"David wrote:

It would be good to know that the linear backup plans have not been quietly filed in the waste paper basket. "

The SDX will be subjected to really brutal radiation testing. It does sound sweet to have a transmitter and receiver as linear as the SDX can be.

I do not know anyone who is building the fall back piece and while it has not fallen off the table, I don't know who is building it.

"Good engineering is important, but planing for the unexpected is vital."

Indeed.

"Incidentally. It occurs to me that a disadvantage of having one major UV transponder operating 24/7 is that while that concept removes the need for complicated scheduling it will occupy 100kHz or so of the 2m band permanently which may not be totally desirable in a limited 200kHz bandwidth. Presumably with Eagle 2 and 3 under design / construction at the time of launch they will have differnt bands. - Maybe 2390 - 2400 ish

Good point. The 7/24 plan does include the digital piece in our plans. And yes, we do NOT have to duplicate U/V on follow on birds to Eagle. If P3E goes well and we see no need for another U/V transponder we can indeed do something different on subsequent Eagles.

Enjoying the debate

David G0MRF "