The Space Race is On--and We're Behind...
:-)
After listening to the WebSDR of Oscar-100 for nearly 24 hours now, it’s easy to imagine how my parents must have felt on October 4, 1957 as Sputnik transmitted it’s “beep beep beep” message to the world. Everything had changed in an instant.
A geostationary hamsat is a quantum leap forward—and I confess to feeling a twinge of disappointment that someone other than AMSAT-NA accomplished this feat first.
As a teenager, I remember driving a friends brand new, 1974 Corvette Stingray. My first thought was “Man! I gotta get me one of these!” Color me jealous.
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63nf AMSAT #38965, ARRL Life Member, CVHS Life Member, SVHF Member
Les,
While I understand the disappointment that North America isn't in the footprint it's worth understanding that QO-100 was probably pure luck & the sheer cost involved would probably bankrupt AMSAT even if it did have the funds sitting around.
What AMSAT (USA & UK/NL) achieve & get into orbit is still impressive in its own right although I think some on the -BB disagree.
Perhaps Es'Hail-2 will encourage other commercial companies to provide bent pipe transponders but it's a huge ask & they may even want a few million dollars for the deal.
Let's enjoy what we have
Peter, 2M0SQL
On Wed, 13 Feb 2019, 09:55 Les Rayburn <les@highnoonfilm.com wrote:
:-)
After listening to the WebSDR of Oscar-100 for nearly 24 hours now, it’s easy to imagine how my parents must have felt on October 4, 1957 as Sputnik transmitted it’s “beep beep beep” message to the world. Everything had changed in an instant.
A geostationary hamsat is a quantum leap forward—and I confess to feeling a twinge of disappointment that someone other than AMSAT-NA accomplished this feat first.
As a teenager, I remember driving a friends brand new, 1974 Corvette Stingray. My first thought was “Man! I gotta get me one of these!” Color me jealous.
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63nf AMSAT #38965, ARRL Life Member, CVHS Life Member, SVHF Member
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Peter,
The Qatar Amateur Radio Society https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qatar_Amateur_Radio_Society& AMSAT-DL did a great job and as usual it is probably the work of just few and I take this the opportunity to congratulate them for their great work. Also wish to thanks their main sponsor Es’Hailsat for their support to the Radio Amateur community.
That said, many commercial GEO’s are sent to space regularly costing millions of $, this kind of amateur transponder cost just a fraction of the overall cost of the bird. Honestly I cannot estimated same in spite quite familiar with satellite commercial operations as being in the telecom industry professionally, but surely just a small fraction of the overall cost.
HAMs worldwide are professionally quite active in the telecom sector, thus have some influence and if we can just ask, “someone said some 2000 years ago: ask and you will obtain”, therefore I strongly believe and encourage all who have the opportunity to ask to do so that we may benefit of possible opportunities. And may be we may have a few GEO’s up there in the next years. The time of piggy back as rocket ballast is gone but we may try to be creative an find new ways to be a small payload on the commercial satellites or other scientific projects, the Chinese lunar satellite, DSLWP, is a good example of a great success in line with what I said.
Just a personal though to share and to motivate one and all.
73
Jean Marc (3B8DU)
On Feb 13, 2019, at 2:04 PM, Peter Goodhall (2M0SQL) peter@magicbug.co.uk wrote:
Les,
While I understand the disappointment that North America isn't in the footprint it's worth understanding that QO-100 was probably pure luck & the sheer cost involved would probably bankrupt AMSAT even if it did have the funds sitting around.
What AMSAT (USA & UK/NL) achieve & get into orbit is still impressive in its own right although I think some on the -BB disagree.
Perhaps Es'Hail-2 will encourage other commercial companies to provide bent pipe transponders but it's a huge ask & they may even want a few million dollars for the deal.
Let's enjoy what we have
Peter, 2M0SQL
On Wed, 13 Feb 2019, 09:55 Les Rayburn <les@highnoonfilm.com wrote:
:-)
After listening to the WebSDR of Oscar-100 for nearly 24 hours now, it’s easy to imagine how my parents must have felt on October 4, 1957 as Sputnik transmitted it’s “beep beep beep” message to the world. Everything had changed in an instant.
A geostationary hamsat is a quantum leap forward—and I confess to feeling a twinge of disappointment that someone other than AMSAT-NA accomplished this feat first.
As a teenager, I remember driving a friends brand new, 1974 Corvette Stingray. My first thought was “Man! I gotta get me one of these!” Color me jealous.
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63nf AMSAT #38965, ARRL Life Member, CVHS Life Member, SVHF Member
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Hi Les,
I think Amsat would love to put something like this up there, but I think it comes down to how deep your pockets are, I suspect the people behind Es'hail-2 have a little more free cash than Amsat does. That said, I would think ARES types would go crazy for 24/7 access to a satellite, not to mention other disaster relief types. Maybe Amsat needs to be approaching them (if they haven't already) to sell them on the benefits of continent-wide radio coverage with portable equipment and no need to worry about changing propagation conditions.
Myself, I would miss the challenge of predicting satellite orbits and manipulating handheld antennas to aim at satellites as they pass over. Operating through a geostationary satellite presents a technical and financial challenge to build or acquire the necessary equipment. After that it sounds to me like we're just picking up the phone to talk to someone. VUCC, DXCC etc. could probably be banged off in a weekend. Not quite the same feeling of accomplishment. Anyway, that's just me. I'm sure many others can't wait!
73, Ken Alexander (still VE3HLS) So Phisai, Thailand Blog: bueng-ken.com
On Wed, Feb 13, 2019 at 9:57 AM Les Rayburn les@highnoonfilm.com wrote:
:-)
After listening to the WebSDR of Oscar-100 for nearly 24 hours now, it’s easy to imagine how my parents must have felt on October 4, 1957 as Sputnik transmitted it’s “beep beep beep” message to the world. Everything had changed in an instant.
A geostationary hamsat is a quantum leap forward—and I confess to feeling a twinge of disappointment that someone other than AMSAT-NA accomplished this feat first.
As a teenager, I remember driving a friends brand new, 1974 Corvette Stingray. My first thought was “Man! I gotta get me one of these!” Color me jealous.
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63nf AMSAT #38965, ARRL Life Member, CVHS Life Member, SVHF Member
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
I agree that the challenge of VUCC, and possibly DXCC would be minimized. Operating LEO’s does provide a real sense of accomplishment.
But the advantages of having a geostationary hamsat are so many—and just beginning to be explored. I’m certain that within a year or two, we’ll be amazed at what hams accomplish with Es’hail-2. As you mention, for EMCOMM it could be a god-send.
I really wasn’t complaining. It’s a tremendous thing—regardless of which country managed to pull it off. Without the efforts of AMSAT since the beginning, none of this would be possible.
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63nf AMSAT #38965, ARRL Life Member, CVHS Life Member, SVHF Member
On Feb 13, 2019, at 4:28 AM, Kenneth P Alexander ve3hls@gmail.com wrote:
Hi Les,
I think Amsat would love to put something like this up there, but I think it comes down to how deep your pockets are, I suspect the people behind Es'hail-2 have a little more free cash than Amsat does. That said, I would think ARES types would go crazy for 24/7 access to a satellite, not to mention other disaster relief types. Maybe Amsat needs to be approaching them (if they haven't already) to sell them on the benefits of continent-wide radio coverage with portable equipment and no need to worry about changing propagation conditions.
Myself, I would miss the challenge of predicting satellite orbits and manipulating handheld antennas to aim at satellites as they pass over. Operating through a geostationary satellite presents a technical and financial challenge to build or acquire the necessary equipment. After that it sounds to me like we're just picking up the phone to talk to someone. VUCC, DXCC etc. could probably be banged off in a weekend. Not quite the same feeling of accomplishment. Anyway, that's just me. I'm sure many others can't wait!
73, Ken Alexander (still VE3HLS) So Phisai, Thailand Blog: bueng-ken.com http://bueng-ken.com/
On Wed, Feb 13, 2019 at 9:57 AM Les Rayburn <les@highnoonfilm.com mailto:les@highnoonfilm.com> wrote: :-)
After listening to the WebSDR of Oscar-100 for nearly 24 hours now, it’s easy to imagine how my parents must have felt on October 4, 1957 as Sputnik transmitted it’s “beep beep beep” message to the world. Everything had changed in an instant.
A geostationary hamsat is a quantum leap forward—and I confess to feeling a twinge of disappointment that someone other than AMSAT-NA accomplished this feat first.
As a teenager, I remember driving a friends brand new, 1974 Corvette Stingray. My first thought was “Man! I gotta get me one of these!” Color me jealous.
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63nf AMSAT #38965, ARRL Life Member, CVHS Life Member, SVHF Member
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org mailto:AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
One big advantage is informed, technical QSOs rather than just the 59 IO70kc adios. For me a very big plus.
Simon Brown, G4ELI www.sdr-radio.com
-----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org On Behalf Of Les Rayburn Sent: 13 February 2019 10:35 To: Kenneth P Alexander ve3hls@gmail.com Cc: AMSAT BB amsat-bb@amsat.org Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] The Space Race is On--and We're Behind...
I agree that the challenge of VUCC, and possibly DXCC would be minimized. Operating LEO’s does provide a real sense of accomplishment.
But the advantages of having a geostationary hamsat are so many—and just beginning to be explored. I’m certain that within a year or two, we’ll be amazed at what hams accomplish with Es’hail-2. As you mention, for EMCOMM it could be a god-send.
I really wasn’t complaining. It’s a tremendous thing—regardless of which country managed to pull it off. Without the efforts of AMSAT since the beginning, none of this would be possible.
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF Maylene, AL EM63nf AMSAT #38965, ARRL Life Member, CVHS Life Member, SVHF Member
participants (5)
-
Jean Marc Momple -
Kenneth P Alexander -
Les Rayburn -
Peter Goodhall (2M0SQL) -
Simon Brown