HI Jerry,
First of all, thank you for being civil. Nice change from the last
two responses to my post. Second of all, I apparently stand corrected
on one thing. It was my impression that Fox-2 was also intended to be
another FM sat. If I am wrong in that then I apologize for the previous
characterization that all AMSAT seemed to want to do is put up "flying
repeaters". However, I will not back off my assertion that there should
be more to this hobby than portable ops using HT's and handheld
yagis. The Funcube bunch showed us not only that linear cubesats are
viable but also that fairly inexpensive SDR technology is a great way to
go as one option in receiving them. The Funcube and Funcube Pro
dongles were also a great fundraising idea as near as I can tell. We
should be taking concepts like that one step or even several steps
further and developing SDR based ground station solutions just as we
are developing SDR based transponders. Why AMSAT is not developing
stuff along those lines is a mystery to me. I know AMSAT is volunteers
but so is AMSAT UK and they got it done. I wish I had the technical
expertise to develop stuff like that but I don't. I can certainly
build with the best of them but circuit development is not my strong
suite. It just seems all we ever do anymore is show folks how they can
operate an " easy sat" with an HT. That's very frustrating to me. I
apologize for the " idiot at a hamfest" comment too but really all I
was trying to do was to express my frustration with that same old
approach which has grown kind of tired and boring to me.
73,
Michael, W4HIJ
On 1/26/2014 12:41 PM, n0jy wrote:
Hi Michael,
I have to defend AMSAT-NA a bit here, the perception that the
organization is "bent and determined to keep building and flying FM
repeaters" is not quite accurate.
Fox-1 which is an "FM repeater" was underway over 3 years ago when
AO-51 was failing. The purpose was to put up a quick replacement for
AO-51's popular "easy sat" HT/yagi accessibility.
In building such a project spares are necessary and hence there will
be 4 Fox-1 type cubesats of which two are going to fly so far. They
are all the same design with the difference being what experiments are
loaded in order to get us that launch. The purpose of the spares is
to have a ready replacement should one of the flight units fail at the
last minute.
We may then have up to four "FM repeaters" launched someday, but it's
not because that's all we're pursuing.
So it's not like we just keep building more FM satellites, we are just
taking opportunities to fly what we have as the launches come up.
And don't overlook the contribution of the experiments to the value of
the satellite. While it may be an "FM repeater" they will carry some
very interesting experiments providing telemetry and pictures for
education and fun.
In the meantime, there are still plans underway for AMSAT-NA to build
a linear transponder SDR satellite as Fox-2 (series). That was the
original idea until AO-51 started having problems.
In my opinion and from the perspective of a participant in the Fox-1
project people way underestimate what it takes to build a RELIABLE and
ROBUST satellite what will last many years, projects being completely
done by VOLUNTEERS. There are many people spending all available
spare time, pushing the limits of matrimony and family, and
essentially on a shoestring budget due to limited finances (i.e.
contributions, memberships). Those limitations of available resources
mean slow progress.
And the resource limitations also mean that nothing will probably
happen on the linear/SDR satellite until Fox-1 is done and launched.
Volunteers are not crawling out of the woodwork, and many who have
signed on have come and gone or had to regulate their participation
due to the need for real life as in jobs, family, and so on.
Opinion is entirely mine, and any misrepresentation of AMSAT-NA plans
that I may have stated is not intended.
73,
Jerry
N0JY
On 1/26/2014 10:48 AM, Michael wrote:
I wasn't going to touch this as I've made my opinion about P3-E
known before but I can't be silent about some other things. I don't
believe it will ever fly because of the economic realities of today's
world but hey, stranger things have happened. Cubesats seem to be
the wave of the future as they are more affordable to get launched
but if you ask me we are still going in the wrong direction with them
in a couple of areas. AMSAT seems to be bent and determined to keep
building and flying FM repeaters even when ground based FM repeaters
are slowly falling into disuse and projects like Funcube AO-73 are
showing how viable linear transponder cubesats are. There also seems
to be some continued fascination with showing how we can all stand
out in the frigid cold or the blazing sun balancing an HT in one hand
and a handheld yagi in the other to work the flying repeaters.......
YAWN!!! The novelty of that has worn off just as quickly as it did on
exchanging nothing but grid squares and calls and calling it a sat
QSO. The focus not only needs to be on more linear transponder
cubesats and developing new and efficient ways to communicate with
them but also on developing affordable ground equipment like
complete SDR transceiver systems along the lines of the funcube
dongle except maybe abandoning the "dongle" concept and going more
with a desktop "black box" approach. A computer driven SDR base
station with tracking and doppler correction and digital and CW as
well as voice mode communication is infinitely more interesting to me
than seeing some idiot balancing an antenna and an HT at a hamfest.
Just my opinion.... That and five bucks will get you a fancy
Starbucks coffee blend but I had to put it out there!
73,
Michael, W4HIJ
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