[amsat-bb] Re: [Mep-dev] Re: Re: BBsat Call for ideas

[Robert Bruninga]

Def:  MEP = Microwave Experimentation Project

> One of the stated intentions of MEP 
> is to continue the digital ground station 
> work that was begun in support of ACP. 
> While MEP is intended to be deployed as a 
> terrestrial system, the model is based off of ACP. 

For what it's worth... the issue of high-gain antenna pointing
among terrestrial users is being taken care of with an APRS
packet that will indicate to everyone on the net, where each
person's microwave antenna is pointing live.  This can allow for
automatic antenna tracking during terrestrial ops.  See
http://www.aprs.org/info/microwave-exp-proj.txt

> We preserve the idea of a multiple access payload in the 
> "groundsat", which will be a mountaintop repeater instead of 
> in orbit. We are using the same bands, with the only 
> difference being a shift off the satellite sub-bands. We have 
> taken advantage of a greatly improved link budget by 
> orienting the system to high-definition video for terrestrial
use.
> 
> For satellite use, we would be able to support some number of 
> voice channels, depending on the payload. 
> 
> We are open invitation and welcome anyone at any level who 
> would like to participate. 
> 
> Our current phase is exploratory. We're beginning to 
> transition to analyzing requirements, and then we'll design, 
> implement, test and verify. 
> -Michelle W5NYV