On Fri, Oct 16, 2009 at 12:01:30PM -0500, Rocky Jones wrote:
Ham radio is about communicating. If we want to turn its primary task into "education" then it will look very very different.
If you were making this point to a bunch of 40m CW operators then they would quite likely agree with you. I wouldn't respond at all except that there are no doubt a few not thinking clearly who you may have persuaded...
Where you are missing the boat with your derision of projects that are more educational is that AMSAT is a very, very special subset of amateur radio. While we have plenty of communicators in our midst, by default there have to be some space engineers or we don't exist.
Well, unless you assume we can raise a few million bucks and head on down to the neighborhood satellite store to buy one whenever we need a new one...
Designing spacecraft is an entirely different thing that requires a wide variety of engineering skills, some of which have absolutely nothing to do with radio, antennas, or communication.
So one reason that we need a steady stream of students who give a flip about what we are doing is that very soon all the folks who designed and built the Phase 3 birds will be gone. Many of them already are.
And that says nothing at all about the general overall need for humans to embrace science in order to survive. Your argument is a little like the old folks who always complain about having to pay taxes that support public schools even though they never had any kids... I'll bet they are darned glad that someone got an education when they need that new hip or knee -- or heart.
And besides, future projects of things that we sometimes get to play with will come from Universities and while beggars can't be choosers, wouldn't it be wonderful if we had a rosy relationship with an array of students and educators around the globe who are going to space with or without us anyway?