Subject: Re: AMSAT Critical Election

Howie,,

Thanks for including me in your distribution.  I am not endorsing any candidate, nor do I think my endorsement would matter anyway.

As you know, there already is a HEO amateur satellite payload in orbit.  It was mainly built by AMSAT-DL as a "passenger" on a GEO satellite placed into orbit by a friendly Arab government.  It cannot be directly accessed from North America but there is nothing to prevent a North American ham from accessing it through a gateway via the Internet.  No, such a contact wouldn't count for DXCC, but as you said, not all hams are interested in awards or contests.

Unfortunately, the US does not have a ham-friendly government.  After rejecting the comments of AMSAT and ARRL in the "small satellite" rulemaking, FCC seems more interested in creating obstacles to amateur HEOs (e.g., the orbital debris docket).  I won't even mention ITAR/EAR.  Does it really matter who builds the next one?  If so, why?

I must admit that I get a bit nervous when somebody mentions that he wants to build a satellite interesting to commercial users.  Why should amateur bands be used for such things?  I am not speaking here for IARU, but I spend a fair amount of time helping to review the proposals we get for frequency coordination.  Quite a few of them are really commercial projects, dressed up to use amateur bands.  Our bands are precious; we need to keep protecting them.

Finally, not all hams are interested in awards or contests, but many are.  AMSAT has always had a combination of techies and operators, each doing what they do best.  Long may that continue.

73 Ray W2RS