[amsat-bb] Foolishness

Sun Jul 12 05:14:33 UTC 2020

The only agenda is to serve the members.

I want to work with people that provide basic corporate oversight, support
the ITAR/EAR public domain carve outs, and see the value in microwave
broadband digital payload work.

That won't happen with the incumbents.

They can't even be bothered to hold meetings.

Therefore, I and others have spoken up.

Please send us a team that can get ambitious things done.

-Michelle W5NYV

On Sat, Jul 11, 2020, 14:25 Rich Gopstein <rich at ourowndomain.com> wrote:

> Thanks Michelle.  I did not intend to imply that people associated with
> ORI shouldn't be on the AMSAT board.  I'm trying to understand if there's
> an agenda behind a multi-year attempt at getting a majority on the AMSAT
> board - including very public accusations against the existing board and
> leadership.
>
> I think that would help people make up their mind about how to vote.
>
> Rich
> KD2CQ
>
>
> On Sat, Jul 11, 2020 at 2:23 PM Michelle Thompson <
> mountain.michelle at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I can speak to this. Thank you for the opportunity.
>>
>> It's the other way around. ORI provides all engineering to the general
>> public, free of charge.
>>
>> We've pledged our successful fundraising to directly benefit AMSAT in
>> every way we know how. We've done significant legal and regulatory work to
>> reduce ITAR/EAR burden, produced a wide variety of software and firmware,
>> and now have the funds to prototype the hardware required for microwave
>> broadband communications payloads.
>>
>> We've published open source implementations of the best forward error
>> correction codes that exist. We just bought a full Vivado floating license
>> that anyone in the community can use.
>>
>> The board and associate members (we have no paid members, so we don't
>> even compete there) have been completely transparent about the intent and
>> purpose of the engineering done by ORI.
>>
>> ORI is a Member Society of AMSAT.
>>
>> It's odd how ORI is portrayed here, yet Directors current and previous
>> that have dual roles - such as working for NASA, working at Universities
>> with commercial satellite projects, and working for commercial satellite
>> companies - simply never get any criticism for using AMSAT to help their
>> career or projects. In many cases, AMSAT has been used to further outside
>> or commercial careers. Many of these people are unquestionably celebrated.
>>
>> When someone (like myself) that starts a successful 501(c)(3) that works
>> in the opposite direction - freely giving to the organization and
>> supporting it whenever possible - one would hope it would be perceived as a
>> positive.
>>
>> All of this engineering and fundraising was the exact sort of thing I was
>> doing within AMSAT engineering. When Joe Spier shut down the entire
>> project, the dozens of people on the team asked if we could keep going.
>> Bruce Perens was instrumental here in helping set up a 501(c)(3) that could
>> operate as a research institute. And the rest is documented on our website.
>>
>> While people like me shouldn't have to set up an entirely independent
>> formal structure to volunteer for the AMSAT community, it has turned out to
>> be fun, successful, and quite complementary to AMSAT's aims and purposes.
>>
>> ORI is not a membership organization. It's not in competition for
>> members. We sign up AMSAT members at every event we hold. We promote AMSAT
>> publicly.
>>
>> If the leadership of AMSAT really wants to view organizations like ORI as
>> some sort of threat or crisis, then they are deliberately choosing to be
>> anti-collaborative.
>>
>> If you have to have Directors that don't have any other interests outside
>> AMSAT, then you will end up with people that don't bring things like a
>> strong network, experiences, or other organizational assets to the job.
>>
>> Should Tom Clark have been thrown off the AMSAT board because he was also
>> on the Virginia Tech Space Advisory Board? Should Brennan Price not be
>> Secretary because he works for Inmarsat?
>>
>> The opposite is also true. Ordinary people with ordinary common sense
>> should also be in leadership. Diversity on the board can only improve it.
>>
>> -Michelle W5NYV
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Jul 11, 2020 at 1:43 PM Rich Gopstein via AMSAT-BB <
>> amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote:
>>
>>> I'm guessing it's more complex than that.  I suspect this is really about
>>> ORI and trying to get AMSAT to outsource their satellite engineering to
>>> ORI.  MIchelle Thompson is the CEO of ORI...
>>>
>>> https://openresearch.institute/board-of-directors/
>>>
>>> Rich, KD2CQ
>>> AMSAT life member
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, Jul 11, 2020 at 8:34 AM John Spasojevich via AMSAT-BB <
>>> amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> > All reads to me like a couple people broke into the old boys club and
>>> > weren’t welcomed to the playground. AMSAT has been run by the same
>>> people
>>> > for years and years and years. Then again not many run for office so
>>> our
>>> > choices are limited.
>>> >
>>> > John AG9D
>>> >
>>> > On Saturday, July 11, 2020, Nick Pugh via AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb at amsat.org
>>> >
>>> > wrote:
>>> >
>>> > > This is a hobby
>>> > >
>>> > > Spending money on lawyer instead of satellite is dumb
>>> > >
>>> > > My hope is you get on a Zoom call and put the fire out and take us
>>> to HEO
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > > Nickk k5qxj
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > > Cell      337 258 2527
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > > Helping UL become a world Class Engineering  and Educational School
>>> > >
>>> > > Disagree I Learn
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > > _______________________________________________
>>> > > 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
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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
>>>
>>