Robert, Congratulations for volunteering to organize development of an analog linear transponder. Please contact me and the AMSAT Systems Engineering team for mass, volume, power consumption, and heat generation requirements for your linear transponder board. We will provide you the interface specification to the IHU for control and ICB (Interconnect Control Board) for power distribution.

Oh, and they're not 10 year olds, they are 22 year olds who are about 8 months away from receiving their Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering or Mechanical Engineering or Systems Engineering or Industrial Engineering Degree from the State University of New York system. And there are 34 (thirty-four) of them working on the NextGen Project for AMSAT.

I will gladly set up a conference call next week at 6PM EDT on Wednesday where you can talk with the Systems Engineering team to discuss the details of the requirements. We are scheduling the CDR (Critical Design Review) for the last week in January 2010. I expect you will be ready for this design review because since "such people exist" and they will have designs that meet the spacecraft's requirements. You must have the board ready for Systems Integration Test in Mid-March 2010. We will be putting the system on AMSAT's table at the Dayton Hamvention. Please have your prototype board budget and schedule ready for PDR (Preliminary Design Review) during the 2nd week of December, 2009.

They are tight time frames but we are just doing evolutionary, not revolutionary changes to the design. We also have a team of 27 upper-division undergraduate senior Systems Engineers, university System Engineering professors and experienced professional Systems Engineers with multiple decades of industry experience working on the project.

I suggest, you and anyone else who wishes to declare their intension to volunteer on a board project should read our presentation from the AMSAT Symposium.

Alex Harvilchuck, N3NP/SO4NNP Program Manager, AMSAT NextGen Program

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Message: 4 Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2009 12:37:44 -0500 From: Rocky Jones orbitjet@hotmail.com Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Why do hamsats? (Or anything else...) To: bbj@innismir.net Cc: Amsat BB amsat-bb@amsat.org, k6hx@arrl.net Message-ID: COL106-W45FA0985C6EE33197B1B54D6C20@phx.gbl Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

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Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2009 12:57:34 -0400 From: bbj@innismir.net To: orbitjet@hotmail.com

I wrote:

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In my view better engineering doctrine would imply that we try and put the digital transponder ON ISS and let it "cook" there for a bit.

you replied

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Yup, that would be ideal, I'm nominating you to head that project. This is right up your alley, as since you and your friends within the JSC can navigate the political process easily. Lets run this in tandem with the ARISSSat project.

Thanks for volunteering!

-- Ben Jackson - N1WBV - New Bedford, MA bbj <at> innismir.net - http://www.innismir.net/

one has to wonder Ben why didnt they try it? There would have been a few more issues involved in terms of operating the thing on ISS other then just deploying it (mostly RF work)...

but...

as for me heading the project. I'd deep six the entire software defined transponder, put it on a development effort with some heavy program guidance...find some people who wanted to build linear transponders even if they were overseas (such people exist already) and start flying as many of those as possible.

Right now what in my view the satellite community needs is a 100 percent Oscar 7 or 10...not some technological development issues.

If I were king we would have something to offer the USAF if they had spare lift on a Centaur as they just had...remember the original Oscar's flew on USAF vehicles.

in the meantime I will continue to keep my technical skills sharp (grin) by helping the 10 year olds put together a buoy that is going to float in Clear Lake...

Robert WB5MZO