Left out of this discussion is the US Navy's Fleet Satellite Communications System (FLTSATCOM), a set of remarkably long-lived (launched between 1978 and 1989) geostationary satellites that provide “bent pipe” transponders operating between 240 MHz and 400 MHz. Remarkably, there is no encryption, authentication, or access controls on these transponders. You transmit up to them, they transmit back down. Some of the FLTSATCOM transponders are wide-band, supporting whatever mode is transmitted to them - SSB, FM, data, etc.
“Pirate users” in Brazil have used it with relative impunity. See the 2009 article in Wired - The Great Brazilian Sat-Hack Crackdown. Despite that “crackdown”, the “Brazilian pirate users” are still active.
Steve Stroh, N8GNJ has previously floated this notion in his weekly letter:
"If there are (apparently, inevitably) going to be “secondary users” of FLTSATCOM, perhaps it's worth consideration that US Amateur Radio Operators would be better “secondary users” of FLTSATCOM than “Brazilian pirate users”. There's some precedent in such an idea of sharing spectrum and interoperating between US government and US Amateur Radio Operators - the sharing of the 60 meter (5 MHz band) between FEMA and US Amateur Radio Operators and of course, the Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS). There’s also some precedent in the US Military turning over a satellite to Amateur Radio use. In 2017 the US Air Force Academy transferred control of FalconSAT-3 to Amateur Radio operators (some accounts say control was transferred to AMSAT-NA).”
https://zeroretries.substack.com/p/zero-retries-0012
He had considerably more to say about it in his letter (see the link) and I think he makes a good case and what’s more, I think it’s the only/best shot we have for such a resource over our friendly skies. If nothing else, it’s additional mental flotsam to consider in this matter.
73, Jeff KE9V AMSAT 28350