Fred A Parker wrote:

Just a suggestion, Has Amsat explored the idea of hiring a professional to help in some of the day to management and fund raising? When Amsat has a potential consumer base of 700,000 hams. If things were done right money should be no problem. Amsat needs to do a better job of selling itself. Then money should be no problem. Fred

Not only have we considered it Fred but you continue to demonstrate your ignorance and hostility by not knowing that we have done exactly that. You do not know that all sorts of efforts have been made at raising funds. We are told at every step what basic axioms there are in fund raising. You have to have something to sell to the interested party. No one is interesting in funding a private repeater for 20 guys to talk to each other about their brand new scars and brand new meds and we would be FOOLS to kowtow to people who will be dead or uninterested before we get into orbit. We have a professional fund raiser hired and contracted. We have a professional manager who is doing a DAMN GOOD job, better than when I was a director 15 years ago.

It really is time for you to basically shut up and go do some investigation before you make a further complete fool of yourself. Barry asked me if I was shooting the messenger on an unpleasant message. I have made a very successful career out of promoting and working with unpleasant messengers. I have never promoted a single one who fired all cannons in a public forum with wrong facts, open hostility, and just plain dumb ignorance.

Really Fred, you are well over the line. This is personal, ad hominem, and of no utility to the organization you ostensibly support.

Bob