[amsat-bb] Re: 9 Cubesats selected for free ESA ride to space

[Bruce Robertson]

Dom:

I greatly respect the knowledge you bring to this list, but I think
you are incorrect here on several fronts.

In at least one instance, the cubesat is, in fact, directly involved
in amateur communications:
"OUFTI-1 (University of Liège, Belgium): a mission to test the use of
the D-STAR amateur radio digital communication protocol in space"

As for the others, I think we should consider our telemetry-collecting
services paid for in arrears by projects like Delfi C3. Like it or
not, this is the place where small satellites are being routinely and
cheaply launched. We should give this momentum an occasional nudge in
the direction of our interests, not decry it.

Finally, I and others find telemetry transmission and collection a
wholly appropriate and very interesting use of amateur spectra. This
may sound crazy, but I've come to consider those signals that tell me
about conditions of the hardware in space often to be more interesting
than signals bounced from earth through space back to earth.

I think much of the opposition to cubesats derives from the mistaken
opinion that they represent a lost opportunity to apply the same
energies to a HEO satellite. My experience within the university makes
me believe this is false: it is not the case that their universities
and sponsors would, under other circumstances, pitch in for an amateur
communications HEO bird.

73, Bruce
VE9QRP

On Sat, Jun 7, 2008 at 2:24 PM, i8cvs <domenico.i8cvs at tin.it> wrote:
> Hi David, G0MRF
>
> It seem to me that while the Universities are becaming tennis players
> we collect telemetry without to be involved in their experiments and
> this is like to only pick up their balls and run with it.