It's pretty rare, that I write a post in english. Sure, I'm not an english native speaker and it's a strange thing to do that for me. But today, it has to do with a blog, that I found in the net. The host and autor of this blog is Sean Kutzko, KX9X and has the title: "5 Tips on Etiquette and Good Manners on the FM Ham Radio Satellites".
So in this matter: This post is a feedback and a big thank you to Sean.
Daniela and I were on Bonaire Island on March 2020. Short before the world wide madness escalated.
I remember that Sean Kutzko wrote me an eMail after a satellite qso we had together on this day. He asked me about some pictures of my activations in the caribbeans. My YL and I did some shots in
the evening at the sunset. During the shooting, I had a lot of fun on satellite. So I sent the files to Sean. After we returned back to home, I had forgot all the holiday Memorys in a crazy short
time: Hello "stay at home" - the lockdown have started.
In my case, in this time I had no chance for stay at home. At my qrl, I'm responsible for the fruits and vegetables logistic by one of the most important retailer in Switzerland. The work back
then was crazy for my staff and myself.
In the Fall of 2020, I stumbled over a website in the net, when I searched some informations about PJ4. What for a surprise: On one site, I found myself on a picture. And at this moment, I recalled all the good times we had in this holiday on Bonair Island.
Then I realised, that Sean used this foto in his article for an example. His point was, that I helped with my activation of PJ4 many sat operators to get a new DXCC count. Wow - what for a honour Sean, thank you!
So I read his whole article about "5 Tips on Etiquette and Good Manners on the FM Ham Radio Satellites". And all what Sean pointed out are 100% correct. This points are also the reason, why I mostly operated on the linear satellites. The window to NA was only a few minutes long. And when the operators on the FM sat don't understand the basic rules, it droves me sometimes crazy. (I just want to do some people happy, but...haach...)
So the problem is like that: Most of the NA-Stations have a strong discipline in operation. Their patience is fantastic. When the satellites flying over south america and the caribbeans, there
are just a few stations on the satellite. So the hams have plenty of time for doing qso. And they d'ont understand, why the stress level is growing very quick on the FM transponder, when the
footprint starts to scratch at the continent of North America. Then I also watched, that some latino stations don't understand the english language. (or want?)
I think, it's also the reason, why the etiquette its misunderstood in such region. In my opinion it's also a task of our hobby to approach each other - no matter - we're must be a kind of experts
in international understanding. That is one of my motivation to do suche expeditions.
That's also the reason, why you hear me sometimes calling in other languages: I answered a lot of qso's in their own language (spanish an french).
So again: Sean is 100% right with his post. When all hamradio operator understand that, then I'm sure, I would had doubled the happy hams who get a new DXCC.
In the other hand: I did also some misstake during my operations. My lessons learned is a better preparation and improving of my portable equipment. I have to take more time for testing at my home. Things will going wrong, when you stay in a tough environment with a hot sun, high humidity and salty/sandy air.
So Sean, this post is for you, and if it's ok for you, I will write about your post here in german.
I'm sure native english speaker will find a few typos in this post. So my mind is always open to learn it better. If you like, please write the corrections in the comment below. I'm also happy about other feedbacks there.
Kommentar schreiben