Michael;

I have no particular interest in EMCOMM, but is silly to think that LEO satellites have much value for that. A GEO would in fact be useful for EMCOMM.

I have built an earth station, worked all sorts of satellites AO-10, AO-13, etc. negotiating Doppler etc. In my station had no automatic positioning of the rotors. It was up to me to point to the correct AZ EL. I only more recently got controllers and really it was for the challenge of making them work. So I was pretty busy when there was a pass. But then, those satellites had an apogee where they appeared to stand still and the band would open up for a long time. It was bliss.

I never did get to work AO-40. I did have the pleasure of hearing its engineering beacon full quieting on a tiny Standard C508 inside my car on a road trip.

Lets be honest, none of that work putting an earth station together is as challenging as putting together AO-40 or any of the predecessor satellites.  But those days and those folks are gone. AMSAT in my opinion is in a rut of negative thinking. I have seen the same cycle of projects for years since AO-40. There are a ton of reasons why we cannot do something which is why I want that thread to be a positive one.