Jim has slightly distorted the phone call. I have not agreed to anything or suggested anything. I asked Rick a question. What do you think we should in the case we find we are losing S1?
I have been investigating the details on this apparent loss of S1. Rick has been pushing a particular individual as that person who seems to know everything in Europe. I trusted this as correct and he does seem to have an accumulation of documentation which he will discuss. He has sent me a spreadsheet that I have not gone through but his spread sheet is not what I consider documentation. What I am finding is that this individual is a typical chicken little. If we listened to this individual, we would not attempt anything since everything is doomed to failure. I also find that he has mixed up WiMax with thinking it is a part 15 device. It is a licensed service so far as I am aware.
Paul Rinaldo is coming to San Francisco. We need to get well and truly serious about finding out what bands we can expect have available to us in a decade and we need input from people with some credibility. I suggest that Rinaldo is one credible source. We need to find other credible sources and do the due diligence on this to put this to bed absolutely for the time being. Rinaldo commissioned a study at the League called ARIA on the rise in noise temperature. I am attempting to get this data for our use.
There is a tremendous amount of work we can do from the digital communications unit out through the C band antenna and most of the receive system without knowing exactly what the receiver band will be. That said, I see no reason whatsoever not to assume we are going to use S1 until we know we cannot use S1.
Rick and I have a meeting tomorrow in D.C. that requires our presence. I will be on the road tonight, leaving after work to go down. I intend having dinner with my wife and relaxing before I go. My likelihood ratio is approaching zero.
I do have very good news personally. I have successfully built an acceptable team to take over the development of a system at work for which I did the research. Attempting to manage this several hundred million dollar development from an office in Princeton while the work was being done in Maryland has been an utter nightmare. It has literally eaten me alive for almost three months after I got well and truly above the "see"-level. That transition was completed last week. At 52, I think this is the last major research project I will undertake and from now on will limit myself to consulting only since I am absolutely "maxed out". I briefed several directors of agencies of the U.S. government in San Diego a couple of weeks ago and they jumped all over taking this effort into their house. Whew. FYI, I showed them GnuRadio,USRP, and the tuner doing a particular job. They asked me how many thousands of dollars per channel it would cost since they are paying nearly $100,000 per channel now (if you ignore some infrastrcture costs). I told them they needed to drop a letter. They looked puzzled and I hesitated for a moment and said "the s on thousands". I really enjoyed that a lot. SDR is a wonderful thing.
Bob
Jim Sanford wrote:
Team: I'm not going to be able to put an agenda on EaglePedia until tomorrow.
Things I'd like to discuss: 1. Budget submissions -- I have some, what else is ccoming? What estimates are coming? 2. Status reports -- what should I highlight at Symposium in my BRIEF remarks? Who is making what presentations? 3. Did we write off L-band or not in San Diego? I remember, and my notes and one other attendee confirm, that we wrote off L-band for the digital uplink, but briefly discussed it as ananalog uplink. We never made a decision. Lets discuss and decide. 4. Status reports from those we haven't heard from in a while -- power, sensors, etc. 5. Bob and Rick discussed on the phone, (I was next to Rick) the idea of: Rethinking S2 (3GHz) for the Digital uplink This frees up S1 for any use We offer that anyone willing can develop and submit for testing and qualification a stand-alone L/S transponder to fly in one of the TSFR slots, using fixed antennas. It would be usable at/near Apogee, like the microwave packages on AO-13 and A)-40. What do you think? Les's discuss this.
Any other topics? Remember 2100 EDT, 1800 PDT.
Thanks & 73, Jim wb4gcs@amsat.org
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