[amsat-bb] Re: The Eagle has died.

[Robert Oler]

Eric.

Delurking a tad longer.

I've read and well understand the engineering points the folks on Eagle are 
making.  I am curious if they have addressed some other issues.

If they get the money to build the bird then the "community" which supports 
this has agreed with their decision.  If they cant then well they cant.  The 
next step will be to see if they can get the "buy in" to buy the equipment 
that is going to be required for the new modes which they seem to be banking 
the bird on.

The irony is that they (on Eagle) are facing the same challenge that 
manufactors in the light sport airplane market are.  The LSA market right 
now is divided up between two different groups.  People who are spending 
large sums of money for brand new LSA vehicles and people who are buying 
Ercoupe like (read very old) LSA vehicles.  Right now an Ercoupe C is about 
10000 dollars more then a D...why?  The C is LSA qualified and goes for 
around 20-30K.  The cheapest "new" LSA goes for over 70K.

The new LSA's have wonder instruments (LCD like displays...gee make me think 
I am in the Boeing) and the ERcoupes have instruments in some cases older 
then I am.  But the ERcoupes are selling.

Why?  They are what people can "buy into" the hobby for on the dollars they 
are willing to spend.

The question that I see in the amateur satellite community is do we want 
"wonderful modes" or do we prefer larger numbers.

If they get the new modes on EAgle will it be with  hardware that is easily 
buildable by the "average Ham"?  Does anyone here really see that like AO-40 
where MDS converters could be pressed into service, all this stuff is going 
to be "user friendly".

The odd part is that the "tinkerers" in the community more or less rose to 
the challenge in terms of tinkering a setup for AO-40 S band.  yeah it never 
worked with tiny dishes and the like.  But my guess is that this "easy sat" 
approach is a goal that is a couple of bridges to far.  but put up a good 
sized dish and work on the installation to optimize it and the results were 
pretty "impressive".

Oh well I am not on the board and probably never will be and there are smart 
people there.  They have made their decision.

It will just be interesting to see if they can get the "money" support for 
their decisions.  Back home in Houston the folks who are selling the "new" 
LSA's have branched out into refurbishing LSA capable "classic" 
airplanes...that is what they are selling.

I just wonder what would change if instead of a "wonder bird" every 15 
years...we had a steady supply of AO-10 vehicles.

Robert Oler

WB5MZO/portable  Life member AMSAT/ARRL