[amsat-bb] Update: Rent GEO bandwidth for US

Thu Aug 22 12:36:00 UTC 2019

Many excellent questions and comments!

I wanted to get the update out before I left for desert camping. I’ll be
offline until 3rd September.

Uplink Requirements from Echostar have been outlined to me, but detailed
discussions on how independent we can get have not yet been held. Worst
case it’s their modem in an aggregator, multiple uplinks would have to been
carefully coordinated (or scheduled).

Good opportunity for some dynamic spectrum sharing or automation work.

It may be clunky starting out but “gets the job done”; then we identify
improvements and implement them.

This is indeed much more restrictive than the ham-only 4B (Virginia Tech,
they have renewed their search for a launch) and Phase 4 Space (ORI, in
development and actively fundraising). But, this is a relatively
inexpensive way to test and learn a lot of new things.

We have 4 years until end of life of Echostar9. That is more than the
guaranteed mission time for WFOV ended up being at the end of that
rideshare offer. For an order of magnitude less money.

If there is a serious show stopper in here somewhere, then we fully
document and move on. There’s lots going on out there and you never know
when an opportunity might pop up. Huge thanks needs to go to the positive
and proactive ham that found this opportunity and pursued it. Doug Phelps
deserves the credit here.

I’m just here to remove roadblocks.

More in September! Very much looking forward to autumn.

-Michelle W5NYV

On Thu, Aug 22, 2019 at 04:43 Ev Tupis via AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
wrote:

>
>  You're asking the wrong person, Sancho (lol).  I was restating Michelle's
> potentially very exciting opportunity using different words to see if I
> understood it.
>
> Let's wait on her reply.  I haven't seen it yet.
>
> Ev
>
>     On Thursday, August 22, 2019, 7:29:09 AM EDT, John Kludt via AMSAT-BB <
> amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote:
>
>  Ev,
>
> But the aggregator can't uplink directly to the satellite as the uplink is
> outside of the amateur bands.  So the aggregator must send everything to an
> earth station with a commercial license, correct?
>
> Would the aggregator be single channel or work more like a linear
> transponder sending along multiple signals in mixed modes at once?
>
> Unless I am wrong, the aggregator must be colocated with the commercial
> earth station or we are back into Internet required land thereby decreasing
> the encomm utility of this effort.
>
> Sancho
>
> Sent from my Verizon Motorola Smartphone
> On Aug 21, 2019 22:34, Ev Tupis via AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Michelle,
> > What a fascinating opportunity.  I'd like to try to describe this using
> different words to see if I get it.
> > Echostar 9 is a geosynchronous satellite with 1 MHz of spectrum to sell.
> > Both the up and down frequencies are outside of the amateur bands.
> > To use it, an aggregator is needed.  An aggregator is a "bridge" device
> that converts amateur-band RF to satellite uplink RF and setellite downlink
> RF to amateur-band RF.
> > Amateurs simply need to be in range of an aggregator.  It is the
> aggregators responsibility to remain aimed at the satellite.
> >
> > The aggregator determines if it will bridge FM or Linear (SSB, CW,
> PSK31, etc.) modes.
> > Is this right?
> > Regards,Ev, W2EV
> >
> >     On Wednesday, August 21, 2019, 9:38:12 PM EDT, Michelle Thompson via
> AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote:
> >
> > An arrangement on Echostar9 for 1MHz of bandwidth for up to 4 years of
> > USA+Mexico+Canada coverage is on offer for $2000 a month.
> >
> > I'm putting together a grant proposal for ARRL, FEMA, and others to pay
> for
> > at least year of access. I've gotten some positive feedback already. I
> > think we can make this happen with some fundraising effort. I'm willing
> to
> > provide the human resources and whatever incidental financing needs to
> > happen to secure a grant for rental.
> >
> > The main purpose of this type of system would be to enable field
> deployment
> > of "legacy mode" aggregators, like the Phase 4 Ground ARAP (Amateur Radio
> > Access Point). This is where traffic on any ham band, using FM or analog
> > gear, is digitized by a local "collecting" repeater, and is then sent to
> a
> > satellite from that repeater. FEMA and ARRL have expressed a lot of
> > interest and support for this in the past. Phase 4 Ground needs an ARAP
> in
> > order to support legacy radios.
> >
> > You don't have to personally have a microwave digital uplink. The
> > aggregator equipment does that part for you.
> >
> > This is most useful for public service and emergency communications. A
> > communications emergency is declared, someone (FEMA, Red Cross, motivated
> > ham volunteer) drops in the aggregator, and all ham traffic it hears is
> > sent to the satellite and then transmitted to the entire footprint.
> >
> > The downlink is 12-14GHz. This is not 10GHz, but is receivable by
> > individuals using very inexpensive gear. Traffic can be repeated over the
> > internet.
> >
> > What does this get us?
> >
> > An opportunity to do all the R&D for the aggregator and get some
> experience
> > with uplinks.
> >
> > What do we not have?
> >
> > A true ham band downlink. You can still receive the downlink yourself, or
> > you can get it over the internet from an earth station distributor.
> >
> > That's where we're at with *this* proposal.
> >
> > I think it's worth it to provide a US-based way to design, deploy, test,
> > and use real world aggregator equipment. We learn a lot about GEO comms
> and
> > figure out a lot of the ins and outs.
> >
> > Comment and critique welcome and encouraged.
> >
> > More soon!
> > -Michelle W5NYV
> > _______________________________________________
> > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
> > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership.
> Opinions expressed
> > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of
> AMSAT-NA.
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> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
> > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership.
> Opinions expressed
> > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of
> AMSAT-NA.
> > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite
> program!
> > Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
> _______________________________________________
> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions
> expressed
> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of
> AMSAT-NA.
> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!
> Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
>
> _______________________________________________
> Sent via AMSAT-BB at amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available
> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions
> expressed
> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of
> AMSAT-NA.
> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!
> Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
>
-- 
-Michelle W5NYV

"Potestatem obscuri lateris nescis."