I personally think that instead of spend money on renting GEO bandwidth a better idea would be trying to see if any companies going to GEO would be willing haul up and power a small Amateur Payload. Or even just getting a highly elliptical orbit on a normal bird. (Which for de-orbiting sails/drags could be deployed.)
Unless that GEO bandwidth is actually in the Ham bands why bother.
On Aug 22, 2019, at 11:57 AM, KC9SGV via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote:
Here is the narrow band WebSDR for QO-100 over Africa. Very active with all the latest sound card digital modes. From the Goonhilly ground station in England.
We will hopefully have the same type of WebSDR for our 1 MHz bandwidth on Echostar 9.
https://eshail.batc.org.uk/nb/
Bernard, KC9SGV
Sent from my iPad
On Aug 22, 2019, at 10:44 AM, Joe via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote:
There is that Geo bird over Africa.
I had the URL for a site that lets you listen to the whole bird passband.
When it first went up I listened to it a LOT and was amazed at all the different modes and coverage.
But I can't find the URL anymore. I was gonna go and listen to see what the activity level is now like since it is much older and the newness has worn off.
Joe WB9SBD Sig The Original Rolling Ball Clock Idle Tyme Idle-Tyme.com http://www.idle-tyme.com
On 8/22/2019 10:04 AM, Peter Goodhall (2M0SQL) via AMSAT-BB wrote: Hi Michelle,
Excellent that they came back with the price and while the project sounds potentially interesting it's of course, not an amateur radio satellite, has anyone considered any risks for example, does this have the potential to raise questions when AMSAT approaches gov/orgs for discount launches for satellites we build that they might say that we could just go rent some transponder space.
I know in the states disaster comms is a huge point (weirdly not something that's pushed in Europe), but agencies could already access this kind of technology just by purchasing sat phones, for example, I have an iridium unit that lets me make calls and access the internet although slowly but handy in highlands of Scotland with poor mobile coverage.
By the sounds of this, it will be access points that then aggregate into a central point via probably internet backhaul then its dumped up to the satellite, to me that doesn't really feel within the ham spirit, although I'm sure tons would argue :)
I know there's a big desire for GEO over North America, but do ops really think this is the ultimate solution? we're talking 96000 USD over 4 years.
Think it really requires some heavy thought before just jumping on the idea.
Just my thoughts, and I know I'm on the other side of the pond in the QO-100 footprint.
Peter, 2M0SQL
On Thu, 22 Aug 2019 at 02:36, Michelle Thompson via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote:
An arrangement on Echostar9 for 1MHz of bandwidth for up to 4 years of USA+Mexico+Canada coverage is on offer for $2000 a month.
I'm putting together a grant proposal for ARRL, FEMA, and others to pay for at least year of access. I've gotten some positive feedback already. I think we can make this happen with some fundraising effort. I'm willing to provide the human resources and whatever incidental financing needs to happen to secure a grant for rental.
The main purpose of this type of system would be to enable field deployment of "legacy mode" aggregators, like the Phase 4 Ground ARAP (Amateur Radio Access Point). This is where traffic on any ham band, using FM or analog gear, is digitized by a local "collecting" repeater, and is then sent to a satellite from that repeater. FEMA and ARRL have expressed a lot of interest and support for this in the past. Phase 4 Ground needs an ARAP in order to support legacy radios.
You don't have to personally have a microwave digital uplink. The aggregator equipment does that part for you.
This is most useful for public service and emergency communications. A communications emergency is declared, someone (FEMA, Red Cross, motivated ham volunteer) drops in the aggregator, and all ham traffic it hears is sent to the satellite and then transmitted to the entire footprint.
The downlink is 12-14GHz. This is not 10GHz, but is receivable by individuals using very inexpensive gear. Traffic can be repeated over the internet.
What does this get us?
An opportunity to do all the R&D for the aggregator and get some experience with uplinks.
What do we not have?
A true ham band downlink. You can still receive the downlink yourself, or you can get it over the internet from an earth station distributor.
That's where we're at with *this* proposal.
I think it's worth it to provide a US-based way to design, deploy, test, and use real world aggregator equipment. We learn a lot about GEO comms and figure out a lot of the ins and outs.
Comment and critique welcome and encouraged.
More soon! -Michelle W5NYV _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb