[amsat-bb] Re: S band downlink on P3E

[Robert McGwier]

Luc:

There is no blackmail involved.  I am capable of doing many different 
things.  YOU elect the board of directors and they will choose the 
direction of the organization given your input and their own personal 
biases.  <I> choose whether or not their goals and directions interest 
me enough to participate.  If they choose a direction I absolutely 
believe to be bad for amateur radio and the organization,  why would I 
take my valuable volunteer time to support it?  It is a simple statement 
of facts.  I am uninterested in doing what I think is wrong.  I support 
P3E.  I think it is the right thing for now.  I do not support a 
duplicate of P3E because I do not want to attempt to hit the magic 
inclination with a 2000 m/s set of burns and I want to be able to 
support transponder operations on all major packages 24 hours a day,  7 
days a week.   If we do not do this,  we are not answering the AMSAT 
vision statement which says that is what we will do.   I am attempting 
to lead the engineering VOLUNTEERS to volunteer to meet that goal.  If 
the organization does not wish to support that,  my leadership is 
ineffective,  and while I can help the organization,  my time and 
talents are in demand elsewhere and they will be better served and will 
have a greater impact on amateur radio.  I do not wish to duplicate that 
which was designed in 1980 for a complete different era.  The phase 3 
program is an engineering marvel.  It is essentially one man's absolute 
genius (Karl)  incarnated and captured to varying degrees by the rest of 
us as the supporting cast.  But I do not believe it is appropriate for 
2010-2020 given the launch environment,  the RF environment, and the 
legal environment.  The frame is too small to support the antennas 
required to use multiple satellites even to support 7/24 operations.   
We need a larger frame to support the phased arrays to meet the 70% 
availability and on and on and on. 

I am not emotional about these engineering decisions.  I get emotional 
when people do not use the minds they have been given and allow people 
who are no longer even members of our organization drive a debate.

I will support the organization with time and talents and continue to 
support it with my donations but I will not support it making poor 
decisions with those same time and talents even as I continue to support 
it with money.  I will use what little ability I have elsewhere where it 
is effective if we make what in my mind are wrong decisions.  That is my 
right.  It has nothing to do with blackmail.  It is a simple statement 
of fact.  I cannot be effective if I do not believe in the job.

Best 73's
Bob
N4HY


Luc Leblanc VE2DWE wrote:
> I wrote:
>
> If AMSAT-NA is building sats in close circle they just have to openly admitted it
> even if admission is not a very spoken word.
>
> Things seems to evoluate! and evolution often passed by revolution. We learn once upon the time 
> years ago some south the border choose to make a revolution as they seems it was the only one way 
> to achieve their goals. Are we starting to learn from the past?
>
> He wrote
>
>   
>> I am not interested in flying a carbon copy of P3E 
>> when I know it makes no sense whatsoever.
>>     
>
> I wrote:
>
> Who is driving AMSAT-NA an hollow BOD? an hollow president? Or a third builders
> manipulating wing 
> who blackmail the BOD?
>
> None of them? I let the conclusion yours!
>
>
>   

-- 
AMSAT VP Engineering. Member: ARRL, AMSAT-DL, TAPR, Packrats,
NJQRP/AMQRP, QRP ARCI, QCWA, FRC. ARRL SDR Wrk Grp Chairman
"You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat.
You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los
Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly
the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there.
The only difference is that there is no cat." - Einstein