Bob...
Further, nothing of what you say in your vast experience has anything to do with the 5 or 6 guys working 12 and 16 hour days for months and years to get the thing designed, built, integrated, tested, and launched.
this is almost like " the shuttle and station dock at 17,500 mph"...
OK they work hard but one they are probably not doing 12-16 hour days endlessly (OK you didnt say that but thats implied(whats the job that pays the bills doing all this time?) and other people put in long hours volunteering. And they are not the only people in The Republic working 12 and 16 hour days.
I realize that the tendency is to make all volunteer efforts unique and special and all...but come on.
Turn that pyramid that you like to sit on the top of upside down, with yourself on the BOTTOM with say a few thousand kibitzers sitting on your shoulders each one with his own expectations about what YOU should be doing. And maybe you will see how many of the amateur satellites get built.
you dont have a clue about "kibitzers sitting on your shoulders each one with his (or her) own expectations about what YOU should be doing" until you have tried to manage a school board.
From the religious righters to the goodless lefties and a lot in between, everybody has their peculiar and passionate ideas about "how our children should be educated" and why The Republic will come crashing to a halt if "insert this thing here" isnt part of the school effort.
My father in law retired as a four star in the USN and his line to me after attending one of the school board meetings was "and I thought politics at the Pentagon were tough" (and he lived through the Cheney era).
Look, it is not all that special being on the school board, it just gives one a perspective. Nor is it all that special building ham satellites...it just is a unique perspective.. The urge to think it is the thing that qualifies one for "special treatment" or even understanding...., it is a product of a mindset that is killing space efforts across the board, it is the mindset that has driven NASA to the brink of collapse in human exploration efforts (and that is not just my conclusion, it is that of the Augustine Commission).
You and the other folks who have built the birds are to be commended for your work You have served both the community here and the USN and of course the USNA well beyond the call of duty.
But I dont care if satellite builders have to work 24 hours a day in terms of meeting their volunteer goals. Unless they are doing it by themselves, they have a responsibility to the membersship of the organization that makes their volunterism "possible:"\
and the Amsat BOD is so far out of touch, they might as well work in the shuttle program
Robert WB5MZO
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