We have launched four satellites and a fifth is complete and awaiting launch.

AO92 ‘seems’ to be having some battery issues. The membership is still waiting on a failure analysis for AO95. HO107 went SK not long after being commissioned. Yes, I know, space is hard. Have we truly learned anything from our failures?

and revenue continue to increase after a long period of decline

If all is well, why did AMSAT take out a Government loan when many of us had friends and family that lost businesses because they truly needed a loan and couldn’t get one?

In addition to satellite projects, we have launched a new, modern membership portal. Our members now have access to all issues of The AMSAT Journal from 2014 to the present and all of the AMSAT Symposium Proceedings since 1986 through this portal. More publications are coming soon.

Why did it take until 2020 to have this happen? People have been paying other organizations online for decades, online payment processing isn’t really cutting edge technology. I would never brag about being so far behind the times as having, just now, allowed members to access their info and join online. Also, it’s not really cutting edge to FTP docs onto a server and put them in a environment that requires a password. Seems to me that if it takes AMSAT until 2020 to have a ‘membership portal’ that it’s time for some new, progressive leadership.

If you want us to continue on the journey

I, personally, would prefer a journey of openness and transparency from leadership. I would prefer that AMSAT Directors have monthly (more if needed) meetings. I would prefer AMSAT leaders that won’t discriminate against members because they aren’t part of a certain clique. I have heard from so many members during this election cycle that feel the same way.

Do I have all the answers? Not at all. Am I willing to have an open mind, listen to all members and be willing to devote an hour or two a month to meet and collaborate to move the organization forward, yes I am. This has NOT happened with legacy incumbents. Legacy incumbents have had their chance to affect change and have not done so.

If members don’t want to continue on the status quo route and want openness and transparency then they should vote for myself, Howie DeFelice AB2S and Bob McGwier N4HY.

Jeff WE4B http://we4bravo.com

Paul (et al),

Thank you and the BOD members for all your hard work. Your professional campaign speaks volumes and your dedication to *always making AMSAT a success *is the way it ought to be for all board members.

I am not thanking those BOD members, candidates or supporters that thrive off of constantly bashing AMSAT publically (the org, its members or directors) and that appear to survive off of drama, complaints, stirring the pot, promoting other organizations whose apparent aim is to compete with AMSAT or that feel the need to post letters from a legal wizard-of-smart to apparently intimidate and/or drain AMSAT of funds that would otherwise be going to engineering activities. All of these things appear to be hurting morale and tainting the organization, unnecessarily. (oh, wait... I mean, Changing!).

The only thing i'm really not happy about is that AMSAT does not brag enough about its accomplishments. Even during the ARISSat days, I remember thinking to myself; all this is going on, so many people are working on all this and most HAMs I know have no clue. I remember it being a logistics nightmare amplified by the fact that it's a volunteer organization, but I remember everyone having fun regardless. The first SSTV images I pulled down from space were flipping amazing! That's something i'll never forget.

From what i'm observing on the bb, it does not seem like most of the

membership is very informed on the technical level of effort involved or the sheer number of hours it takes to accomplish many of the things that you all do. My hats off to you and the team.

May the bigger nerds win, Joseph Armbruster KJ4JIO

On Tue, Aug 4, 2020 at 7:04 PM Paul Stoetzer via AMSAT-BB < amsat-bb@amsat.org> wrote:

The past five years rank with the best in AMSAT's history and we are

poised

for much more success in the future. We have launched four satellites and

a

fifth is complete and awaiting launch. We have partnered with university groups to place amateur transponders on their satellites. We are on a path back to HEO through our GOLF program with the first two satellites in this series, GOLF-TEE and GOLF-1, selected for launch opportunities. We

continue

to support amateur radio on human spaceflight through ARISS and AREx. Our CubeSat Simulator project has been very successful in promoting AMSAT's mission of educational outreach. Due to these successes, membership

numbers

and revenue continue to increase after a long period of decline from the late 1990s. After falling to around 3,000 members in the early part of

last

decade, we are now up to about 4,000 members. Additionally, activity on

the

amateur satellites has increased considerably over the past several years.

In addition to satellite projects, we have launched a new, modern membership portal. Our members now have access to all issues of The AMSAT Journal from 2014 to the present and all of the AMSAT Symposium

Proceedings

since 1986 through this portal. More publications are coming soon. We have also modernized and revitalized the field program with our new AMSAT Ambassador program.

If you want us to continue on the journey Upward to HEO, vote for Dr. Mark Hammond, N8MH, Bruce Paige, KK5DO, and myself.

73,

Paul, N8HM upwardtoheo.coom _______________________________________________ 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.

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