Patrick,
If, as you stated, SSTV has run its course, maybe Experimenter's Wednesdays on AO-85 could be changed to experiment with EMCOMM using NBEMS, thereby keeping AO-91 as free as possible. Once that has run its course, then move on to another experiment. That would keep things fresh. I think a report on each experiment would be an interesting series of articles in the AMSAT Journal. I think continuous experimentation is a good thing!
Mac Cody - AE5PH
On 12/14/2017 08:33 PM, Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) wrote:
Hi Mac!
You offer a good idea. I thought about things like that, but came back to the simple fact that AO-91 still has the "new car smell" for being the newest and (in my opinion) best performing FM satellite we currently have. Especially given the recent series of messages discussing the new document Sean KX9X wrote, it might be better to hold off on anything that limits the use of AO-91 to those who would have a computer or other accessories to do the experiment. Once we have another one or two FM satellites, Fox-1C and/or Fox-1D, then it would be a great time to have something else for the weekly experiments.
The APRS-capable satellites might be better for what you propose, yes. Unfortunately, there is the issue of the misuse of 145.825 MHz by stations automatically beaconing their existence. Any experiment using ISS or NO-84 would be tougher as you move east across the continental USA, as well as some other parts of the world.
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK or http://twitter.com/WD9EWK
On Fri, Dec 15, 2017 at 1:53 AM, Mac A. Cody <maccody@att.net mailto:maccody@att.net>wrote:
Patrick, This is certainly a fine idea, which may very well gain traction. If I may, though, I'd like to propose an alternative experiment. Given the recent (and ongoing) disaster and recovery in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria,I was wondering how amateur LEO satellites could be used for emergency response (I know that the use case for the Phase IV satellite terminal is emergency response.). While DX and chasing grid squares is great fun (I do both myself.), I am hoping that there might be a way that LEO satellites could be used as a public service resource. Traditionally, long-distance emergency response has relied upon shortwave communications. It takes a bit of infrastructure cost to set up and operate a shortwave station. Effective antenna deployment, available transceiver equipment, and a sufficient power supply are considerations to be addressed. Perhaps, a pair of hand-held radios (or single full- duplex), an Arrow antenna, and a computer (Raspberry Pi) could be used to send and receive emergency messages via LEO satellites and might be a viable alternative. The messages could be sent digitally via, say, Narrow Band Emergency Messaging System (NBEMS) to improve reliability of transcription. I'm sure that you or someone else might say "Use the APRS birds for emergency response messaging.". That may be a fair statement, but my idea might, at least, be an interesting experiment to try. An experiment is still valuable when it shows that an idea does not work! 73, Mac Cody / AE5PH