- AMSAT-BB - mailman.amsat.org

Re: [amsat-bb] Because I am being asked
by Brennan Price 21 Jul '20

21 Jul '20

Zach, I will be checking returned ballots against the voter list as they are returned as an aid to determine who might be eligible for a replacement ballot come August 12. The voter list is static while the membership portal is dynamic, so I'm dealing with the accounting separately. With the caveat that my ability to accommodate requests to verify receipt will be inversely proportional to the number of requests I receive, members may feel free to ask. Without committing future leadership to a course of action, your suggestion is among several ideals that are worthwhile. 73 de Brennan N4QX Message: 7 Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2020 09:58:18 -0500 From: Zach Metzinger <zmetzing(a)pobox.com> To: amsat-bb(a)amsat.org Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Because I am being asked Message-ID: <901f8e60-b912-a524-f8fa-717e73014f89(a)pobox.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed On 07/21/20 0943, Brennan Price via AMSAT-BB wrote: > Out of necessity to determine a fixed voter list and in accordance with previous announcements, the voter list was invariantly determined on the basis of memberships in good standing on July 1. Membership in good standing on that date is the criterion I will use in determining whether to issue replacement or original ballots. Hello Brennan- Is there a mechanism whereby a voter could check that their ballot was received by AMSAT? This would not include the choices on the ballot, just that it was received. I imagine this could be part of the launch.amsat.org interface, but I don't really know. If not for this year, could this be implemented for the next voting season? Thanks, --- Zach N0ZGO

2 1

Re: [amsat-bb] Elections HEO QO-100' Linear NB + Digital WB
by Daniel Schultz 21 Jul '20

21 Jul '20

Yes, we once had a deal with Intelsat until it fell through. More recently we had a deal with the US Air Force and one of its contractors, until that also fell through. The reason we don't have a western hemisphere transponder in GEO is not because the "old guard" wants to shoot it down, but because these types of deals are very difficult to pull off in a market driven economy such as the US satellite industry. QO-100 was hosted on a satellite built for a royal government which is not responsible to stockholders, a government in which an amateur radio operator held a high position of influence. A US based company would have to answer to Wall Street analysts to explain why they are giving away money that could have been paid out in stock dividends. Changing the BOD membership will not alter any of these facts. It is not because we haven't asked the powers that be, and not because we are reluctant to "jump ahead of the project and grab what is needed". Space is Hard, and all the wishful thinking in the world is not going to change that. 73, Dan Schultz N8FGV > I am intrigued about QO-100 and have monitored it here in Florida by > remote WEB SDR access. I have not been active in the years since AO-40 > failed and have been eager to see some HEO operations like I enjoyed > from AO-10 and AO-13. Listening to QO-100 has rekindled that interest. > > Last month on AMSAT-BB I posed the question about getting a GEO ride > share with a commercial satellite, something that was considered 12 > years ago with Intelsat. Having a QO-100 type transponder here CONUS > would grow the hobby and get folks like me active again (and > contributing sums as I did for AO-40). However, the "old guard" shot > my idea down for the usual reasons. (See my threads last month). > > Having a QO-100 type transponder with a hybrid of narrow band linear > side and wide band digital side would open up a lot of opportunities > for operations, public service and experimentation.?? I hope the new > "slate" of BOD will consider this type of project as a priority. > > Personally, I think GOLF has not achieved results fast enough to > getting us a larger footprint. I am not advocating scrapping of that > effort, but sometimes you have to jump ahead of the project and grab > what is needed. > > 73 Joe

9 8

Elections HEO QO-100' Linear NB + Digital WB
by Joe Leikhim 21 Jul '20

21 Jul '20

*No argument that launches to HEO cost money. Every launch costs money. Has anyone tabulated launch costs for the last 10=15 years? Projecting forward 10 years 10 satellite launches into LEO at $100K each is a million dollars. This of course is made up, but has anyone looked at the options of how to fund an HEO launch? If not why not? I get a sense that AO-40 sort of put a damper on things, where instead we should have dusted off and launched AO-41.* *"Howie DeFelice* howied231 at hotmail.com <mailto:amsat-bb%40amsat.org?Subject=Re%3A%20%5Bamsat-bb%5D%20Elections%20HEO%20QO-100%27%20Linear%20NB%20%2B%20Digital%20WB&In-Reply-To=%3CMN2PR14MB3517642671013610148975FAE7780%40MN2PR14MB3517.namprd14.prod.outlook.com%3E> /Tue Jul 21 10:56:22 UTC 2020/ If Bill was still around I would ask him, I do miss him. There may be some details in the corporate records but as an alternate board member I don't have access to those archives. Perhaps some of the current board can provide the details. My memory of what I heard was that Intelsat treated the request as a commercial RFQ and we got the commercial price that was many times the cost to orbit AO-40. Any new HEO satellite is going to require huge amounts of money no matter what. The ability to raise funds will be the MOST IMPORTANT part of getting a HEO satellite launched. Anybody who says different does not know what they are talking about. Howie AB2S" -- Joe Leikhim Leikhim and Associates Communications Consultants Oviedo, Florida JLeikhim(a)Leikhim.com 407-982-0446 WWW.LEIKHIM.COM

1 0

Re: [amsat-bb] SSB Electronics
by Gary Smith 21 Jul '20

21 Jul '20

Tom, The gentleman who is/was running the US side of things has pretty much left the business due to health issues for the foreseeable future. When I contacted him a couple of months ago he said to contact SSB Electronics in Germany directly. I dont think they offer any of the FUNcube dongles etc that SSB USA did. But they are very much still in business. Cheers. Gary AA9JS

1 0

Nominations, for the record
by Brennan Price 21 Jul '20

21 Jul '20

With respect to Paul's comment regarding one of Howie DeFelice's presumed nominators: "Unfortunately some have proposed canceling the GOLF program, includingone Director who nominated you." Beyond the extent necessary to support my determinations about any candidate's eligibility to be nominated or serve, I have not disclosed who nominated whom. it was not necessary to make such a disclosure in Howie's case. Howie (and any candidate) may disclose who nominated him if he wishes, and nominators may disclose their nominations if they wish as well. I will not micromanage that process, but I do want to stress that eligibility of the candidates has been determined with finality. 73,Brennan Price, N4QXSecretary, Radio Amateur

1 0

SSB Electronics
by Tom Lubbers K8TL 21 Jul '20

21 Jul '20

Has SSB electronics went belly up? All of my recent attempts end up at dead ends. A few weeks ago I saw some inquiries about the FUN CUBE dongle. I have 2 of them sitting here gathering dust!! Stay safe and healthy. Tom K8TL

2 1

Because I am being asked
by Brennan Price 21 Jul '20

21 Jul '20

Out of necessity to determine a fixed voter list and in accordance with previous announcements, the voter list was invariantly determined on the basis of memberships in good standing on July 1. Membership in good standing on that date is the criterion I will use in determining whether to issue replacement or original ballots. 73, Brennan Price, N4QX Secretary, Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation

2 1

FW: Expo Contact Form Message
by tjschuessler＠verizon.net 21 Jul '20

21 Jul '20

Hey guys, so there is this "Virtual Ham Radio Expo" on August 8th and 9th with a lot of exhibitors and a lot of virtual presenters. I noted that there was no "Getting Started" type of satellite presentation. I threw something out to the BB a week ago and aside from a response from Michelle, nothing else. We are so caught up in our controversies, that we seem to be forgetting that there are a whole lot of people who just want to learn about this fascinating aspect of our hobby. If we don't watch it, WE WILL DRIVE THEM AWAY FROM THE ORGANIZATION! Read Eric's email below. I am not the guy to produce a compelling "Getting Started" video, but I would like to work with someone who thinks they have one, and I would partner with them for the Q and A sessions. The deadline here is Saturday of this week. Lets make this happen! From: Eric 4Z1UG <eric(a)qsotoday.com> Sent: Monday, July 20, 2020 11:40 PM To: tjschuessler(a)verizon.net Subject: Re: Expo Contact Form Message Dear Thomas, You are right, there is no AMSAT representation in this Expo this time around. AMSAT does not have a booth, and none of the potential speakers replied to my invitations. If you have an excellent 20 to 30 minute video about AMSAT that you can send to me before Saturday, I will include it into a speaker Slot and give you a Q&A spot just after its first showing. Otherwise, we will do this again in March 2021 and hopefully someone from AMSAT will contact me. 73, Eric, 4Z1UG Eric Guth Tel: +1-213-577-0091 http://www.qsotoday.com http://www.qsotodayhamexpo.com On Tue, Jul 21, 2020 at 5:36 AM <mailto:[email protected]> wrote: I am an AMSAT member and part of the Ambassadors program who take AMSAT presentations to hamests and clubs. I noted that there are NO presentations relating to Amateur Radio in Space except the one on QO-100. Unfortunately, that is a satellite opportunity not available to western hemisphere stations. I sent an email out to the AMSAT mail reflextor and got no direct response from anyone else interested in presenting for your event. Is it too late to get presentation slots? I would like to do an Intro to satellites presentation. Please let me know if someone else has approached yo about this. If so, that is fine, but I see nothign in your topics list and so would be willing to put myself forward to do it. Looking forward to hearing from you. Thomas Schuessler N5HYP 2144031464

1 0

Elections HEO QO-100' Linear NB + Digital WB
by Joe Leikhim 21 Jul '20

21 Jul '20

K4SAT here. I am intrigued about QO-100 and have monitored it here in Florida by remote WEB SDR access. I have not been active in the years since AO-40 failed and have been eager to see some HEO operations like I enjoyed from AO-10 and AO-13. Listening to QO-100 has rekindled that interest. Last month on AMSAT-BB I posed the question about getting a GEO ride share with a commercial satellite, something that was considered 12 years ago with Intelsat. Having a QO-100 type transponder here CONUS would grow the hobby and get folks like me active again (and contributing sums as I did for AO-40). However, the "old guard" shot my idea down for the usual reasons. (See my threads last month). Having a QO-100 type transponder with a hybrid of narrow band linear side and wide band digital side would open up a lot of opportunities for operations, public service and experimentation. I hope the new "slate" of BOD will consider this type of project as a priority. Personally, I think GOLF has not achieved results fast enough to getting us a larger footprint. I am not advocating scrapping of that effort, but sometimes you have to jump ahead of the project and grab what is needed. 73 Joe

4 5

Slack vs. eMail -- The medium is the message
by Robert MacHale 20 Jul '20

20 Jul '20

Can I suggest moving AMSAT member communications from eMail to Slack? When I taught at UC Riverside last year - we used Slack to communicate with students. The tech companies I have worked with in Southern California have used Slack for many years. Recently, I noticed the Parrot Disco (RC Glider) club uses Slack to communicate with volunteers and members: https://github.com/uavpal/disco4g The benefit to Slack is having channels for each topic. In this case, discussion about Board Membership can be in it's own channel. People who are not interested are not required to read. Each technology can have it's own channel. Each project can have it's own channel. And, members can find each other easily. This current eMail subscription for all things creates a pain point - encouraging everyone to read everything. I highly recommend the Board of Directors evaluate Slack as a replacement for eMail; the corporate cost per user in low compared to value: excellent ROI. Remember, eMail subscriptions became popular in the 1980s. This protocol is entirely outdated and outmoded for conversations today. Keep in mind, the Medium is the message - another reminder AmSat has become outdated and outmoded and not keeping up with the times. Slack has been a positive and transforming tool employed on many projects I have worked with recently. Sincerely, Robert MacHale. KE6BLR Ham Radio License. http://www.aprsat.com/predict . http://www.spaceCommunicator.club . Supporting Boy Scout Merit Badges in Radio, Robotics, and Space Exploration

11 18