It is a good time to move on.

There was a lot of discussion on both sides of the fence. The board has made a decision to move forward with the Eagle communication package and a clear compromise has emerged. For example:

Eagle will have a lot of what was asked for by the membership (see 2004 survey results in the AMSAT Journal Vol 27 # 5). We (the members) asked for Mode U/V and the board responded with:

An SSB/CW (etc.) transponder with uplink on U-band and downlink on V-band. System design has a goal that it be usable over 75% of the orbit, as well as a low rate text message system, like SMS.

In addition, the membership asked for U/S, V/A and L/S and the board responded with:

An SSB/CW (etc.) transponder with uplink on L-band and downlink on S1-band (2.4 Ghz),

.and a lot more.

There will always be questions and need for discussions. However, I hope that in the future board members will not keep the membership hostage by threatening to leave if they face criticism. I also hope that members will not anymore accuse elected members of running their own agenda, because face it; we all have our agenda and ideas. The difference is that some are willing to work for it as volunteers within AMSAT and move the organization and projects forward.

It is important to notice that we all elect the board to make decisions. That's what they did. Now that decisions are made we can look forward to make our dreams of a new HEO a reality. All of the recently elected board members promised to be transparent and communicate their ideas and thoughts with us. In return we need to keep our promise as members to support AMSAT and the projects ahead.

Let's keep our promises to each other and together AMSAT will be what we all want it to be, a place where we can enjoy a great hobby and at the same time learn from each other. It is "Thanksgiving" weekend in Canada and I am certainly thankful for all of the amateur radio satellites that "others" have made a reality for me to use and enjoy. I am also thankful for all the new birds in planning and construction that again many "others" are working hard to make into reality. The least I and you can do is to support these initiatives.

73, Stefan, VE4NSA