Hello Jeff, Very eloquently put, your mail was a credit to this bbs and of course I agree with you 100%. Personally, I'm completely self-taught and operate a 100% home brew satellite station. My intention was to breach the ... "can't afford it" ... excuse. Your point about possible congestion on the bands is a very good one indeed.
Have a nice day.
73 John. la2qaa@amsat.org ...............................................................................................................................
From: Jeff Davis jl.davis@gmail.com Reply-To: jl.davis@gmail.com To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: IRB's and Satellites. Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 17:29:52 +0000
gOn Thu, Apr 26, 2007 at 04:39:24PM +0200, John Hackett wrote:
OBSERVATIONS FROM NORWAY. 26-04-2007. INTERNET REMOTE BASE STATIONS FOR SATELLITES. Love 'em or hate 'em ... IRB'as are a part of amateur radio. So ... why would LA2QAA want to use one?. Well, they can! be used for operating satellites.
Moving forward, we are going to see much more of this kind of operation in amateur radio so it only follows that amateur satellite enthusiasts would get onboard as well. It's use is, of course, not without debate. In the radio (HF) contesting world there has been a long and vigorous conversation about how contest rules should apply to a guy who builds a super station on one continent and operates it from another, etc.
But those pesky details have more to do with the competitive nature of that radiosport than technicalities. Obviously, it works...
I went to the local university planetarium a few nights ago (Ball State University) and learned that BSU has joined with an organization (SARA) of schools that operates an observatory near Kitt Peak. It can be completely operated remotely via the Internet (open the dome turn and focus the telescopes, take images, etc.). It seems like a marvelous way to co-op the expense of an observatory.
But the goal of that exercise is to study the heavens -- not to learn how to build telescopes and observatories, and being able to do it from a remote location is an advantage.
When it comes to amateur satellites, I think many of us would say that our goal is to experiment, study, learn and enjoy the excitement of communications via space-based assets. Without actually building a radio station, I'm not sure how much can be learned from operating a station remotely over the Internet?
[I'll completely leave aside the more obvious questions about the sensibility of having untrained, unrestriced newbies making hash of the satellite passband]
Perhaps this is all about goals then ... if your goal is to simply communicate via a satellite, then the remote base concept is perfectly valid and it has been demonstrated that it works.
If the goal is to learn how to build a groundstation and then optimize it for use with satellites, then I'm not sure this will do that (unless of course you are the one building the station).
I see it like a calculator and a slide rule ... the calculator works great, you just punch in some numbers and the correct result pops out. But the slide rule allows one to see the underlying mathematics taking shape as it is moved to the same answer.
Which way is "better" must be self-determined.
73,
Jeff, KE9V _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
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