Day, where every licensed amateur
radio operator is gonna try and... get on and
get that 100 points for their club or for their
station. So that puts a little incentive and
it brings in a lot of people that don't normally
work satellites. It gets a little crazy. And
on top, if that's not enough, AMSAT also runs
a satellite field day competition at the same
time on the same satellites. So, you know, AWRL
gives you 100 points for a single contact. You
know, you don't get anything extra for making
two. However, AMSAT's field day awards points
based on the total number of sack quesos you
make and also by mode. So the more contacts you
make, the higher score you occur. So it's really
just compounding the situation a little bit more.
So what all this means is that the birds are
going to get really busy this weekend. And as
bad as that sounds, There's still hope. So let's
talk about some stuff that will help increase
your chances and hopefully make a contact during
all this mess. So first, unless you do satellite
passes all the time, I'd highly recommend that
you do yourself and everyone else a favor by
getting on and working a few passes before the
Royal Rumble kicks off. You know, even if I go
a couple weeks without getting on a satellite
pass, I still clunk around there. So we want
to knock those cobwebs off and make sure our
equipment's working right. So speaking of equipment,
that's the first thing you need to do is make
sure you got everything and it's all function
as it's intended to and that your batteries are
fully charged. I remember when I went to hamcation
this last February, I brought all my SAT gear
with me and I forgot the PTT switch, so I have
no way to make contact. So number one, make sure
you got everything, make sure it's working. Next
thing you want to do is make sure you've got
some fresh KEPs, the Keplerian elements that
go in your satellite tracking program, so you
know exactly what the satellite pass is. You
could be a couple minutes off and that can make
the difference between you not making it in a
pass and do make it on the pass. Next thing is
to Make sure that you know what satellites are
working. They don't always work. They don't always
work at the same time each day. Some require
to be in sunlight. Some require not to be in
sunlight. So make sure you're up to date on those
if you haven't been on a while. And you want
to make sure that your frequencies or if you
store them in memory that they're all set and
or if you use a little handy reference sheet
that you got that handy. And then the last thing
that you want to do is make sure that you still
remember how to track that satellite. Remember
about the you know, the antenna mismatch that
occurs as the satellite tumbles in space, so
you got to work on that polarization twist. And
then you also want to refresh your memory about
the Doppler shift and how to adjust the frequencies.
All the FM birds are UHF on the uplink, means
you're going to be transmitting on that, you're
going to be adjusting your Doppler shift. on
your uplink and then your VHF. It still has a
little Doppler shift, but it's not near as much,
so you don't really need to shift your frequency.
Over on the linear satellites, most of those
are UHF uplink and a VHF downlink, but there
are some that are VHF uplink, so it's a completely
different scenario. So just refresh your memory
before you go jumping on a satellite and make
sure you're turning that dial the correct way.
So, all those things I just talked about, those
are the critical things that you need to do to
get ready for this satellite battle that's fixing
to start. I like that, the Royal Rumble. But
not only is knowing what to do and making sure
you know how to do it, you also got to think
of a strategy. that's going to help you make
that contact. Because if you just think, OK,
I'm just going to jump on AO 91 or 92 and get
my contact, get my 100 points, and call it a
weekend, then it's going to work out that way.
So the first thing that I always recommend is
pick the right satellite and the right satellite
pass. So right now, if my numbers are correct,
I think we've got four FM satellites that work.
We've got 12 linear satellites. And we've got
a couple of digital satellites. So that's a whole
lot you can choose from depending on what type
of equipment you have. So the FM birds are AO
-91, AO -92, SO -50, and PO -101. And they're
going to be jam -packed, no matter what you do.
So if you can, if you've got a new ICOM 9700
or a pair of FT -817s, or you're using an all
-band mode and an SDR, I'd highly encourage you
to get on the linears. It's a lot different scenario
during field day on the linears. It's almost
just kind of like a contest weekend as opposed
to Armageddon. If you are on FM only, then you
might want to look at SO50 and PO101. They're
a little bit harder to work. Some people, they
don't like them because they're a little bit
hard to work. And so there's going to be less
competition on those passes. Now, I'm not saying
don't try and work AO -91 and AO -92. They're
both great birds, but unfortunately, everyone
knows they're great birds, and so that's where
the mob's going to be at. So find a little bit
quieter path or satellite. Another trick, as
Sean relates in that great article that he did
in 2018, in the June issue of QSD, is to... pick
a pass that's, you know, not straight overhead.
So what you want to do is you want to work what
we call the fringes. So a satellite pass, you
know, if you're on the East Coast, that may be
one that's out over there on the Atlantic Ocean
going by that you can reach to. Those passes
that are going from north to south or south to
north, catch it early or late in the pass and,
you know, They call, when it's over to Canada,
they call that polar bear country. And on a trip
up to Minnesota, I've experienced that. You're
the only one on. Even AO 9192, you're the only
one there, except for the polar bears. Sometimes
down there when it's down south, flying over
there, soaking up some Caribbean sunshine, you
can be the only one on there as well. So look
for a satellite pass that's not Over the entire
amateur population that could help you out There's
surprisingly a lot of ops that think that anything
less than 30 are Less than 30 degrees is unworkable
I've even seen some that they set up their satellite
Tracking program on their phone that not to look
at anything below 30 degrees. So look for those
opportunities at those lower elevations. Maybe
you pick a different spot to operate from or
instead of being on the north side of the building,
you move to the south side. That way you can
work down there to a one or two or three degree
pass. Use that to your advantage and look for
those passes that are just scraping the earth.
So that's a good tip to making a contact. Second
is, you know, part of that listening part is
there You getting on and just blurting out your
calls not going to make you a bad get your contact
so what I would say is listen to somebody and
you know listen for a call hear their report
and So that you know who you're going to call
and what the report is before you even open up
your mouth So that in effect you're just going
through the motions in the contact you call him
back He'll call you you extend your report and
you're moving on And then finally, I guess a
great tip is to never give up. So the last two
field days, two years in a row, I made a contact
when I thought the pass was done. I mean, my
antenna was already pointing at the dirt. So
you never know when the RF gods are going to
smile on you and let a contact slip through.
So don't give up, hang in there, and you can
do it. Other than that, I wish everybody good
luck this weekend. It's going to be fun. Be patient.
Let's not have any arrows flying across the field
as we invent our frustration. And just remember,
let's have fun. Absolutely. All right. Well,
we have already gone over and we haven't even
got to the demonstration yet and we haven't got
to the special events yet. So we're going to
take a break. When we come back, we will do those
two things and we will take Your questions after
this word from ICOM America right here on HamTalk
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us a call at 859 -982 -7373. Again, the number
to call is 859 -982 -7373. Or, if you'd rather
type than talk, tweet us at HamTalk Live. Now,
here's Neil Rapp with more HamTalk Live. You're
listening to Ham Talk Live with Neil Rapp. Welcome
back to HamTalk Live, thanks to Icom America
for sponsoring the show and hopefully you're
taking advantage of some of Icom's great gear
this weekend for field day. Visit them at icomamerica
.com slash amateur. HamTalk Live is on the air
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here at hamtalklive .com. Be sure to check us
out on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And
we didn't get to everything, so we're going to
kind of get through this. And then we want to
get to your calls. But I want to take a chance
to kind of demonstrate what happens when there
is a pile up on the satellites. So I had some
members of the Southern Indiana Amateur Radio
Association do an experiment. We were in one
of our virtual club meetings. a lot of times
we will do those on the repeater, but we'll do
the video on Zoom. And so I thought, oh, this
is a great chance to do a little experiment.
So what I did was I had everybody pick up their
handheld and I had everybody call all at the
same time. So I recorded that on Zoom and I recorded
that on the repeater. So you're gonna hear first,
what it sounded like on zoom where everything
mixes together and you can hear all of those
voices so let's take a listen to that okay so
you could hear Two or three different call signs
in that if you're listening and you you know
you practice you can pick out several call signs
Through all of that and and so you can you can
kind of hear what's going on. This is the exact
same thing but on the repeater So if you're listening
you can hear in the background there's this going
on but you only heard one station. Now that station
was pretty close to the repeater and so even
though he wasn't running a whole lot of power
He was kind of obliterating everybody else, but
you heard that in the background now That was
probably the best case scenario when there's
multiple people on because you could at least
hear one and So, you know the loudest one, but
it doesn't always go that way. So here's an example
of a satellite pass and Patrick, WD9EWK, allowed
me use of a bunch of his recordings and this
is actually one we've used on the show before.
I trimmed it down a little bit but take a listen
to this and listen to the mix on this one. Okay,
I got a grid square and one letter out of that
Guys thoughts on on you know what happens when
everybody transmits at the same time See we're
being polite and listening first to make sure
the other person wasn't going to talk first So
I'll start with saying that It's really chaos,
and so nobody wins if a repeater that just happens
to be orbiting around the earth is... receiving
the signal on its input frequency, it's going
to be transmitting that signal on its downlink
frequency. And so if all those signals are coming
in on that frequency, guess what? Everybody hears
noise. Everybody hears like you heard in that
clip, and nobody makes a contact. So I think
it's important that folks listen first, again,
and then realize when it's appropriate to talk
into the satellite. It will do its best to solve
that problem if everybody would first listen
and then operate full duplex. Let me just add
to that that I've been on satellite passes and
everybody trying to talk at the same time and
you may end up getting in that 10 or 12 minute
pass two or three people that actually get a
real QSO and everybody else is shut out. On the
flip side of that, when people are well behaved
and they're listening and stuff, I've heard,
as an example, Mitch, 80 -0 -HJ, working, you
know, he's out roving, and it's nothing to hear
him make 20 -30 QSOS in one satellite pass. I've
been out roving at the same time that KZERO PBR
Paul was on, and I think we each got 20. So if
you work together, you listen to the rhythm,
and you know when to speak and when not to, and
you know your equipment and how to operate the
satellites, you can do some great things with
there. If you just want to get in there and try
and use brute force, then nobody's going to be
able to enjoy it. Yeah. On sideband, that works.
I mean, it's harder, but it works because you
can start picking out some of those calls because
you're going to get that mix. On FM, not going
to happen. Just not going to happen. And so again,
it's situational awareness. It's being aware
of what's going on and listening is a big thing
there. Well, Kevin, let's finish up with this
real quick and then I want to get to some questions
and phone calls at 859 -982 -7373. You've been
involved a lot with NASA on the air there were
all those special events that took place in the
past year or two and then recently the 50th anniversary
of Apollo 13 and You know and and I love the
the the Quindar tones on the on your passes.
That was great But talk a little bit about how
this operator etiquette affects running a special
event station like that Yeah, Neil, that's really
a great question. So operator etiquette for Special
Event Station really has an impact on the success
of the event. Not only the operator who's running
this special event, but also for the other operators
and folks trying to reach them. Like we mentioned
before, like a rover, you're really the station
that everybody's trying to get when you're running
a special event. And so with that in mind, the
success still kind of lies in your ability to
listen. It's really the key. And you've got to
be able to hear folks call signs out of pileups
if you happen to be on a linear bird, for example.
typically I do things like either write down
the call signs that I've heard so folks know
that you're listening and if somebody calls out
of line I might not necessarily come back to
them to kind of discourage that kind of behavior.
But I will say if things get out of hand I'm
an engineer so I'll kind of break things down
systematically and maybe I'll start calling stations
that only have a zero in their call sign or maybe
later on ones or twos or threes. and I even give
time for QRP stations only, and so it's important
to work in a systematic way. If the special event
station happens also to be on a satellite, like
you mentioned we did for the Apollo 50th anniversary
events, we had to be a little bit creative, and
I think you've mentioned it, right? We built
a Quintar tone generator that... It's a shock,
right? All of a sudden, you hear that beep that
you'd hear from air to ground, or from ground
to air, depending on how you're hearing it. And
it really helped get folks' attention and provide
a little bit of a shock factor, like, what was
it that I just heard? And so it gave us the chance
to kind of have folks stop for a moment, recognize
what it was we were really celebrating with the
accomplishment of Apollo 13's 50th. So it's just
really important for folks to maintain that situational
awareness. If there is a special event station
on a satellite, maybe you could hold off on having
that weather report that you have with your good
friend every day on the satellites. And let's
let the stations that are wanting to make a QSO
with the special event station work them. Again,
situational awareness, couple it with kindness
and courtesy, and I think you've got win -win,
Neil. Yeah, I totally totally agree And there's
been times when I've you know, well, I really
want this grid but I know somebody's out there
roving and and I've been in that spot I've been
out and I've been roving and could not get a
single contact because it was just too busy and
So I'm like, okay, I drove all the way out here
for this and and it can be discouraging but So
sometimes I just back off and I'm like, okay,
there's two people roving here at the same time.
I'm out. I'm getting them and I'm out. Because
it's just courtesy, I'm going to get one or two
contacts and then let's let everybody else get
their one or two. And again, we've all made mistakes
or not. We're not perfect by any means, but that's
what we're trying to strive for. Well, let's
open up the phone lines. It's time for your calls.
If you have a question, give us a call and we're
going over a little over time tonight. 859 -982
-7373. 859 -982. 73 73 if you want to call in
or tweet us at ham talk live if you're listening
to us on WTWW or on the podcast edition you won't
be able to reach us live Since it's Thursday
night when we are recording this and and we do
have a few here So let's run through some of
these Let's see Don KB2YSI says, too bad I didn't
get a recording of Ke -4AL and I both roving
on the same pass. We managed to interweave stations
and the entire pass was so orderly. Probably
is the best one ever. And number one pass was
getting number 488 for a station in California
from FN 53. If you don't know, there's 488 grids
in the continental US. So yeah, that would be
a great one. Let's see. We had another one here
that came in early, actually. Let me scroll down
to this. N6AJ wants to know the best way to adjust
for Doppler. He's using SAT PC32 with linears
and he's just having a hard time adjusting for
Doppler. He's looking for a video or somebody
to kind of help him out on that. Guys, any advice
here on Doppler shift? Well, I think Kevin and
I are both Mac Doppler guys, so that's not going
to really help him. But what I would encourage
you to do is you have two choices. Either number
one, you post your question on the AMSAT bulletin
board. I know there's a lot of SAT PC 32 users,
and that's what that forum is for, is to allow
people to ask questions and seek advice. And
then your next choice would be to send an email
to ambassadors. at Yahoo, I'm sorry, ambassadors
at AMSAT .org. So AMSAT has, AMSAT ambassadors
are there to help mentor people, mentor people.
And so we'll find, you know, somebody locally,
hopefully for you, if not locally, close by and
can walk you through those steps, get you on
the birds. Doppler is tough. I mean and depends
too on whether the uplink is VHF or UHF and you
know trying to trying to hear that I I guess
my ear has this really strange audio detection
and and so I can tell when somebody's just barely
off frequency and so when I hear that I know
it's time to change but But yeah, if you can
automate that process, it definitely makes it
a whole lot easier so email email them or Or
post there on the bulletin board and I know there's
a lot of people using set PC 32 and I'm a PC
guy But I I don't use that I use my phone. So
I Can't help on that Let's see. What else do
we have here? Let's see We have John W4USF listening
just says hello. So thank you for listening John.
Thank you for being there and Chris AA4CB Thank
you for being there as well. And I think Chris
was on Twitter also. Let me Run over there. I
think I saw something here Maybe I need to check
on my phone, because I think that's where I saw
it. But something about a couple of great satellite
operators. So there you go. We've got a couple
of good ones here. And then there's me. Oh my
goodness. Yeah, I met him muscle and hamcation
good people Yeah, no, you know something that
we kid about but the the satellite community
is actually a great It's a great bunch of folks
that you you feel like you've known people and
then you actually get the opportunity Maybe at
a hamcation or some other event to to meet face
to face. It might really be the first time you've
met But it sure feels like you've had a friendship
for a while. So it's a nice hobby. It's a nice
part of the amateur radio hobby to get into.
And don't be discouraged. If your first time
you try and you're not able to get things right,
reach out to some of the folks that we mentioned.
And I think you'll find it to be a really enjoyable
part of your amateur radio experience. Yeah,
I found it. It says two good sat ops. I've listened
and learned from them both and need I need to
get back on the satellites That was Chris a for
CB and said met that Robert at Huntsville a while
back. So there we go Robert you you had it down
and I met you down at Huntsville and then actually
on on social media set out a picture of Kevin
and I at the Kennedy Space Center Amateur radio
club. That was when I first met Kevin. So There
we go. All right, well, we've got a call on the
line. So let's take the call. Welcome to HamTalk
Live. Hey, this is Michael N4DCW. I just wanted
to call in and say thanks, Robert and Kevin,
for everything that you've done for the AmSat
community. Just wanted to give them a chance
for them to talk about new operators, a source
for them to get started in our little hobby here.
All right, Michael, thank you for calling in
guys any any suggestions here What was the last
part of that question resources for new operas,
okay, so the best Working with somebody is always
the best It's it's it's better best to get that
immediate feedback if you're working on your
own Then I would start with the the getting started
guide It's real in -depth. It will cover everything
that a beginner needs to know for all the different
modes and different types of satellites, and
even helps out the experienced ops. He may be
going to a new venture. But you can do those.
And then there's the AMSAT bulletin board. There
is the ambassador program, demos. ham fest when
those finally get to start back up. The key thing
is is just get on and try and somebody is going
to surely step up and help you out. And we all
love to share this part of the amateur radio
community. Well, Michael, thank you so much for
calling in. Oh, go ahead, Kevin. No, I've got
to agree with what Robert said. I think finding
a mentor is fantastic. In lieu of doing that,
I would caution folks, try to join an organization
like AMSAT. There's a lot of great folks. They
do a lot of great work. They have books and articles
that are available to the memberships that are
very helpful. joining the community, not only
in the social media aspect, but supporting folks
like the AMSAT community, helps get additional
satellites up in the air and helps us to avoid
some of the crowding that we talked about this
evening. So I think it's also a way to learn
and join a community like AMSAT. All right, there
you go, Michael. I'm going to get it right. It's
in for DCW, not CDW. It's a common mistake. I
appreciate everything Robert, you're doing for
the MSAT community. Also, Kevin, being my first
MSAT contact back about a year and a half ago.
Thanks to the two of you for everything you've
taught me. I appreciate it. So you all have a
great night. Take care, Michael. Appreciate it.
Thanks, Michael. All right. Thanks, Michael.
Appreciate it. Yeah, I don't know how many times
I've done that it's that it's that CDW the computer
discount warehouse commercial I guess I don't
know An LOTW catches it for you real quick. Yes,
it does and it did and that's where that's how
I found out Michael's like I thought I worked
you and I'm like, yeah, you're in the oh Yeah,
that's exactly what happened All right, well
we are way over time here So we're gonna finish
things up here, but guys some great stuff and
and again I hope people listening or you know,
yeah, you've probably heard us, you know make
mistakes That's because we have You know, I've
only been on satellites last two or three years
and we all started someplace and you know these
are some ideas to try to make life better on
the satellites and I appreciate you two coming
on to talk about it tonight so final thoughts
Kevin? No I just I think you mentioned it right
we all make mistakes and I'm sure people could
find recordings of me and they'll say, hey, look,
Kevin, you did this and this and you said not
to do it. We learn from the mistakes. I think
it's important, though, to recognize. that amateur
radio is a hobby where we learn, right? We're
experimenting. We're learning all the time. The
satellite aspect of amateur radio is super fun,
and you can do it with a technician class license.
So it's enjoyable right from the very first moment
that you pass your technician license. Yeah,
try your best to follow these best practices.
It will make it enjoyable for you. It will make
it enjoyable for everyone else. And if you've
got questions, just ask. There are a lot of friendly
folks out there that would be willing to step
in and help mentor you. And Robert, I want to
give you a chance to do this and to have your
final thoughts. Also, the thing you're in charge
of basically for AMSAT, besides the accounting
bit, is the user service department. There are
ways that you can find out about Rovers, so make
sure you tell people about that and then your
final comments. Absolutely. First, thanks for
having me on tonight. I had a great time. I've
always been a long -time listener and now I got
to be on it. I'll have to check that box there
off on my bucket list. You get a new hand badge.
Yeah, there you go. So, you know, user services,
I always wondered what was user services. And
Joe Spire, K6WAO, the president then asked me
to assume this position. And so I said, sure.
And then I found out what it all entails. But
it has to do with membership. has to do with
people that use satellites, all sorts of stuff.
But one of the first things that I did was we
have on the AMSAT website, it's called upcoming
satellite operations page. So if you go to AMSAT
.org and on the navigation bar across the top,
if you put your mouse over satellites, the drop
bar will come down there, and then you click
on the AMSAT. upcoming satellite operations page.
But people, you know, they will email stuff into
us. We find stuff, you know, announcements on
Twitter. We see stuff on the DX news. And so
it's just a collection point that lets you know
everything that's coming up. You know, some is
just Somebody's on vacation and they're going
to be on every once in a while. Others, there's
major trips where they're going to go across
10 states and 30 grids, all sorts of stuff. So
it's on there. That's a great source. And they
collect those from all sources. So that would
be a good starting point to find out what's going
on where. And then in addition to that, if you
were planning a trip, then please let them know.
That way it helps when you go someplace, if you
never announce it, then you get on, then you
could be in a really rare place, but if nobody
knows you're there, then you may just be talking
to yourself or listening on the satellite. But
roving is such a... There's so many aspects of
satellites, from chasing grids to roving, where
you get to be the DX guy that everybody wants
to talk to. So everybody gets something out of
it and when you get tired of one thing you can
move into another little facet of this hobby
and have a great time. But that's about all I
got. Okay and then also this isn't an official
AMSAT thing but there's actually this Twitter
bot kind of thing going on that will... kind
of get some of that so the grid life is on twitter
uh... you know does a lot of those announcements
and then if you want to know what grid squares
are in high demand there's the grid master heat
map and uh... It shows, you know, in color, you
know, the easy ones to get and the harder ones
to get and the ones that are near impossible.
And so Gridmaster Heat is always a great place
to look and see, you know, what's rare. And you
may have a rare grid in your area and not even
know it. So make sure you check that out, too.
Let me add to that real quick that they will
often work in concert. So somebody will announce
that they're going to go. Activate a grid and
grid life will pick that up and and and publicize
that for you And then grid master heat map, which
is somebody that's collected basically you can
send your all the grids you've worked to him
and he will add your data to the map and then
when grid life announces one grid master heat
map will Put out a posting of all the people
that need that grid And if you're on twitter,
then he tags you so That's an added step to help
you catch those ribs that you're looking for.
And that just shows you, you know, these are
just people that are volunteering on their own
with no official, you know, direction, and they're
doing great things for the AMCET community. And
that's what it's all about. Yeah, and that's
very I'm very thankful for that. It's a great
thing and I send mine in often and whenever I'm
headed to some odd grids I usually post it to
you and grid life and grid master heat so that
way people know that That I'm out there. So that
that's a good place to well guys lots of good
stuff. We could go on all night And we've already
gone 20 minutes over, so I'm going to finish
it up. But thanks so much for being here. I appreciate
it and hope to hear you on this weekend and see
you both soon. Thank you so much, Neil, for having
us. Thank you, Neil. Have a good night. All right,
that is a wrap for this week's edition of HamTalk
Live. Thanks to Kevin Zari, KK4YEL and Robert
Bankston, KE4AL and everybody out there in cyberspace
for listening and calling in. and typing in and
i invite you back next thursday night at nine
p m eastern time and to see our upcoming guess
of visit ham talk live dot com you can click
on the schedule link there and if you like the
show please just leave us a review that's all
we ask uh... leaves a review uh... programming
note uh... there will be a show next week however
I'm gonna be away from the mic for a couple of
weeks There's this wedding coming up that that
I happen to be the groom and so July 9th and
July 16th There won't be a new live show I may
pop on for a few minutes, but there won't be
a whole show on July 9th and July 16th so be
aware of that there'll be a An encore presentation
on WTWW those two weeks. And I will be back on
July 23rd with Eric Guth, 4Z1UG. He's getting
up in the wee hours of the morning over in Israel
to be on the show. And we're going to talk about
the QSO Today Podcast Virtual Ham Expo that he's
putting together. That will be August 8th and
9th. But Eric will be live on the show from Israel
on July 23rd. I'm talking about his QSO Today
podcast and the Virtual Ham Expo. So hope to
hear you on the bands this weekend for field
day and a reminder to hams25 and under if you
don't have a club that you're contributing your
score to. Put youth on the air in your club name,
and we just want to see what the youth out there
can do. So don't forget to do that. Alright,
so for now, this is Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, saying
7 -3, 7 -5, and may the good DX be yours.