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GET /hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/email/HVD6NCJUEVFQQFAXWLQAWHKKLWT3LGT5/
{ "url": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/email/HVD6NCJUEVFQQFAXWLQAWHKKLWT3LGT5/", "mailinglist": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/", "message_id": "[email protected]", "message_id_hash": "HVD6NCJUEVFQQFAXWLQAWHKKLWT3LGT5", "thread": "https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/api/list/[email protected]/thread/HVD6NCJUEVFQQFAXWLQAWHKKLWT3LGT5/", "sender": { "address": "rwmcgwier (a) comcast.net", "mailman_id": null, "emails": null }, "sender_name": "Robert McGwier", "subject": "[eagle] New Modus Vivendi for Eagle/Engineering and my analysis of\tour needs", "date": "2006-09-25T16:22:13Z", "parent": null, "children": [], "votes": { "likes": 0, "dislikes": 0, "status": "neutral" }, "content": "We have what I consider to be a firm decision on how to proceed. I am \nproud of where we are a year into my tenure. The details clearly need \nto be fleshed out but we have a way forward that I suspect technical \npeople and user people can rally behind since it involves compromise and \ncalculation. Rick Hambly has provided some necessary leadership here \nand I choose to get behind it to implement it. It is not everyone's \nideal choice but it is a choice I can support.\n\nFor your information, we need desperately to get our act together on \nseveral different fronts and these are organizational in nature. I need \nto modify my role significantly now. I believe Jim will be much more \ncomfortable now that we have a reasonably clear direction. He has fixed \nmy greatest concern in that he has demonstrated usable internet \nconnectivity that he can check wherever he is doing his normal daily \nliving which requires travel. I believed he was completely ineffective \nwhen he could not communicate in a timely fashion. I saw emails get \nanswered that were clearly \"four generations\" old in a thread and it \naggravated me a lot. That has been completely fixed in my opinion \nrecently. It is clear that with team member scattered over the world \nand the continent, effective telecommunications are absolutely required \nto effectively manage this project. I did not view this as fixed until \ntwo weeks ago. I now view it as fixed.\n\nSince I am a known commodity to many of you, many of you come to me \nwith things that should go directly to Jim. This undermines Jim in his \nattempt to manage the project. In addition, dealing with you \nindividually actively hinders me doing exactly those things I need to do \non an organizational level and slows some technical work that I \npersonally responsible for. Jim and I have repeatedly run into things \nwe thought the other was doing. Jim has fixed his telecom problems and \nI am now a reflector. Jim works for me since Eagle is engineering but \nthis is going to be an organizational lead where I do composite budgets \nand make facilities available from the organization but I am not going \nto do daily management. Direct stuff to Jim.\n\nLet me give three examples of those things I am going to be \nconcentrating on in the next 30 days.\n\n1) IHU-3 code since P3E needs a control mechanism to integrate.\n2) Finishing a top level mechanical analysis, laying out design \nprinciples in spreadsheet form so we can place equipment inside our \nchosen model, and put the attitude control system in. I will be \nconcentrating on helping the sensor team (welcome back Alan) get the big \npicture right.\n3) SDR things that I am uniquely qualified to do, inextricably committed \nto doing, or am required to help with in a \"hands on\" way.\n\nIt is clear that we have won the battle to get the kinds of transponders \nwe need to make this a new and different spacecraft. It will be \ntechnically challenging and that will be the fun part! I am no longer \nneeded to lead the transponder team is my read and it needs someone who \ncan dedicate themselves to that aspect of this. The team I have helped \nto assemble has an amazing collection of talent in it. Managed \ncorrectly, this team simply cannot fail. I need someone to step up \nand take over the transponder management and Jim should now take charge \nof finding that person. I do not wish to do more than advise Jim on his \nselection when he has some choices. For Jim to succeed in implementing \nthese transponders, he needs to find someone he can work with so I bow \nout of the selection except to give solicited advise. Jim and I \ndiscussed this and I agree with his assessment that the team is better \noff being lead elsewhere. It would be my suggestion to Jim that the \nperson he picks understands that this is really two teams being forced \ninto the same \"bucket\": linear and ACP and they must be welded into an \nRF team.\n\nI think we are close to announcing a construction, integration, testing \nfacility. We will know in 30-45 days. I need to budget time for doing \nthe planning on taking care of organizational business in the area of \ngetting this lab going and getting our engineering house in order \ntotally, not just for Eagle. This is exciting since I think we can set \nup a long term facility that is closer to the corporate offices, and \ncan help our organization's educational status, and more. This is going \nto require a serious effort to complete by the end of the year. I \nbelieve this is the best use of my time for AMSAT in general and Eagle \nin particular outside of those specific technical tasks I have undertaken.\n\nHPSDR and GnuRadio are, in my opinion, the most important technical \nprojects outside of AMSAT for OUR future. They will have a large impact \non amateur radio in general, and AMSAT in particular. We have \nengineering management things to get right with our sister organization \nTAPR. This will heat up in the next few months.\n\nAfter I get the top level mechanical analysis work done with Bob Davis \nand Dick Jansson, I need to pass off that hat to someone who can live \nwith it day to day. Should we actually make the organizational move on \na laboratory that I think we are about to make, I will give my \nrecommendation to Jim but I will need to back out of making this \nselection and limit my role to computation. The recommendation will be \nobvious if this falls into place.\n\nAs V.P. Engineering I will insist on being on all peer review committees \nand exactly how that will function will be worked out with Jim. Any \nfurther advice to the teams will be directed to individuals but will ALL \ncontain CC to Jim. As an organizational matter, we need Jim to succeed \nand he needs to take the lead. He will have my support (and my friendly \ncattle prod) to do exactly that.\n\nBob\nN4HY\n\n-- \nAMSAT VP Engineering. Member: ARRL, AMSAT-DL, TAPR, Packrats,\nNJQRP/AMQRP, QRP ARCI, QCWA, FRC. ARRL SDR Wrk Grp Chairman\n\"You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat.\nYou pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los\nAngeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly\nthe same way: you send signals here, they receive them there.\nThe only difference is that there is no cat.\" - Einstein\n\n", "attachments": [] }