Emergency communications would be part of the "We work in partnership with government, industry, educational institutions and fellow amateur radio societies." statement. The hope is that it would provide additional funding for building and launching a satellite to some orbit that is above a LEO, since we cannot do it alone. Furthermore, emergency communications is the first thing mentioned in Part 97.1, describing the basis and purpose of the entire amateur radio service, of which the amateur satellite service is a part. It is a primary reason the government provides an amateur service, and might be a good thing to support if you are looking for possible government support.

http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/news/part97/

§97.1 Basis and purpose. The rules and regulations in this Part are designed to provide an amateur radio service having a fundamental purpose as expressed in the following principles:

(a) Recognition and enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications.

(b) Continuation and extension of the amateur's proven ability to contribute to the advancement of the radio art.

(c) Encouragement and improvement of the amateur service through rules which provide for advancing skills in both the communications and technical phases of the art.

(d) Expansion of the existing reservoir within the amateur radio service of trained operators, technicians, and electronics experts.

(e) Continuation and extension of the amateur's unique ability to enhance international goodwill.

73, Drew KO4MA

----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Busch" tom@bloomington.com To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 2:03 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Reminder of the AMSAT Mission

Nowhere in there is mention of emergency communication. Yet it pops up again and again on the Eagle and Namaste boards.

AMSAT should stick to its mission.

TomB

Andrew Glasbrenner wrote:

...

Just as a reminder....Drew

AMSAT is a non-profit volunteer organization which designs, builds and operates experimental satellites and promotes space education. We work in partnership with government, industry, educational institutions and fellow amateur radio societies. We encourage technical and scientific innovation, and promote the training and development of skilled satellite and ground system designers and operators.

Our Vision is to deploy high earth orbit satellite systems that offer daily coverage by 2009 and continuous coverage by 2012. AMSAT will continue active participation in human space missions and support a stream of LEO satellites developed in cooperation with the educational community and other amateur satellite groups.

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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

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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

Geez! When are you guys going to get the point. There appears to be absolutely no way to get a launch without the help of outside funding. Do you really think that someone is going to help fund a launch just so you can use the satellite for the sole purpose of yakking about whatever strikes your fancy at the moment? There is going to have to be some other tangible, useful reason for the satellite to be in orbit. Anyway, the fact is that emergency communications is a corner stone of the Amateur service in the first place. The only real problem I have with the mission and vision statements is that the vision statement now appears to have a somewhat unrealistic time frame. I'm sure we should get some answers about that soon. 73, Michael, W4HIJ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Busch" tom@bloomington.com To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 2:03 PM Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Reminder of the AMSAT Mission

Nowhere in there is mention of emergency communication. Yet it pops up again and again on the Eagle and Namaste boards.

AMSAT should stick to its mission.

TomB

Andrew Glasbrenner wrote:

...

Just as a reminder....Drew

AMSAT is a non-profit volunteer organization which designs, builds and operates experimental satellites and promotes space education. We work in partnership with government, industry, educational institutions and fellow amateur radio societies. We encourage technical and scientific innovation, and promote the training and development of skilled satellite and ground system designers and operators.

Our Vision is to deploy high earth orbit satellite systems that offer daily coverage by 2009 and continuous coverage by 2012. AMSAT will continue active participation in human space missions and support a stream of LEO satellites developed in cooperation with the educational community and other amateur satellite groups.