I must agree with David.
David Reinhart wrote:
Clint Bradford posted:
Speaking only for myself ... Do you have an engineering background? If so, have you submitted your resume to AMSAT for consideration to be involved? Clint Bradford K6LCS
I wasn't going to respond to this, but I'm going to. This is exactly the kind of elitist snobbery that turns people off and keeps them from even wanting to volunteer.
I have been involved with radio and electronics for 54 years without an engineering degree. When I was in college I tutored my EE program girlfriend on circuit theory that I'd learned studying for my Novice exam when I was 10 years old! I was able to make the jump from social sciences to computers because of my ham background and spent 35 years in IT. I learned control systems because I helped put on-line a large plant producing IC chemicals and ran it as its Sysadmin with a 99.9% uptime. During my career I added embedded OS's, networking, etc. All without an engineering degree.
One thing I have never understood about AMSAT is why, in the absence of any legal requirements such as NDAs or ITAR restrictions, we seem to keep our materials so close to the vest. And if those are the reasons why not state so plainly, along with the conditions that must be met before the materials can be released?
Are we worried about somebody stealing AMSAT work for commercial purposes? As hams we're supposed to help advance the state of the art in electronics, and I don't think that means only electronics used by us.
Whatever the reasons why we restrict access to engineering data, remarks like the one from K6LCS do not help attract people.
Dave Reinhart, W4DSR (ex-WA6ILT)