On 28 Oct 2008 at 6:04, Nick Pugh wrote:

Dan gave a very interesting and funny talk at the banquet.

On 27 Oct 2008 at 21:24, n3tl@bellsouth.net wrote:

Dan Schultz's presentation on the upcoming Hubble Space Telescope repair mission...Paul Marsh's report on S- and X-band deep space reception...

On 27 Oct 2008 at 16:43, Alan P. Biddle wrote:

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.

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******,LARGELY SELF-INFLICTED*****

On 28 Oct 2008 at 7:20, David Giles wrote:

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

Any news about P3E or EAGLE? Aside of the banquet and the various lunch? As David ask it seems that this group is sunking and i'm not sure the internal reorganization will be done at the right level eg: "there are some shortages of people with particular skills, due to many factors." Did anyone ever think that the AMSAT-NA old fashion undemocratic structure and the family affair BOD is not the actual main problems source. If ">These things happen to people, organizations, and economies" there is ways to have them changed? We have one of this way actually in the making where November will give us a clue in the right direction!

Did we can do the same at our "HAM" level? could be are we too old or too conservative to make the necessary moves? IMHO we should expand our vision over our continental boundaries or the main next AMSAT-NA symposium activity will be a shuffle board game! sponsored by some Antiphlogistine Poultice company. eg:">If you get the AMSAT Journal, there is a great recruiting poster on page 23 of the latest issue" This recruiting is not aiming the right target at all. Refocused the recruiting campaign towards college and universities with some appealing actual argumenting will be far more effective IMHO.

A stage coach opinion...

"-"

Luc Leblanc VE2DWE Skype VE2DWE www.qsl.net/ve2dwe WAC BASIC CW PHONE SATELLITE