Hello Joe,
I agree that a ride share, or hosted payload as it's referred to in the industry, would be an excellent way to get to GEO. That said, the realities are very different than they were for QO-100. The host satellite for QO-100 is owned by a state run (or sponsored) entity. They don't have shareholders and corporate governance to deal with. This does not mean an amateur radio payload would be excluded from a satellite over the U.S., it just means we would have to pay our way. Just like QO-100, we would be required to let the spacecraft provider or other certified entity manufacture and test the payload. This all adds additional expense. If we had a compelling proposal for a payload that proved technology that might also be useful to the satellite operator, like the P4 regenerative digital transponder, there is a CHANCE we could get some subsidy. Commercial satellite operators are extremely risk adverse and even more budget conscious. The market rates are always moving and it has been a long time since this alternative has been considered. Bob McGuire, Jeff John's and myself are committed to evaluate ALL avenues to higher orbit.
Howie AB2S ________________________________ From: AMSAT-BB amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org on behalf of Joe Leikhim via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Sunday, July 19, 2020 3:31:10 PM To: amsat-bb@amsat.org amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Elections HEO QO-100' Linear NB + Digital WB
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
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