Hi Matt

Why stop there?  We should have a backup to the 

analog transponder in the form of a CW transponder. 

Then we can back that up with a spark transponder.  

Finally, we should have some sort of semaphores or 

smoke signals to back that up.

The point is that the commitment to have an analog backup had already been

made. You may not have been party to the discussions around July 2005, but

believe me they were just as vociferous as the recent disinformation

floating about regarding S1. It is important to consider seriously what the

members want - after all, they are paying for it, and there would be no

AMSAT-NA or Eagle without them.

Seriously, if we have 2 SDX's, aren't they backups 

for each other?

Well, this raises an interesting point. My understanding from discussions

over this side of the pond with Martin Sweeting is that redundancy only

truly exists if you also have two different designs: having two devices of

the same design does not resolve design flaws. In SSTL's case, Martin's view

is that the majority of failures are now down to design, with a minority

environmental (radiation, thermal, outgassing etc etc).

73, Howard G6LVB

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