[amsat-bb] Re: AMAST WAS and VUCC

[John Geiger]

It isn't just LOTW price shock, it is also paper QSL price shock, as the 
price for using QSLs for a VUCC award or endorsement is outrageous.

$40 or so for a basic 100 grid satellite VUCC?  And we want to get new hams 
interested in the grid hunt?

73s John AA5JG


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bruce Robertson" <ve9qrp at gmail.com>
To: "AMSAT-BB" <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2011 2:58 PM
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: AMAST WAS and VUCC


On Tue, Jan 25, 2011 at 10:21 AM,  <wa4hfn at comcast.net> wrote:
> OK everyone in favor of supporting AMSAT having a W.A.S and a VUCC lets 
> contact AMSAT with the request.I should have an effective start date
> WA4HFN Damon

I would be interested first in hearing what Bruce, KK5DO, thinks of
this idea, since he has the experience in both ARRL and AMSAT awards.

My initial concern is that this idea arrived in response to the LOTW
price schedule, which appears to have caused some sticker shock. That
is, it seems to have been conceived as a less expensive means of
achieving these awards.

Put more broadly, I'm not sure that the rate schedule of one
not-for-profit organization is a good reason to shift a task over to
another not-for-profit organization. These are not for-profit
businesses, who, in a capitalist model, should be encouraged to offer
the same service for better rates than their competition. Most of this
labour is volunteer in nature, and might be rather unsatisfying if it
were performed merely for the sake of a slightly better deal. Finally,
while some unique awards program obviously fulfills the part of the
AMSAT mission statement that reads "promote the training and
development of skilled satellite and ground system designers and
operators," I can't see how a duplicate WAS or VUCC program really
does so, especially since the years of experience with the ARRL awards
does not suggest, by the number of recipients, that they have been a
driving force in training these operators and designers.

73, Bruce

-- 
http://ve9qrp.blogspot.com

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