Some thoughts on the QSO today event this past weekend.
I am the one who tried to get the attention of AMSAT leadership way last fall that this could be a great event to bring knowledge of Amateur Radio in Space to a broad audience. As such, I will take responsibility for decisions that were made. Am I happy with how all things turned out? The answer is a mixed bag.
I had presented in the August 2020 event and was the only representative of AMSAT involved. My initial mention of the opportunity to some of the AMSAT leadership after Symposium ended last fall was given a positive but cool response. What I did not know, but as Frank Karnauskas, N1UW later told me, was the consuming need of leadership to convert the organization to a virtual office with the retirement of Martha, caused the lack of response. I had proposed getting together multiple presentations and buying exhibit booth space to make it more like a major hamfest that we would participate in. Michelle Thompson was the only one originally contacted who was enthusiastically supportive and saw the opportunity to present our interests to a wide cross section of hams.
The VHE organizers posed pretty early deadlines. Applications for presentations CLOSED on December 1. Discounts on booth purchases closed shortly thereafter. Michelle put up her own money to purchase the exhibit booths space. She got commitments from presenters. She laid a lot of groundwork in communicating with other AMSAT related organizations around the world.
I was aware of the potential controversy that would probably result because of Michelle Thompson's involvement. She is strong willed, doggedly determined and possessing a "one way or the highway" mentality. She is, however a go-getter and thus took the organization of this event far beyond what I could have taken it. She spent many, many hours working with presenters, attempting to recruit volunteers, interfacing with the organizers, and building up the program. She spent much of this past Friday night and all day Saturday, dealing with the technical glitches that the poor integration from Airmeet left the conference with. Yes there might be controversy, but I knew that she was committed to the project.
For me, the intent all along, was to have AMSAT branding and AMSAT executive involvement for the QSO today functions, but that did not happen. If parties were willing to compromise, it could have, but unfortunately, that discussion got started way too late, By the end of January, the event organizers had finalized their schedule. They were unwilling to shoehorn in additional content, even in the last 6 weeks. And that upset AMSAT leadership, rightly so. I tried to suggest to Eric a modification to the order of presentations track, but he was unwilling to make the changes. Then there was the branding controversy. Apparently Eric Guth, 4Z1UG Event organizer, did not want to get involved with the politics that is very visible in AMSAT and so recommended a more generic title. Thus the :"Space Radio" moniker. I tried to offer compromise, but Eric said no and Michelle went with that. So, no official AMSAT logo. But was AMSAT promoted? MOST DEFINITELY YES! Definitely in presentations and definitely in discussions at the booth tables. In a way I think it might have been a turn off to some to have a purely AMSAT branded event. There were hundreds of people viewing in many of the presentation slots, some might have been drawn by the "non-partisan" title.
Partisan politics and bad feelings calling for a generic name! As an organization who has had quite a bit of yelling and harsh words back and forth amongst various parties over the last few years, we need to take a step back and look at how some of that might look to the broader Amateur Radio community. It seems to me, that some of our actions have been like, you know, "That family down the block" who periodically erupts into loud arguments. They are oblivious to the fact that all of their doors and windows are wide open. The neighbors shake their heads and keep their distance but continue watching for the entertainment value, because, well, maybe something big will explode.
Back to AMSAT being a part of the "Space Radio" name. What you were unable to see, because of the failure to integrate the Exhibit space that an organization, VFairs, was to create, and the Arena space that Airmeet was to provide, would have been the core of the interactive part of the exhibit hall. That booth space would have resource links, videos, links to items for sale, and an integration to the "Discussion tables" that were in fact available. AMSAT Ambassadors type material was to be given out there and a direct link to the AMSAT Store and the "Getting Started" book for purchase too. The organizers do now promise that this integration will be available in the next day or so in the post event Expo space, for those that wish to stop by the site in the next month. Also all the video presentations, even mine did not air as it was supposed to, which heavily promoted involvement in AMSAT membership, will be available for viewing for paid members. Michelle is also independently creating a YouTube playlist with all the content from the satellite track plus the booth video track.
So for the future, Eric intends to press on and offer another VHE in August. I encourage AMSAT to go for it and immediately begin to plan on direct involvement this time. Most likely, we will have to have all the presentations lined up and registered by May 1,and pre-recorded content by late June. If you want to do the exhibit hall booth, have that commitment by May as well. I am pretty sure that we can again command another whole day track as this time. The type of technical glitches seen this past weekend should have been corrected. My recommendation though is you not treat this as another symposium or Hamvention. The audience is much more varied so be willing to look outside the box.
If you who are reading this, were not happy with what you saw and heard, this is your chance to step up and make it better. If you were happy with what you saw and heard, this is your chance to make it even better. I intend to be involved this next time out, promoting Amateur radio in Space. I Am and AMSAT Ambassador.
73
Tom Schuessler, N5HYP