Hello to all those who attended Atlanta,
Apart from a new vision statement and a BOD meeting, did anything actually happen at Atlanta?
I haven't seen the usual "What a great symposium.", "It was great to catch up with ...", "I was inspired by the ...", "Demonstrations of... were held", "Hundreds of new members", or "Well done to the organisers" type messages.
I haven't even seen the usual announcement for the 2009 event. Perhaps there won't be one - that would be newsworthy in itself.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not knocking the event. It just seems unusually quiet.
73 de David VK5DG
David and all,
For me, personally, it was simply amazing. I'm new to the satellites - slightly more than 4 months since my first-ever satellite contact. Having the chance to meet and spend time with other satellite folks literally from around the world was wonderful.
The seminars were first-rate, and I would encourage anyone who didn't attend - most on this board, for example - to get a copy of the Official Proceedings.
For me, Dan Schultz's presentation on the upcoming Hubble Space Telescope repair mission (Dan was the featured speaker at the Saturday night banquet) was worth the entire cost of the Symposium itself. But honestly, I could make the same statement about several of the other presentations. Paul Marsh's report on S- and X-band deep space reception blew me away. But so did several others.
An unexpected treat was Marc Hammond's (N8MH) update on and quick history lesson about AO-16. In it's current mode, AO-16 is making history in a number of ways. It disappoints me personally that so few people show up for passes here in the states. I hope it's not that way elsewhere.
I'm confident there are others here for who attended this Symposium and previous AMSAT-NA Symposiums who can provide perspective. Here, it thoroughly exceeded my expectations, which were quite high.
73 to all,
Tim - N3TL AMSAT Member No. 36820 Athens, Ga. - EM84ha
I haven't posted before now because I have no frame of reference. This was my first Symposium - the first of many! -------------- Original message from David Giles [email protected]: --------------
Hello to all those who attended Atlanta,
Apart from a new vision statement and a BOD meeting, did anything actually happen at Atlanta?
I haven't seen the usual "What a great symposium.", "It was great to catch up with ...", "I was inspired by the ...", "Demonstrations of... were held", "Hundreds of new members", or "Well done to the organisers" type messages.
I haven't even seen the usual announcement for the 2009 event. Perhaps there won't be one - that would be newsworthy in itself.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not knocking the event. It just seems unusually quiet.
73 de David VK5DG
Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Dave,
I can only give you one ham's view. We had an excellent location this year, and kudus to the great folks in Atlanta for setting things up. Excellent talk at the dinner on the current status of the HST, and some really great top prizes. A TS-2000, an IC-910H, an Arrow antenna, and a huge number of smaller goodies.
Turnout was down considerably. There were about 80-90 present, which is significantly lower than normal. For the first time I can remember, the was no one from the APRS contingent there. A little restful, that. <grin!!!> One reason given by some of those not coming, was concern over the cost in a troubling economy. They did open up the President's Club reception to everybody this year. That was very successful, and I suspect that will be the case in the future. There was the usual range of presentations which covered a wide range for both the new operator, and those with years of experience. And of course AA2TX gave his usual innovative talk in his inimitable way.
There will indeed by a meeting in 2009. It will be the 40th anniversary meeting, and will be held in Washington, DC. Martha said it would probably be early in October.
All that having been said, we are definitely at a low point. These things happen to people, organizations, and economies. AMSAT-NA is going through some significant internal reorganization and soul searching. Launch opportunities are few and expensive, and there has been pressure on facilities both in the US and Germany, for different reasons. Likewise there are some shortages of people with particular skills, due to many factors. Some as simple as the march of time. Regrettably that problem is largely self-inflicted, but our new president made an eloquent plea for people to look hard at ways they can contribute. I have no doubt there will be a matching effort to utilize them. If you get the AMSAT Journal, there is a great recruiting poster on page 23 of the latest issue. None of that should or does detract from the fact that we have a strong organization, dedicate people, and lots of opportunities which will either happen, or be made to happen.
Alan WA4SCA
-
Alan P. Biddle -
David Giles -
n3tl＠bellsouth.net