[amsat-bb] Space Center Abandoned Dish Rehabilitation - Outreach #1

[John Kludt]

Michelle,

So help me understand - what is the problem we are trying to solve?  Let's
play this out, we somehow get our hands on a  surplus dish and we fix it
up.  I will skip over the part of the story that deals with annual
maintenance costs and ongoing operational costs every time we fire it up
and use it.  The question is, use it for what?  A dish for the sake of
saying, "Heh, we own a dish" - who ever "we' is  - just does not make any
sense.

I suppose we could use it as part of a network of stations on 2.4 MHz for
HamTV but that works only if the dish is part of a greater US HamTV network
that does not exist right now.   And it only works if the Az/El system
turning the dish is a fast enough to keep up with a LEO such as the ISS -
that is simple question of fact that we can discover.    Other uses that
would benefit the general amateur radio satellite  community?

While it is a cool idea at least to me it feels a bit like a solution in
search of a problem.  Not saying it is bad idea but I am saying so help us
understand why we need a 20 foot dish owned by the amateur *satellite*
community at large.  The other part of me that does EME sees lots of uses
but that is very different game - see HB9Q.  And before we get too far down
the road, I'd like to see not just acquisition and repair costs but ongoing
maintenance and operations costs.

Respectfully,

John





On Wed, Aug 14, 2019 at 5:12 PM Michelle Thompson via AMSAT-BB <
amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote:

> A group of GNU Radio community members has permission to evaluate a dish
> installation in Huntsville, AL near the Space Center. If you've ever been
> to the Space Center (where the Saturn V is suspended from the ceiling) then
> this dish is right outside the main entrance. Anyone attending Symposium
> last year should recognize it!
>
> Here's a set of photos:
>
>
> https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1d_Oi3hrIi49JxmaoNuUA-pvUXOs7vSz1
>
> We're looking for technical information, identification of what you
> recognize in the photos, recommended next steps, and what to watch out for,
> prioritize, or avoid. We already know we want to take the paint off all the
> ID plates and see what's under there.
>
> We want to see if we can get this working for *amateur radio operators to
> access over the internet*, ideally with a GNU Radio flowgraph to control it
> from an SDR. Our priority is to make this work for amateur satellite.
>
> This type of setup is similar to what GNU Radio Foundation is working on
> with the Allen Telescope Array. We have the go-ahead from the Space Center
> curator to do this study and make recommendations.
>
> I have fully restored several basket-case British sports cars and then
> successfully raced them. My other team members have restored things even
> more challenging. We are not dumb, naive, or easily deterred. We know this
> may turn out to be something that requires way more work than we can do in
> any time frame we can manage. Documenting that is still of great value, and
> that is why we are asking for your help. Right now, no one knows much of
> anything about it. This sort of installation, if available for amateur
> radio, is well worth the effort.
>
> Some of the people involved have been driving past this installation for 20
> years and want to see it back in service at whatever level we can achieve.
> It will be discussed at GNU Radio Conference, and everyone at the
> conference will have the opportunity to see it up close and in person,
> since it's literally across the parking lot from the venue.
>
> Want to attend or find out more about GRCon?
> https://www.gnuradio.org/grcon/grcon19/
>
> If you know of someone off-list that might know details that will help,
> then please pass this along!
>
> -Michelle W5NYV + Corps of Operation Flashlight
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