This Is from someone not in the Amsat community but somewhat knowledgeable about the biz, Jim Lux, W6RMK.
Just a general comment on the world of amateur satellites..
It may well be that AMSAT has reached the end of its natural life - and the original purpose is no more - and this is why there is so much dissention among the board. If there's no clear common goal, then most organizations wind up this way. I've not followed AMSAT very closely - I'd look to folks like Courtney N5BF for that kind of info - he was big into AMSAT a few decades ago.
But in a larger picture sense - it used to be that getting a satellite into orbit, as amateurs, was quite the feat - OSCAR-1, etc. showed that it was possible. AMSAT served an immensely useful purpose in showing launch providers that the secondary payload they were going to carry was actually built by people who knew what they were doing, etc. AMSAT was a key part of "access to space" as well as a clearinghouse for amateur satellite design and construction information. As AMSAT's web page says: "For over 50 years, AMSAT groups in North America and elsewhere have played a key role in significantly advancing the state of the art in space science, space education, and space technology."
Three big things have changed: 1) Amateur satellites are no longer inextricably combined with Amateur radio - if you show up trying to get your satellite coordinated using amateur frequencies, and it's just for TT&C (Telemetry, Tracking, and Control), and not some sort of amateur radio communication function, you'll be told - get your license another way: The amateur satellite service is not for you. And, nobody in their right mind would use amateur radio derived designs for their small-sat telecom - being able to leverage that 30 year old hardware you found at a hamfest 20 years ago isn't a driver for most small sat project.
2) Access to space is now available to anyone with a sufficiently large wallet, where "sufficiently large" is small enough to be within the range of high school and university classes (particularly if they're getting a ride with NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative - where the "ride" is free). There's an entire world of brokers who will help you get your spacecraft into space, licensed or not (Sara Spangelo and Swarm Technologies). And I don't think AMSAT has a better shot at getting amateur radio into GEO or HEO than any other organization. That train left the station about 10 years ago.
3) Information on how to build a spacecraft is available everywhere, and there are literally hundreds of people who have done it.
So you don't need AMSAT with its ham radio connections for licensing, nor for access to space, nor for spacecraft building info. What then, is AMSAT's purpose, *today*? (other than self perpetuation and advocacy for amateur satellite work - the latter is useful, but AMSAT isn't unique there)
Let's be clear here - I do not have a particular opinion about this particular dispute - From the descriptions, some of the board members are doing bad things, or at least things other board members aren't happy about. That's certainly undesirable. But I don't see it as particularly different than factional disputes in HOA boards, ham clubs, and local service clubs/organizations.
I'm commenting more because I see Amateur Radio heading towards a similar problem. What should ARRL be advocating for? I think that encouraging microwave usage, in an experimental - advancing the art way, is a good idea. Keeping the HF spectrum unencroached on - that requires vigilance - not that I think contesting and DXCC should necessarily be amateur radio's raison d'etre, but it's a hobby, enjoyed by many, and world wide HF communication without depending on someone else's infrastructure is a cool aspect. I think a lot of people are having fun with new digital modes on HF. VHF and UHF - cell phones have replaced the "utility" aspect of a HT and repeaters with autopatch. It's an excellent place to start - cheap, no need for big antenna, you learn a lot about propagation. I don't think that VHF is where someone who's thinking microwaves should start - we've moved beyond the "let's triple up from 144MHz to 432, and then we can triple again to 1296, using a 10m rig as an IF." Not when you can buy a DC-6GHz synthesizer chip for under $10, and a complete radio for MF to 4 or 6 GHz for $100-200.
--- Ciao baby, catch you on the flip side 73 de W3AB/GEO
You can say "over", you can say "out", you just can't say "over and out".
On Monday, July 27, 2020, 02:10:30 PM PDT, Joseph Armbruster via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote:
Bruce,
None of the questions you asked mean anything tangible, but they make it sound like a lot is going on. Is there? I don't know? To the contrary, many public private grants and contracts are awarded and produce absolutely nothing or are awarded for all the wrong reasons and end up suffering down the line (being scrubbed, re-competed, etc...). How long have the projects been taking place and what has actually been produced? Is there a transponder? Is there a ground station?
So with all the amateur radio in space work ORI is getting now, is it directly competing with AMSAT at this point or is it still trying to 'fix' AMSAT?
From the looks of the AMSAT bylaws, having an 'AMSAT organizational
membership' (Member Society, proper noun), eally just means you submitted an application and paid a fee. Any organization could do the same and would likely get accepted (membership-fees applied).
When you say """We were not aware that AMSAT had already hired lawyers against Michelle and Patrick when we formed ORI.""". That's a red flag in my mind, and it begs the question, why? And i'm not actually asking you why, but i'm asking the membership to consider why this could be. My individual observation is that AMSAT never hired an attorney 'against' me, or any volunteering members in the past, at least the ones I know personally. So, there must be a difference or other information / circumstances.
Congratulations on lobbying to end morse code. Just imagine the number of Amateur radio users there would be, if we just lobbied to get rid of the permits.
Joseph Armbruster KJ4JIO
On Mon, Jul 27, 2020 at 4:20 PM Bruce Perens bruce@perens.com wrote:
On Mon, Jul 27, 2020 at 12:42 PM Joseph Armbruster josepharmbruster@gmail.com wrote:
Can you start your own amateur space organization?
You mean the one that just got three different grants that, in a better time, would have gone to AMSAT? The one that is designing the 6U microwave transponder for space use, and the ground station to go with it? The one that is operated with a sufficient level of transparency that participants can get their technical projects done, and can collect funds for them without their being diverted elsewhere? The one where technical discussion dominates their mailing lists, and the most controversial subject is how to spend their money?
I founded ORI with Michelle, and wrote the $3500 check to carry out its 501(c)3 acceptance (my largest donation ever to any organization), because we needed to get our projects done in the face of AMSAT's board being intractable. It should never have been necessary. We were not aware that AMSAT had already hired lawyers against Michelle and Patrick when we formed ORI. Obviously, this would have given us more reason. But we applied for and were accepted for an AMSAT organizational membership, because our intent was NOT to replace AMSAT but to fix it.
As you know, I previously lobbied, successfully, to replace a large portion of the ARRL board and end the confidentiality vs. transparency debacle there. Ironically, there are many parallels to the situation here, including a board that chose to publicly libel one of their directors for his attempt to reform them, a thing that the succeeding board wisely withdrew.
Before that, I lobbied to end Morse code testing as a criterion for Amateur licensing, also succeeding. Even though people pleaded with me to allow Amateur Radio to "die with dignity".
Both of those things required working against ARRL, when ARRL and the majority of its own membership were barriers to the advancement of Amateur Radio. Fortunately, that was not the case internationally, and IARU voted, against the urging of ARRL - their own international directorate - to work to end the code testing requirement. Today, more people use CW on the air than ever! Everybody won!
You don't achieve these things by backing down.
Thanks
Bruce
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