This is more than a little silly. Nobody wants public service communications on a new mode before it's created.

There's something you learn in high-tech leadership. You can't innovate by asking the customer what they want. They'll generally tell you what they want today. Not what they want tomorrow.

This is why I couldn't be part of ARRL leadership when I was working to end code testing. ARRL is a representative organization, and the members didn't want it.

And when I started working on Open Source: Remember that Microsoft VP who called it a cancer?

Those two things ended up being pretty important to ham radio.

So we will work on geostationary digital amateur satellites. With total confidence that when it's time, there will be a community to use them.

Thanks

Bruce



On Mon, Aug 8, 2022, 14:37 Jim White <jim@coloradosatellite.com> wrote:
Joe,

I agree.  I manage emergency communications for a county in Colorado
that is rural but borders the Denver area.  I also sit on several boards
for state emergency communications.  We have numerous communications
systems and methods available to us.  We regularly hold table top and
the occasional field exercise.  In our worst disaster we only ever get
to the second layer of backups, even in the most rural and poorly
serviced parts of the state.  In the most recent disaster, the Marshall
Fire in a Denver/Boulder suburb, we never even got to the backup system.

I cannot imagine an amateur geo transponder ever being used for our
needs.  The deepest I could ever see us getting into backups would be a
Starlink phone, about 5 layers down.  But we had an Iridium phone for
about 15 years and never turned it on.

ARES participates in planning and the exercises.  We have used them in a
couple of situations where they were not needed at all, to try to
improve skills and integration. They regularly help in events like the
county fair.

What we do need, and is very hard to develop, are radio operators who
can function as public safety radio operators in places like a mobile
command post or EOC.  We are people short, not systems or equipment
short.  Our responder and dispatch jargon, and methods of communication,
are very different from what ARES uses.  In large emergencies we need
trained and experienced people, not more equipment.

Jim

WD0E

On 8/8/2022 2:44 PM, Joseph B. Fitzgerald wrote:
> I have to question just how much of a resource an amateur radio geostationary satellite would be for emergencies.   Unfortunately I cannot cite any emergency communication successes on QO-100 beyond an exercise held this past February.   We are competing against other space based systems that offer familiar internet connectivity and encryption - with much lower latency.   Wouldn't an emergency manager want that instead?   We need a good story to tell potential funding agencies.  I have not heard any arguments likely to convince a grant giving organization to green light the 8 figure sum required to fund an amateur GEO project.
>
> de KM1P Joe
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------
>
> Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed
> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA.
> Acceptable Use and Privacy Policies available at https://www.amsat.org/about-amsat/
>
> View archives of this mailing list at
> https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/list/amsat-bb@amsat.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to amsat-bb-leave(a)amsat.org
> Manage all of your AMSAT-NA mailing list preferences at https://mailman.amsat.org

-----------------------------------------------------------

Sent via AMSAT-BB(a)amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed
are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA.
Acceptable Use and Privacy Policies available at https://www.amsat.org/about-amsat/

View archives of this mailing list at
https://mailman.amsat.org/hyperkitty/list/amsat-bb@amsat.org
To unsubscribe send an email to amsat-bb-leave(a)amsat.org
Manage all of your AMSAT-NA mailing list preferences at https://mailman.amsat.org