Domenico, I8CVS said
When OSCAR-10, OSCAR-13 and AO40 where alive and well we all were assisted in solving our technical problems by some well know teachers and radio scientists every day on this BB like James Miller G3RUH, Charles Suckling, G3WDG and Tom Clark W3IWI now K3IO but unfortunately they actually desappeared from this BB because they are not anymore interested to discuss about the technical level and matters actually seen on this BB.
I won't speak for the others, but I am still here, reading all these discussions. I choose to be very selective in my posting of comments unless I have something positive to offer.
Regarding these current discussions, I am at a loss to understand why the amateur community has become so self-centered that they cannot see that we MUST pursue programs that involve the education of new. young and enthusiastic amateurs to carry on the hobby in the future. The frequencies do not BELONG to us, they are merely entrusted to us to do good deeds for humanity. As far as I am concerned, unless we encourage projects like the Cubesats, then amateur radio est morte.
I am also dismayed at the "linear vs FM" diatribes that seem to go on unabated. I was a major player in the decision for AMSAT-NA to pursue AO-51 because we needed a simple, short-term project to keep the organization alive. We solicited the contribution of a linear transponder and no one, none, zip, Nada was offered. NBFM hardware was available, so it flew. It was disappointing for me to learn that there was no one in the USA, Canada or Mexico (the "turf" of AMSAT-NA) who could tackle the building of such a simple piece of RF hardware.
One piece of news on the linear transponder front that I do want to mention. This past weekend we had a small technical meeting to understand the status of Suitsat-2 -- like the first Suitsat, this will involve putting radio equipment on an out-of-warranty Russian ORLON space suit, stuffing the legs with dirty clothes, and pushing it out of the hold of the Space Station. The current plans for Suitsat-2 include a low-powered Software Defined Transponder (SDX) with 70 cm in & 2M out. The linear transponder passband will be 20-25 kHz wide. Some of you who were at Dayton may have seen some of the Suitsat/SDX hardware running on the air. The satellite demo folks (W5IU, N8MH) in the parking lot demonstrated it working to many folks. The SDX activity is being done under the auspices of the High Performance SDR (HPSDR) group which has AMSAT & TAPR sponsorship. An early version of the "Odyssey" SDX can be seen at http://hpsdr.org/wiki/index.php?title=ODYSSEY. All along, we have been hoping that we can make a version of the Odyssey SDX be small enough to fit into a Cubesat.
And so Domenico, despite your statement, I'm still here!
73 de Tom, K3IO (ex W3IWI)
Thanks Tom,
I hope that your message is clearly heard and we can finally move on.
All the best and thanks for your tireless efforts.
Stefan, VE4NSA
-----Original Message----- From: amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces@amsat.org] On Behalf Of Tom Clark, K3IO Sent: June-18-08 9:33 PM To: AMSAT BB Subject: [amsat-bb] (no subject)
Domenico, I8CVS said
When OSCAR-10, OSCAR-13 and AO40 where alive and well we all were assisted in solving our technical problems by some well know teachers and radio scientists every day on this BB like James Miller G3RUH, Charles Suckling, G3WDG and Tom Clark W3IWI now K3IO but unfortunately they actually desappeared from this BB because they are not anymore interested to discuss about the technical level and matters actually seen on this BB.
I won't speak for the others, but I am still here, reading all these discussions. I choose to be very selective in my posting of comments unless I have something positive to offer.
Regarding these current discussions, I am at a loss to understand why the amateur community has become so self-centered that they cannot see that we MUST pursue programs that involve the education of new. young and enthusiastic amateurs to carry on the hobby in the future. The frequencies do not BELONG to us, they are merely entrusted to us to do good deeds for humanity. As far as I am concerned, unless we encourage projects like the Cubesats, then amateur radio est morte.
I am also dismayed at the "linear vs FM" diatribes that seem to go on unabated. I was a major player in the decision for AMSAT-NA to pursue AO-51 because we needed a simple, short-term project to keep the organization alive. We solicited the contribution of a linear transponder and no one, none, zip, Nada was offered. NBFM hardware was available, so it flew. It was disappointing for me to learn that there was no one in the USA, Canada or Mexico (the "turf" of AMSAT-NA) who could tackle the building of such a simple piece of RF hardware.
One piece of news on the linear transponder front that I do want to mention. This past weekend we had a small technical meeting to understand the status of Suitsat-2 -- like the first Suitsat, this will involve putting radio equipment on an out-of-warranty Russian ORLON space suit, stuffing the legs with dirty clothes, and pushing it out of the hold of the Space Station. The current plans for Suitsat-2 include a low-powered Software Defined Transponder (SDX) with 70 cm in & 2M out. The linear transponder passband will be 20-25 kHz wide. Some of you who were at Dayton may have seen some of the Suitsat/SDX hardware running on the air. The satellite demo folks (W5IU, N8MH) in the parking lot demonstrated it working to many folks. The SDX activity is being done under the auspices of the High Performance SDR (HPSDR) group which has AMSAT & TAPR sponsorship. An early version of the "Odyssey" SDX can be seen at http://hpsdr.org/wiki/index.php?title=ODYSSEY. All along, we have been hoping that we can make a version of the Odyssey SDX be small enough to fit into a Cubesat.
And so Domenico, despite your statement, I'm still here!
73 de Tom, K3IO (ex W3IWI) _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. 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
Stefan: thanks for the comments. It's good to know that this "tekkie" is not a voice in the wilderness.
To all: I apologize for the blank "no subject" subject field. I thought I had filled it in, but I guess I didn't.
73, Tom
participants (2)
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Stefan Wagener -
Tom Clark, K3IO