July 2020 - AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

August 1 Moratorium on BOD Election Messaging?
by Wes Baden 16 Jul '20

16 Jul '20

I've now received my 2020 Election Ballot for electing three individuals to the AMSAT BOD. This prompts me to ask--or at least to propose--that a moratorium be placed on this BB for any and all messaging concerning the election, effective August 1. This would include messages from the candidates themselves or anyone submitting posts for or against them. In my opinion at least, there's been a sufficient airing of views as it is and two more weeks provide enough time for any member who's received a ballot but (mercifully) has not seen all the messaging that's appeared in the last month or so. The candidates' written statements, along with election posts here for two more weeks, are enough. Indeed, enough is enough. I long for a return to posts relating to matters such as antennas, software installation, new satellites in orbit, upcoming rovers, helpful advice for newbies, and geeky, technical information for old hands, just to name a few subjects. Is there a site administrator who can implement this? 73 de Wes NA1ME FN54 (always happy to sked if you need this Maine grid).

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Re: [amsat-bb] AmSat Ombudsman
by Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) 16 Jul '20

16 Jul '20

Robert, The first part of your e-mail appears to refer to an allegation Clint Bradford K6LCS recently posted on this mailing list, and on other mailing lists and forums. As I said on the QRZ satellite forum yesterday, Clint's allegations about me and that web site are false. In the few times I have publicly criticized Clint in recent years, I did so with my name attached to what I posted, as I did on the eHam satellite forum in 2016: https://www.eham.net/community/smf/index.php?topic=108627.15 This exchange led to a letter sent by Clint to AMSAT and me, which threatened AMSAT with legal action. I am not aware of AMSAT taking actions in response to his letter, and - based on AMSAT's 2016 IRS tax return - AMSAT did not spend any monies on legal expenses that year. As for the other part of your e-mail, the "some reason" packets from your APRS Internet gateway stations no longer appear on the ariss.net web site, you and I had a conversation about that. One of your APRS gateways was rewriting packets received from the ISS packet digipeater, adding a tagline promoting the web site for your Space Communicator Club. The packets containing that tagline were injected into the APRS Internet System (APRS-IS), violating policies of that system. Those packets also cluttered the listing of packets recently heard from the ISS on the ariss.net web site. You told me at that time you were testing a function on one of your gateways to put that tagline onto packets, something that had been happening over the period of a few days. This included the 20-minute period you mentioned, when one of your gateways continued to send packets to the APRS-IS system after the ISS had moved away from North America. As you stated, I contacted Steve Dimse K4HG. Steve owns the ariss.net and findu.com web sites, useful for displaying information on APRS packets. I asked Steve about the packets from your gateway that were showing up on his ariss.net web site. Steve reminded me of the APRS-IS policies regarding packets being submitted to that system. Other than appending the call sign of the gateway that received the packet to the packet path, no other modifications are supposed to be made to packets sent to the APRS-IS system. I mentioned that to you in a separate e-mail, even citing the policies as published on the aprs-is.net web site. I am aware that you and Steve also had an e-mail discussion about this around the same time. After those e-mail exchanges, I heard from you that packets from your gateways would not appear on the ariss.net site. This appears to be an issue between you and Steve, as Steve maintains the ariss.net web site. I have no control over that, and - as far as I know - neither does AMSAT. Have you reached out to Steve recently? 73. Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK or http://twitter.com/WD9EWK

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Candidate Statement for the board elections for AMSAT by me
by Robert McGwier 16 Jul '20

16 Jul '20

Here is my candidate statement for the board elections. My qualifications statement follows further editing. It is complex and detailed so I am taking my time with it. I hope you will support me for the board. I intend to devote my time and attention during my newly begun retirement helping AMSAT specifically and amateur radio in general. FYI, I am now on the grants committee of ARDC and I hope to help all of amateur radio while ARDC administers and grants these dollars to make amateur radio and telecommunications engineering and science better. The following is controversial, but it is clear. I do not like what I am seeing or hearing in and around AMSAT. I will work hard for the members to try and get "stuff" done. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DWwg7Y8lZ578MHn4Z31zE3Sem_38mvrk/view?usp=… -- Bob McGwier Founder, Federated Wireless, Inc Founder and Technical Advisor, HawkEye 360, Inc Adjunct Professor Virginia Tech Former Chief Scientist: The Ted and Karyn Hume Center for National Security and Technology Senior Member IEEE, Facebook: N4HYBob, ARS: N4HY

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best android sat program?
by Ted Krempa 16 Jul '20

16 Jul '20

.just inherited wife's old android tablet..(Asus ZenPad) What is the recommended sat tracking program for an android tablet? 73, Ted K7TRK

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AB2S - more candidate info
by Howie DeFelice 16 Jul '20

16 Jul '20

Some people have written and asked for more background information about me. Thanks for asking. I added a resume page on www.ab2s.freeservers.com<http://www.ab2s.freeservers.com> if anyone else is interested. 73, Howie AB2S

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Candidacy statement - Mark Hammond N8MH
by Mark L. Hammond 16 Jul '20

16 Jul '20

Hello AMSAT members (and fellow satellite enthusiasts), I am honored to have been nominated again and subsequently declare my candidacy for the AMSAT Board of Directors. To succeed and keep the organization moving forward, AMSAT needs a combination of people with technical and non-profit managerial experiences. I encourage you to read a biography about me here: https://www.upwardtoheo.com/biographies/dr-mark-hammond-n8mh and some additional personal information here: https://www.upwardtoheo.com/updates/so-who-is-mark-n8mh Hopefully, you will find I bring a blend of enthusiasm for satellite operations, good technical abilities as a satellite hobbyist and command station, as well as demonstrated effectiveness as a non-profit, higher education administrator that justifies your vote. Also please support my colleagues Paul N8HM and Bruce KK5DO, who share the same vision for keeping amateur radio in space as we move upward to HEO! You can read about them here: https://www.upwardtoheo.com/ 73, Mark L. Hammond [N8MH] AMSAT Director and Command Station

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AMSAT Open Source Policy
by Joe Leikhim 16 Jul '20

16 Jul '20

/Joseph; you wax on about intellectual property and symbiotic relationships etc, and then ask / //"How does AMSAT benefit b//y pursuing an open source policy?" May I ask, how in the past 10 years has AMSAT benefited by running the proprietary system they are running now? You would think the AMSAT bank accounts would be overflowing and invitations for HEO launches would be so many we would be turning them down? Please answer this before belittling the proposition. / On Wed, Jul 15, 2020 at 7:21 AM Joseph Armbruster <josepharmbruster at gmail.com <https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb>> wrote: />>//>>/You did not really answer the first question: "How does AMSAT benefit />>/by pursuing an open source policy?" /> -- Joe Leikhim Leikhim and Associates Communications Consultants Oviedo, Florida JLeikhim(a)Leikhim.com 407-982-0446 WWW.LEIKHIM.COM

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AMSAT Open Source Policy
by Stephen DeVience 16 Jul '20

16 Jul '20

Bruce, thank you for this explanation of the ITAR issues. It looks like AMSAT is at a fork in the road here regarding how to deal with it. I see the positives of having an open-source policy as 1) AMSAT will be able to work with international partners, which would probably not be allowed under a proprietary ITAR policy. 2) It may help keep old satellites running in the future. AO-27 required an extensive software fix to be brought online. I'm not sure if this was open source or not, but having the software and hardware information public would definitely give more people a chance to develop solutions. 3) It's in the spirit of amateur radio and helps avoid debates regarding proprietary hardware and software, like the never-ending arguments over PACTOR. I can see negatives as well 1) Manufacturers of space-rated hardware may want certain aspects kept private, and it might not be possible to easily find or make an open-source replacement. How extensive is the ITAR carve-out? If you use just one proprietary component, does that take you out of the carve-out? 2) It may force AMSAT to abandon long-standing relationships (whatever's in those NDAs), which could greatly affect ongoing projects. I'd like to hear a response from those wanting to keep a proprietary policy. What about it outweighs an open policy? Would an open policy work, but maybe further down the road? If AMSAT won't call BOD meetings to have civilized discussions, maybe we can do it over the BB :) -Stephen, N8URE

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Re: [amsat-bb] best android sat program?
by David Bartholomew 16 Jul '20

16 Jul '20

I use two: AmsatDroid Free ISS Detector Pro The AmsatDroidFree is free, but the satellites are listed in order by age and it's a little cumbersome to find the one you want. You can look at only one sat at a time and the prediction only goes out 24 hours ahead. But, it's free. ISS Detector Pro. The base version only tracks the ISS, so you need to pay a little bit for the add-ons, which include all the ham sats. You can customize a list of your favorite sats and see which ones are coming, in date/time order. Very nice app. Dave AD7DB

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QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo
by tjschuessler＠verizon.net 16 Jul '20

16 Jul '20

I am sure you have seen information about this on ARRL or other Amateur Radio news outlets. Is anybody from the AMSAT Ambassadors or volunteers planning on trying to sign up for a speakers slot for this? Lots of other ham activities are represented. It would be a shame if we were not there promoting Amateur Radio in Space. I will if no one else will, but I think we have a bunch of good presenters in our ranks and we should be represented. Hopefully it is not too late to get a slot. Tom Schuessler, N5HYP EM12ms

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