Somewhere in all this discussion about the future of AMSAT we need to recognize the work that William did on the 10cm^2 U/V transponder that was featured in the most recent Journal. Here we have a young person -- by the reckoning of most of us -- taking the very component-based approach to satellite building that has been seriously suggested as a way forward. He has made something that will fit the most narrow and most cheap form in launches today, the cubesat, and the result would fulfill our interests in analogue communications satellites.
I suppose I see this as something of a challenge for our forward thinking. As a group, how do we respond to this? I would like to see his work tested on ground, perhaps in more than one locale, perhaps in an urban environment where it would get lots of traffic. Perhaps his design could go through some sort of audit so that some of our technical team could ensure that the most performance is being derived from the least power.
73, Bruce VE9QRP