At 09:13 PM 9/8/2006, Bruce Rahn wrote:
Tom Clark, K3IO wrote:
We considered the RFI environment carefully (see my CSVHFS paper for details) as it would exist 10 years from now. Why 10 years? Well, it will take us 3-4 years to fly Eagle, and then we hope it will last and be useful for at least a decade, so a 10 year forecast seemed about right. In that time frame, many of us (me especially) feel that the European Galileo GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System, i.e. GPS) (and possibly similar systems being designed in Japan & China) will have prime DOWNLINK signals overlaying our 1260-1270 MHz UPLINK band. The signals being sent down may well be deemed critical for "Safety of Life" services; it is not unlikely (double negative used intentionally) that administrations may cancel out our L-band uplink so those "damned Hams can't cause an A380 with 500 people on board to crash!". Since weight, power and volunteer engineering talent are all finite resources, we came to the conclusion that it was not prudent for us to invest in an L-band uplink. C'est la vie.
Sigh....a bit of paranoia here?
No, just a lot more insight and experience than you have ... Clark and McGwier are plugged into a lot of places you could not have a clue about, and therefore know just a few things you don't ....
Now I know why I try to avoid reading this list ... the lack of civility is appalling.
Dave VE3GYQ/W8 Spencerville, OH