At 8:46 PM -0400 10/7/06, sco@sco-inc.com wrote:
Does anyone have any idea what will be in the proposed Eagle Ground Station package that has been proposed to be provided from Amsat?
In short, no, nobody has any concrete idea yet. It's just an intention at this point.
What's completely clear is that a digital solution for accessing the ACP (Advanced Communication Package) would have to be made available to users. It's not something most people would be able to homebrew and there's no off-the-shelf equipment for it. So at least that unique part of the system would have to be made available. There's an explicit goal that this device be made affordable. Beyond that, the details are yet to be designed.
I would hope to see that any other unusual or difficult-to-obtain system component would also be made available. The dual-band feed you mentioned would be a good example.
It might turn out to be feasible to build an antenna that requires no mechanical positioning. A phased array of some sort, presumably. If we come up with a good solution for that, I expect it would also be made available through AMSAT.
73 -Paul kb5mu@amsat.org from the Space Symposium