[amsat-bb] Re: Bill Ress - N6GHz - Board Candidate -Operating Survey

[Robert Bruninga]

> Bill, I looked at your webpage and see that you 
> MIGHT have a reason to have new birds up and 
> running other than just as a member that wants to
> help out AMSAT through these trying times. 

By the way folks,  Bill Ress, N6GHZ sure gets a kudo from here.

Back when we were building RAFT and the MARScom satellites here
at the Academy, I was in a panic and needed help.  I put out a
request on AMSAT-BB for a UHF to VHF linear downconverter for
AM!  It needed to be flea powered and fit in a cubic inch or
so...  Bill came out-of-the blue... Volunteered, and send us a
prototype, then a flight unit..

THen when we smoked it, he built another one!  All at his own
expense!

And because MARScom had an antenna deployment anomoly (see video
on web page below) we never got to activate that UHF AM
receiver.   I felt terrible for all the effort that Bill had put
forward and then not being able to see the experiment work...
But sometimes, I guess that is what space experimentation is all
about.

Even though we did not get to thank Bill in the light of a
successful experiment, I am remiss for not having publically
thanked him for his coming through for us way back then
(2005)...  It is nice to know we have good microwave RF
engineers available to AMSAT...

Bob, WB4APR
RAFT Web Page:
http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/ande-raft-ops.html