Dean:
I take it this means I am off your Christmas list.
I think your note proves my point. When a thread as long and overblown as this one descends into threats to get a rope to hang people and ad hominem attack, my point has been made for me, irrespective of any faults I may have or may have exhibited in the past.
I will comment on only one part of your note and that is the DSP-2232. It was a great technical success and a terrible personal failure. I have never felt so helpless in all of my life. It was a truly life changing event. Immediately after the debacle which I will shortly explain, I changed the nature of my job dramatically (still in the same job I have held forever, just the nature ) and essentially went dark on amateur radio. I owe Frank Brickle, AB2KT, Gerald Youngblood, K5SDR, and Tom CLark, K3IO a real debt of gratitude for reawakening my desire to do some technical good. I will allow others to decide whether or not I am succeeding. I feel I am having an impact and I hope it is generally positive.
DSP-1232/2232. I believe this is the first time this story is told in print. It is surely long overdue.
My partners KB2CST and KA2MOV and I began the design of the DSP box. Brooks and I had worked together, he on the Kansas City Tracker, me on the interface to it with Quiktrak to bring autotracking to amateur radio satellites. Brooks and Pat both wanted to do the DSP box privately. They convinced me that we had allowed ourselves to become distracted with Microsats in the DSP project (even while Brooks, Pat, and I did modules for DOVE) and I approached Mike Lamb and George Buxton about doing the DSP box. That went forward. I proposed a software defined radio to them before Joe Mitola coined the term software defined radio. I made this pitch with Brooks and Tom Clark. They said they wanted to do it, they offered me a job and I told them I could not come for a few months and asked them to hire Brooks. They balked and then killed the idea. They did not owe us an explanation but they did not provide one. Brooks became angry and started the DSP-12. I knew nothing about this design until later.
George was always the business sense of AEA. Mike Lamb was always the visionary and the principal stock holder. George developed Lymphoma and died. It changed Mike emotionally forever and he hired a president and manager. Mike went to live in Montana and did not deal with AEA matters at all.
This new manager was a minion of the lord of the dark. He fired many developers, he figured out ways to get rid of many who were the brains and ideas in AEA to save money. It was one of those things that makes you look good to the stock holders for a short while until product lifetime ends. He finds out and goes ballistic that Brooks has done the DSP-12. He sues us. Pat and I remove Brooks from the board of directors and the corporate officers and we offer to join AEA in pursuit of stopping the DSP-12. They refuse. They want us to stop Brooks without their help. Pat and I know we have no resources to do this. I tell them when the lawsuit stops, we will finish the DSP code. They counter with if you finish the code and give up all royalties, we will drop the lawsuit and leave all of you on your merry way. I am so sick of this all, I agree. I finish the major overhaul of the DSP code and the new president of AEA sends new EPROMS to everyone, thanking me for my efforts on their behalf. He later figures out how much potential the box has and offers me alone a contract to do other work. I think about poor Pat Spatafore, KA2MOV and how he has been left out in the cold. I give him the entire rights to our Microsat modem and I refuse to join the AEA thing for less than a fixed minimum dollar consultancy and the right to involve Pat. They balk.
The total income to me from the DSP -1232/2232 project was a negative $2000 or thereabouts. Brooks is allowed to continue with the DSP-12. Brooks and I have not spoken a single word to each other since he was removed from the corporation we founded. I did come back strictly to add the CRC output bytes to the 400 bps demodulator for AO-40. That was the first time I had turned my box on in nearly a decade and was the last.
The single worst decision of my life was to abandon the TAPR/AMSAT DSP project for the "dark side". I will never repeat it again. There is no way I can take all of that back. I can only work hard to try to do good technical work for the future. I miss George Buxton still. He was a great guy and I often go "what if" and then realizing it is a waste of time, I move on.
For all of those who were drawn in to the AEA because you believed in me, there is just no possible way you can understand how much personal regret has been expended. I have attempted to do all I can to make up for that with recent deeds. We will let history decide.
That said, AMSAT-NA and its engineers and myriad volunteers are no deserving of comments that include threats with ropes or ad hominem attacks. We are absolutely responsible for answering tough questions about what it is we are deciding to do and how we arrived at the decisions we have made. We have instituted a really tought peer review system. It slows down delivery but continues to show why it is needed. We have a good no-nonsense manager in Jim Sanford for Eagle. He is absolutely determined to prevent the single point failures to the extent possible and we believe this is a really good approach. The question of complexity has come up repeatedly and I accept that members how need more than neat new gadgets to inspire them, they want reassurance we will not repeat past mistakes. These are all points well taken and understood. In AMSAT-DL, I see an excellent project manager and good people working hard to build P3E. In AMSAT-NA, I see determination to check and recheck. We are entering the most crucial period for both organizations. You the members and supporters of this organization have but two choices:
Ask hard questions and then take a leap of faith or BOTH organizations will fail and your favorite piece of the hobby will die. I mean this as sincerely as anything I can say to you. AMSAT-DL is ready to finalize integration of P3E. AMSAT-NA is ready to begin the earliest construction phases on Eagle. The discourse here is not serving to deliver needed constructive criticism and forward motion. My past failures are not AMSAT failures and they are not helping either P3E or Eagle get to the launch pad. We are in need of your support, emotional, technical, and financial. I am the V.P. of Engineering, for better or worse of AMSAT-NA. I am a director. Sitting in both "rooms", I can tell you the engineering team is as strong as it has ever been. I can sense the belief building that we can do the things we want to try. I asked the board of directors to begin spending money and they absolutely need to raise it and I am absolutely determined not to fail any of you again. Sitting in the room with my dear friends in Marburg Germany and in the meeting here, I see the determination in every face to get it right and do a good thing. The agonizing over details while continuing to work together is as healthy a thing as I have ever seen here.
Help us help you. We are unafraid of questions. We are responsible for explaining our decisions but we are not deserving of ropes and personal attack.
73's Bob N4HY
Dean Shutt wrote:
Fellow Amsat members and satellite enthusiasts,
I have been a member of AMSAT-NA and Amsat-UK since 1993 and have for the most part greatly enjoyed the amateur satellite hobby. I have been around long enough to have suffered through (if one can suffer for a hobby) Mr. McGwier once before in regards his participation in the DSP 2232. I was frankly extremely disappointed to see him become heavily involved in a major AMSAT satellite project. Based on his public statements concerning the DSP 2232, I fully expected him to be very opinionated, intolerant of criticism, and quick to place blame on others when challenged concerning any aspect of his work. I also expected, and still expect, that he will quit claiming he is unappreciated and that the project can succeed only if his advice is followed. I formed this opinion of Mr. McGwier through reading his many long posts concerning his involvement in the DSP 2232 project and by daily using the device both as it was shipped and as others later made it fully usable for satellite work. You may wish to Goggle up the archives from that time and read them. I think you will find many similarities between their tone and content and that of his recent post to this board.
I will not comment on the many inappropriate statements in Mr. McGwier's post save the following:
"I am really personally disappointed in the level of discourse in the AMSAT BB. It is extremely harmful, possibly beyond repair, to our organization. We are seeking serious external funding, and we need to make a significant investment in many areas to get this spacecraft built. I have never been prouder of where the AMSAT-NA and AMSAT-DL engineers are going on your behalf than I am right now. I am very disappointed in the members of this forum. It is so damaging to our public image that if this does not improve and significantly, I will have to recommend that we end its current form. You are hurting your fellow satellite users and the VERY small number of volunteers who make serious personal sacrifices to build these things, and much larger number of volunteers who daily make quiet personal efforts in near silence on all our behalf. In my opinion, there is not a single member of the included thread who can hold their heads high and be proud of it."
It appears Mr. McGwier is fearful that continued discussion of what the designers wish to build may negatively effect the "serious external funding" required to build it. This to me fully supports the view that the designers wish to be funded to build what they wish and not what the amateur satellite community wish to operate. I do not believe attempting to squelch the free exchange of views is helpful. I suggest that better and more timely communication is appropriate including opinions incongruent with those of Mr. McGwier. The current debate started as a result of a lack of communication from the designers. There will certainly be more if the situation does not improve. The designers must realize that communication with the folks from whom they expect support is as much a part of assuring a successful project as the hardware design.
Working as a volunteer, for however many hours, does not excuse being intolerant of the views of other members of the organization nor by itself does it support the validity of one's own views. Perhaps Mr. McGwier will learn to hit the delete button before dispatching more of these all to familiar abrasive, unprofessional, and intolerant commentaries. History offers little hope this will occur. If you think this opinion harsh then read again the last sentence in the above quote:
"In my opinion, there is not a single member of the included thread who can hold their heads high and be proud of it."
The AMSAT VP of Engineering states that no one participating in a thread critical of his views on a single subject can be proud of themselves ...
I believe the exact opposite.
Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb