If Bill was still around I would ask him, I do miss him. There may be some details in the corporate records but as an alternate board member I don't have access to those archives. Perhaps some of the current board can provide the details. My memory of what I heard was that Intelsat treated the request as a commercial RFQ and we got the commercial price that was many times the cost to orbit AO-40. Any new HEO satellite is going to require huge amounts of money no matter what. The ability to raise funds will be the MOST IMPORTANT part of getting a HEO satellite launched. Anybody who says different does not know what they are talking about.
Howie AB2S ________________________________ From: Joe Leikhim rhyolite@leikhim.com Sent: Tuesday, July 21, 2020 2:40:54 AM To: Howie DeFelice howied231@hotmail.com; AMSAT-BB@amsat.org AMSAT-BB@amsat.org Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Elections HEO QO-100' Linear NB + Digital WB
Howie;
Bill Tynan kicked this idea around 12 years ago as a distinct possibility with Intelsat. See below:
Blast from past 12 years ago....the entire thread of course is nearly a rehash of today's. So just the POSITIVE Bits. What happened?
[eagle] Re: what is going on?, some technical content at last.
Bill Tynan btynan at beecreek.net mailto:eagle%40amsat.org?Subject=%5Beagle%5D%20Re%3A%20what%20is%20going%20on%3F%2C%20some%20technical%20content%20at%20last.&In-Reply-To=
Fri Jul 11 07:52:51 PDT 2008
"Drew, Bob and All:
I have been thinking along the same lines for some time, but being no more than a "Senior Advisor" (geezer) I have not chosen to voice my views widely.
Most hams want linear transponder, high altitude satellites. Very few are yet into digital anything.
Yes, AMSAT should be in the forefront of technology, but to do so, it must be here. To be here, it must have the support (money) of the ham community.
We can still make a very good case for emergency commutations with a spacecraft which is in there 24/7 (Rideshare) even if it is only an analog transponder. With moderate bandwidth, that analog transponder can be used for at least low rate digital communication by ground stations. So, still pictures and medical data can be exchanged through it.
So, let's get to it.
That means fundraising. I have seen very little effort in that direction. Have fat cats been solicited? What about the guy (can't remember his name) who spent $20,000,000 to visit the ISS for a week. It would seem that he is a prime candidate. Has he been contacted?
Has FEMA been solicited re the potential Rideshare offers?
It's up to the AMSAT leadership to make such solicitations.
We raised $2,000,000 here in North America for P3D. We should be able to do it again, despite the AO-40 disaster.
These are my thoughts.
73,
Bill Tynan, W3XO, LM-10 AMSAT President 1991 - 1998"
On 7/21/2020 12:53 AM, Howie DeFelice wrote: Hello Joe,
I agree that a ride share, or hosted payload as it's referred to in the industry, would be an excellent way to get to GEO. That said, the realities are very different than they were for QO-100. The host satellite for QO-100 is owned by a state run (or sponsored) entity. They don't have shareholders and corporate governance to deal with. This does not mean an amateur radio payload would be excluded from a satellite over the U.S., it just means we would have to pay our way. Just like QO-100, we would be required to let the spacecraft provider or other certified entity manufacture and test the payload. This all adds additional expense. If we had a compelling proposal for a payload that proved technology that might also be useful to the satellite operator, like the P4 regenerative digital transponder, there is a CHANCE we could get some subsidy. Commercial satellite operators are extremely risk adverse and even more budget conscious. The market rates are always moving and it has been a long time since this alternative has been considered. Bob McGuire, Jeff John's and myself are committed to evaluate ALL avenues to higher orbit.
Howie AB2S ________________________________ From: AMSAT-BB amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.orgmailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org on behalf of Joe Leikhim via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.orgmailto:amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Sunday, July 19, 2020 3:31:10 PM To: amsat-bb@amsat.orgmailto:amsat-bb@amsat.org amsat-bb@amsat.orgmailto:amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: [amsat-bb] Elections HEO QO-100' Linear NB + Digital WB
K4SAT here.
I am intrigued about QO-100 and have monitored it here in Florida by remote WEB SDR access. I have not been active in the years since AO-40 failed and have been eager to see some HEO operations like I enjoyed from AO-10 and AO-13. Listening to QO-100 has rekindled that interest.
Last month on AMSAT-BB I posed the question about getting a GEO ride share with a commercial satellite, something that was considered 12 years ago with Intelsat. Having a QO-100 type transponder here CONUS would grow the hobby and get folks like me active again (and contributing sums as I did for AO-40). However, the "old guard" shot my idea down for the usual reasons. (See my threads last month).
Having a QO-100 type transponder with a hybrid of narrow band linear side and wide band digital side would open up a lot of opportunities for operations, public service and experimentation. I hope the new "slate" of BOD will consider this type of project as a priority.
Personally, I think GOLF has not achieved results fast enough to getting us a larger footprint. I am not advocating scrapping of that effort, but sometimes you have to jump ahead of the project and grab what is needed.
73 Joe
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