On Fri, Sep 4, 2009 at 10:41 PM, Rocky Jones<[email protected]> wrote: > > Luc...I would add this. > > What is firmly missing in the amateur satellite effort is something > "repeatable" that encourages solid commercial gear to be available to people > who want to use the sats. >
Rocky -- With respect, I wish once again to take issue with your view that there is a dearth of both useful satellites and of commercial equipment. Previously, you have represented this as a sort of negative feedback loop, with useful satellites (and I understand to you this means those equipped with SSB/CW linear transponder) dwindling in number while commercial equipment becoming more scarce. I would contend that on both sides you are incorrect. On the equipment side, we have the IC-910H and the new all-in-one Icom rig, over which this list has drooled. I myself use the TS-2000 with great enjoyment. Sure, there are other models that have come and gone, but price-for-performance, we're in satellite appliance-operator heaven these days. (An aside for anyone new to this work who already has an all-in-one rig that will work 144 and 435 in SSB and CW: another option these days is to buy a second-hand FT-817 and, with clever use of computer control you can have full doppler tuning with this arrangement.) > > It is going to take about the same thing for hamsats...and one of those is a > continued supply of hamsats which encourage more communicating and less > experimenting.... Setting aside the contention that communication is the basis of this branch of the hobby, note that we do have a very healthy assembly line of LEO SSB/CW birds: KiwiSat's website has videos of them milling their spaceframe, and they'll take your money to help launch the thing at http://www.kiwisat.org.nz/funding.html; XW-1 from China is going to be fun; SSETI-ESEO will have an S-band linear transponder; Delfi n3xt; the next Indian Hamsat, and *anyone* that wants to cart PE1RAH's little board into space for the relatively minor price of a cubesat launch. Moreover, in my experience, the majority of 'communicating' -- like it or not -- is done on FM birds, again with a great deal of excellent commercial equipment built for the purpose. Exhibit A: my trusty Arrow Antenna, and SumbandilaSat will give us another target at which to shoot our Arrows :-) in a couple of weeks. http://www.southgatearc.org/news/september2009/sumbandilasat_launch_on_track.htm > Thats what is intriguing about the SpaceX "launch" campaign...and indeed > about the entire changes that are occurring now with the Augustine commission > there is a chance for things developing like geo synch "rafts" where very > large satellite complexes etc are built. But ham radio will not in my view > have a seat at that table unless and until there is some "normalcy" in the > mode. Perhaps more tendentiously, I would finally contend that we amateur satellite folks have indeed created a new normalcy: the steady flow of cubesats and their launches. Until recently, it has been hard for us to capitalize on this situation for two-way communication purposes, but with Delfi C3 and, now, FunCube, I think we're well on our way. As Bob has persistently argued, maybe we should just shoot for 1200 bps and provide a real and workable service through a LEO network. > I spent part of the afternoon talking with a condo owner on Clear Lake about > the Club moving its APRS/voice machine to the top of his 14 story building (a > virtual skyscraper in this part of Houston)...it was amazing how fast he came > around, all he could think of was what went on in Hurricane Ike. That's great work! Thanks for doing it. 73, Bruce VE9QRP _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. 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
