[amsat-bb] Re: Message from Tom Clark

[Stefan Wagener]

Thanks Tom,

I hope that your message is clearly heard and we can finally move on.

All the best and thanks for your tireless efforts.

Stefan, VE4NSA

-----Original Message-----
From: amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On
Behalf Of Tom Clark, K3IO
Sent: June-18-08 9:33 PM
To: AMSAT BB
Subject: [amsat-bb] (no subject)

Domenico, I8CVS said
> When OSCAR-10, OSCAR-13 and AO40 where alive and well we all
> were assisted in solving our technical problems by some well know teachers
> and radio scientists every day on this BB like James Miller G3RUH,
> Charles Suckling, G3WDG and Tom Clark W3IWI now K3IO but
> unfortunately they actually desappeared from  this BB because they are
> not anymore interested to discuss about the technical level and matters
> actually seen on this BB.
>
>   
I won't speak for the others, but I am still here, reading all these 
discussions. I choose to be very selective in my posting of comments 
unless I have something positive to offer.

Regarding these current discussions, I am at a loss to understand why 
the amateur community has become so self-centered that they cannot see 
that we MUST pursue programs that involve the education of new. young 
and enthusiastic amateurs to carry on the hobby in the future. The 
frequencies do not BELONG to us, they are merely entrusted to us to do 
good deeds for humanity. As far as I am concerned, unless we encourage 
projects like the Cubesats, then amateur radio est morte.

I am also dismayed at the "linear vs FM" diatribes that seem to go on 
unabated. I was a major player in the decision for AMSAT-NA to pursue 
AO-51 because we needed a simple, short-term project to keep the 
organization alive. We solicited the contribution of a linear 
transponder and no one, none, zip, Nada was offered. NBFM hardware was 
available, so it flew. It was disappointing for me to learn that there 
was no one in the USA, Canada or Mexico (the "turf" of AMSAT-NA) who 
could tackle the building of such a simple piece of RF hardware.

One piece of news on the linear transponder front that I do want to 
mention. This past weekend we had a small technical meeting to 
understand the status of Suitsat-2 -- like the first Suitsat, this will 
involve putting radio equipment on an out-of-warranty Russian ORLON 
space suit, stuffing the legs with dirty clothes, and pushing it out of 
the hold of the Space Station. The current plans for Suitsat-2 include a 
low-powered Software Defined Transponder (SDX) with 70 cm in & 2M out. 
The linear transponder passband will be 20-25 kHz wide. Some of you who 
were at Dayton may have seen some of the Suitsat/SDX hardware running on 
the air. The satellite demo folks (W5IU, N8MH) in the parking lot 
demonstrated it working to many folks. The SDX activity is being done 
under the auspices of the High Performance SDR (HPSDR) group which has 
AMSAT & TAPR sponsorship. An early version of the "Odyssey" SDX can be 
seen at http://hpsdr.org/wiki/index.php?title=ODYSSEY. All along, we 
have been hoping that we can make a version of the Odyssey SDX be small 
enough to fit into a Cubesat.

And so Domenico, despite your statement, I'm still here!

73 de Tom, K3IO (ex W3IWI)
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