This is kind of along the lines of what I was thinking. Please don't get me wrong, I think AMSAT has an excellent opportunity here but won't this take some of the challenge out of things? I missed AO-40 altogether and I'm not active now because I had to sell my equipment but what originally drew me to sat operation in the first place was the challenge and thrill of working birds like the LEO linear and FM birds. I enjoy watching the footprint move across my PC screen. Heck, sometimes I just liked to go out on the deck on a not particularly good pass and watch the antennas track! I'll certainly be back in business for geostationary piggy back systems and use them but I'm thinking it will seem rather ordinary. Any ham who is capable of pointing an antenna to a fixed spot can become satellite active. I know, I know, thats good but it also takes away some of the novelty of it. I guess we can still challenge ourselves with P3E. Again, please don't misconstrue my intention here, I'm not meaning to criticize or complain, I'm just making an observation. 73, Michael, W4HIJ w7lrd@comcast.net wrote:
Hello To play the devils advocate for a moment. With a geo (stuck) sattelite we are pretty much stuck with the same foot print forever. Unless of course there is some sort of cross linking in the future. I very fondly recall AO-40 and bringing it up on my computer and seeing where the foot print was today. Maybe it's the Europeans or perhaps the VK's, ZL's (love their accent), or maybe some JA's, (practice my Japanese). At some time, I knew I could cover the whole planet. I do of course believe this is an excellent opportunity, though there are a some limitations.
-- 73 Bob W7LRD AMSAT member 28498 Seattle _______________________________________________ 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