Dan,
Agree that the context are different but the only way to achieve same is to work hard on it and without begging (as it seems that we do no have the money for either HEO or GEO) no way we may succeed.
That said, there are some possibilities and if we try hard enough we may succeed, the real issues are that the community as a whole does really work hard enough and we are probably not passionate enough to put the birds up there? Yes difficult but not impossible, may be US laws is a deterrent but we are global and other jurisdiction may be used.
QO-100 has made us to think globally or at least half of it, this is we way forward for both financing and putting birds up there. It we direct our effort in that direction (a global vision) we have more chances to succeed. So rethinking the HAM satellite strategy globally instead of thinking regionally may work out.
Just my 1 cent input.
73
Jean Marc (3B8DU)
On Jul 21, 2020, at 7:32 AM, Daniel Schultz via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote:
Yes, we once had a deal with Intelsat until it fell through. More recently we had a deal with the US Air Force and one of its contractors, until that also fell through. The reason we don't have a western hemisphere transponder in GEO is not because the "old guard" wants to shoot it down, but because these types of deals are very difficult to pull off in a market driven economy such as the US satellite industry.
QO-100 was hosted on a satellite built for a royal government which is not responsible to stockholders, a government in which an amateur radio operator held a high position of influence. A US based company would have to answer to Wall Street analysts to explain why they are giving away money that could have been paid out in stock dividends.
Changing the BOD membership will not alter any of these facts. It is not because we haven't asked the powers that be, and not because we are reluctant to "jump ahead of the project and grab what is needed". Space is Hard, and all the wishful thinking in the world is not going to change that.
73, Dan Schultz N8FGV
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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