[amsat-bb] Just expanding on my previous thoughts about AMSAT perception....

[Michael]

I don't mean to suggest there's anything wrong with easy. I just think, 
as a selling point, it's run it's course is all. How many times are you 
going to watch a guy at a hamfest with an HT and a handheld  antenna 
exchange grid squares? I would think sooner or later people just walk on 
by.  "Seen it already, where's the new rigs?" It's the same ole, same 
ole. I see an Arrow antenna sitting on a tripod, seemingly alive, 
autonomously tracking a sat in Azimuth and Elevation while the operator 
is busy making contacts, I'm going to stop because that's exciting! My 
whole point in my post is to try and get AMSAT to do something, 
anything, different. They need something new to excite the masses. 
Judging by the response here, it won't happen. That's OK, not everyone 
is going to see things the same way. I just know what I see and that's 
an organization that is stuck in the mud and spinning it's wheels, 
becoming more irrelevant by the day. I doubt my constructive criticism 
will be received well. It never has been in the past. Another reason I'm 
no longer a member. They don't seem to listen very well. I wish I had 
the technical expertise to bring some of my ideas to fruition but I 
don't. I can follow a circuit diagram and put together projects where 
someone else has done the engineering but I can't engineer them myself. 
I often wonder why someone hasn't come up with simple, relatively 
inexpensive computer driven SDR XCVRS for satellite work. They seem a 
natural progression from dongles like the Funcube but nothing like that 
exist that I'm aware of. I'd lap up kits like that.

I believe Michelle is the YL I was speaking of earlier. She certainly 
seems like a breath of fresh air. AMSAT needs more of her. People who 
aren't satisfied to rest on past laurels and just maintain the status 
quo. I'm about to go work some DX with my SDR that is based around an 
Arduino and it's open source PowerSDR interface that is based on a 
Raspberry Pi. Now that's exciting!

73,

Michael, W4HIJ

On 8/1/2019 2:14 AM, Kenneth P Alexander wrote:
> Hi Michael,
>
> I don't see anything wrong with "easy".  Easy gets people to try new 
> things.  I never dreamed I would get into satellites until I read I 
> could hear them with my HT and rubber duck.  If not for that I 
> probably wouldn't have followed up and got on FM satellites with a D72 
> and then linear satellites with a pair of FT-817s.
>
> My circumstances demanded that I operate portable, swinging an Arrow 
> antenna around.
>
> Only now, a few years later, am I at the stage where I'm thinking 
> "yeah, it would be cool to do this and that with an Arduino".  
> Luckily, I'm retired and now have the time to (slowly) learn how to 
> program one.
>
> My point is if people see that some new aspect of amateur radio is 
> actually easy to get into they're more likely to give it a try.  Then 
> they'll see the opportunities to use neat tech to make the experience 
> better.  That's how I see things happening.
>
> 73,
>
> Ken Alexander, VE3HLS
> So Phisai, Thailand
> Blog: bueng-ken.com <http://bueng-ken.com>
>
> On Thu, Aug 1, 2019, 08:58 Michael via AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb at amsat.org 
> <mailto:amsat-bb at amsat.org>> wrote:
>
>       Expanding on my previous thoughts pasted at bottom...
>
>     It seems to me that the 'easy" thing has run it's course. Again, just
>     one mans opinion but I think if you had some sort of setup outside a
>     hamfest with a card table and a folding chair, a sat rig and an
>     Arduino
>     based rotator controller running off a laptop or I-pad and
>     antennas on a
>     "WRAPS" ( I think?) type tripod tracking both Azimuth and Elevation,
>     you'd attract the more technically savvy hams. Probably more youth
>     too.
>     I know in my model railroading hobby that the fact we can now run
>     trains
>     with a smart phone is a big draw. Back in the day, on the not so
>     great
>     passes, I would sometimes fire up the shack computer and my BASIC
>     STAMP
>     based Sabretrack homebrew rotor controller and walk outside and
>     watch my
>     old surplus OR-360 TV rotators moving my homebrew antennas to
>     track the
>     sat across the sky. To me there was a certain "coolness factor" in
>     that
>     which can't be matched by the guy holding the antenna in his hand and
>     waving it about. In fact, my whole idea in buying the beat up
>     telescope
>     tripod was to sit outside at a table with a couple of HT's and my old
>     notebook computer driving  the thing with a couple of light weight
>     antennas on board. Yes, I know that I don't necessarily need to track
>     elevation with an LEO but watching the antennas track both is
>     awesome to
>     me. I think we miss the boat sometimes by constantly harping on and
>     touting the "easy" aspect of it. Sometimes complex and high tech
>     is more
>     attractive. Digital modes, SDR and computers have made HF radio hi
>     tech
>     and cool again, at least for me, yet the sat hobby seems to be
>     bending
>     over backwards to over simplify and make things BORRRING! Even model
>     railroads are computer controlled these days! It doesn't have to be
>     super expensive either. An Arduino and some DC motors and gears
>     can be
>     had for less than the cost of a meal for four at Mickey D's. All my
>     OR-360's were was Mabuchi style hobby motors hooked to a gear
>     train. You
>     controlled direction by switching polarity of 12VDC sent up the
>     line and
>     they had position pot feedback. EasyComm format for AZ/EL. But
>     hey, what
>     do I know, I've only been in this hobby forty one years. Just my
>     opinion
>     anyway. That and five bucks will get you a "Venti" designer coffee at
>     Starbucks.
>
>     73,
>
>     Michael, W4HIJ
>
>     Just from the outside looking in...
>
>     AMSAT APPEARS only to be interested in hoisting flying repeaters and
>     PACSAT/APRS and showing the average ham how "easy" it is to work sats
>     with a handheld and a simple antenna. I guess that's all well and good
>     but I didn't get in the sat end of the hobby for "easy".  I wanted
>     a new
>     challenge. I was too late for A0-40 because of lack of funds for a
>     station but I did have fun for awhile chasing AO-51, FO-29, AO-7 etc.
>     with a TS-2000X and a homebrew rotator and antenna system.
>     Unfortunately, life got in the way and I needed family funds so the
>     Kenwood hit Ebay and I'm inactive on the birds now. I sometimes
>     consider
>     buying a couple of Baofengs (you should ALWAYS operate full duplex but
>     that's another thread) and getting back in on the cheap, I even
>     recently
>     bought a beat up old telescope with a computer tracking tripod
>     system I
>     spotted at Goodwill, but honestly, the challenge isn't there to
>     give me
>     motivation.
>
>     Before everyone flames me, as I said, this is from the outside looking
>     in and just one man's opinion. I really wish AMSAT would do something,
>     anything, to change my perception. Seems to me I saw something about a
>     YL running for the board who's interested in open sourcing stuff.  Her
>     candidate statement was IMHO, a much needed breath of fresh air
>     but I'm
>     no longer a member and don't keep up so no idea if she got elected. If
>     AMSAT wants my membership and donation dollars back, they need to
>     change
>     perception and I suspect there are many out here in the community who
>     feel the way I do.
>
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