[amsat-bb] Re: Why should we support AMSAT?

[R Oler]

Dan...so have amateurs...see Stensat.  And "suitsat 1 and 2" were not that great success either...  Sorry I dont agree with much of that statement Robert G. Oler WB5MZO Life member AMSAT ARRL NARS
> Date: Sun, 23 Oct 2011 20:13:22 -0400
> From: n8fgv at usa.net
> To: amsat-bb at amsat.org
> Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: Why should we support AMSAT?
> 
> Stefan,
> 
> I wasn't trying to diminish the students, but I have worked with a student
> satellite project where they literally took a chip maker's application note
> for a baby monitor or cordless telephone transmitter and made a satellite
> transmitter out of it, and it didn't work on orbit.
> 
> I appreciate the students energy and enthusiasm, but in some cases they do
> have much to learn about RF. I also remember how valuable my amateur radio
> background was to me when I was an engineering student, when some of my
> classmates couldn't even read the color bands on a resistor and had no idea
> how the theory that we were studying was applied to real world applications.
> 
> I am also concerned about whether the students are receiving the right kind of
> experience to prepare them for the aerospace industry. They get to make all
> the design decisions and direct their entire project, but when they are hired
> by Lockheed Martin or some other large aerospace company they will be doing
> mind numbing paperwork and will have little power to make engineering
> decisions, particularly on government contracts. I also know about this from
> years of experience. They also are not learning the political skills that they
> will need to have to survive in the corporate world, where career success
> depends more on how you suck up to authority than on your ability to design or
> build anything.
> 
> I am not diminishing the students, I love the students and want them to
> succeed better than I did, but I have much experience, not all of it positive,
> that I feel I should share with them during their formative years.
> 
> Dan
> 
> ------ Original Message ------
> Received: Sun, 23 Oct 2011 09:18:48 AM EDT
> From: Stefan Wagener <wageners at gmail.com>
> To: Daniel Schultz <n8fgv at usa.net>Cc: amsat-bb at amsat.org
> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Why should we support AMSAT?
> 
> > Hi Dan,
> >
> > You have some good points and your thoughts are appreciated. But why
> > are you diminishing the students efforts by making these statements:
> >
> > At least they are building, studying, learning and actually many times
> > successfully have an operational satellite.
> >
> > Thanks for reading.
> >
> > Stefan, VE4NSA
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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