[amsat-bb] Re: Redundant geostaionary birds?

[Karl Bullock]

Dave hartzell wrote:
> 3) Most of the uplink freq's are in the 5.9 GHz range (out of our
> allocation) and downlink in the 3.7 GHz range, again, (out of our
> allocation).
>   
That may be _the_ problem.  I don't know the current capabilities of
these birds, and if they have any capability of either "retuning" to a
close amateur band, or if there are other assets on board, but inability
to transmit/receive on one of our bands would probably make this a non
sequitur.  Those with more intimate knowledge of current flying
technology would need to speak to this.
> I heard that several years ago there was talk of putting an amateur
> transponder onboard a commercial geo-sync bird.  But I suspect
> economics and the fact that all extra mass is reserved for
> stationkeeping fuel.  Plus power is always critical, and over time,
> the solar panels generate less.  Anyone know more about this?
>   
Another idea I floated a few years ago (here, I think) that was shot
down rather quickly.  However, this one may probably have more merit.
A micro-sat sized transponder wouldn't take much space at all, and as in
the previous item, donation of space on a new bird to a non-profit
organization would be an ongoing tax writeoff, as well as a nice PR
piece.  The satellite owners would, of course, have the ability to
terminate use of the amateur portion, and current could be limited
easily, but again, someone has to have the contacts to actually propose
such an item.

A corollary idea would be to place an amateur-band transponder on a new
satellite, and only activate it periodically and during emergency
situations.

73,
Karl, WA5TMC