Here's my 0.02 worth.
I agree that having one individual, no matter how well they excel at their job, being placed (or finding themselves placed) in charge of a large project, or organization; is doomed to failure.
I disagree with those who keep insisting that without HEOs, there's no point in getting on the air. Sure many people spent a lot of time, energy and money to buy equipment which they no have a regular use for. No one is to blame about the satellite's failure. You made the decision to buy the equipment. Those things happen.
Next, to those who constantly complain about the lack of HEOs, why don't you try some of the LEOs? I've been having a great time with them for the last few months. I have made many friends, and have helped several hams who have heard me on the sats, but needed a hand with software, hardware, etc. I have emailed many hams who call CQ on the FM birds, yet can't hear the downlink, and so far they are all thrilled to hear that someone heard them; and I have attempted to steer them to what they need for their station. Those of you with that experience, who don't get on the air, are failing the amateur service by not offering your experience to those who are starting out; thus you are also contributing to the potential demise of AMSAT-NA.
Those of you with the equipment that's just sitting there unused, are contributing to the potential loss of the frequencies which we have available to use. Turn on your radio and listen to FO-29 or VO-52, you are lucky to hear one qso on there. That is such a shame, when you consider the relatively large bandwidth available there. If you listen on 20 meters you will hear lots of PSK31 signals. Why aren't we using that mode on the satellites?
I didn't find it dull when I spoke to Mike, an astronaut inside the space shuttle three times last week. Three times because there weren't that many hams on there to talk to him. We even spoke about how they get news feeds, video, and internet on board. Another ham talked about football with him.
You say we don't need any more LEOs? Well then I guess you haven't heard a recent pass of AO-51. Once you do, you will change your mind. There also appears to be a lot of interest in the satellites which were recently launched - yet as far as I know, those only send beacons or telemetry.
If none of this changes your mind, then consider selling your equipment, at a reasonable cost to someone who will put it to use. It 's not easy finding used satellite antennas, mast mounted preamps; and even more difficult to find Yaesu G5400/G5500s. Get rid of the dust, get some money back, and let someone else enjoy the gear.
Now on the other hand; I submitted my payment to AMSAT 2 weeks ago. I requested the free key for SATPC32. I haven't heard a thing back. I emailed Martha a week ago, and I still haven't heard anything back from her. Not a complaint; but new members should be welcomed, that's one way of getting additional members; and keeping existing members.
73 de W4AS Sebastian AMSAT # ?
On Jan 25, 2009, at 3:55 PM, Jeff Wandling W7BRS wrote:
Classic one webmaster problem. That's why things go stale.
Hint: if there's a need to keep timely information up to date, distribute the control of accessing and updating the information. Like for example a wiki or something that allows the community of experts to keep the wider public aware. Give keys to several active AMSAT members who can keep their sections up to date, rather than let one webmaster keep all the information up to date.
The result we want is Net-centric operations: right information to the right people at the right time to make the right decisions. The design solution to get that result is remove the one-webmaster problem and replace it with a distributed mechanism to allow mutliple experts keeping time sensitive sections up to date.
$0.02
-jeff
On Sun, 25 Jan 2009, Andrew Glasbrenner wrote:
You are both right. AMSAT-NA is in dire need of someone to manage the website, and we also need volunteers for many, many other things. It sounds cliché, but the saying "We are AMSAT" is very true. I was upset with how the Echo Ops committee was being handled pre-launch, and look where it got me :-)
If anyone ever runs into a dead end or needs help with something AMSAT, getting on the phone with Martha is a sure fire way to find a solution. If she cannot do it, she will direct you to someone who can.
David, send me an email with what you might like to volunteer for, and I'll point you in the right direction.
73, Drew KO4MA ----- Original Message ----- From: "David - KG4ZLB/MØZLB" m0zlb@btinternet.com To: "Nigel Gunn G8IFF/W8IFF" nigel@ngunn.net Cc: amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2009 3:09 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Messageboard Post
My point is that the first portal a visitor sees is the website and if that doesn't work then gives more ammunition to those that post disparaging e-mails!
David KG4ZLB/M0ZLB www.kg4zlb.com
Nigel Gunn G8IFF/W8IFF wrote:
Phone Martha. Works every time.