Good thought, Edson. I hope someone follows through on it.
Kevin and others, let's also bear in mind that most of the satellites being built today for operation in the amateur bands are coming from outside North America. There are hundreds of them; to get an idea, look at the IARU frequency coordination data base at _www.iaru.org/satellite_ (http://www.iaru.org/satellite) . Very few of these are communication transponders. Wouter, AMSAT-UK, and a few others are doing a great job; we need more of them.
Within the US, when someone like Bob, WB4APR, tries to build amateur communication sats, he runs into needless obstacles from FCC and NTIA.
The purpose of this thread is to encourage more people, inside and outside the US, to consider building amateur comm sats. Especially outside North America, there are more launch opportunities than we might think.
73 Ray W2RS