[amsat-bb] Elections HEO QO-100' Linear NB + Digital WB

[Paul Stoetzer]

Howie,

I believe your premise that the pitch was outright rejected by the
Board is misleading. Although their proposal to submit for a CSLI
launch in November 2014 was not adopted at the time, we have adopted
the approach of returning to HEO through a CubeSat in GTO through the
GOLF program. We have many talented engineers working on that project.
I believe that work on that project has progressed to such a point
where we can make a big push to execute this within the next few
years. As a Director, I will push for an aggressive fundraising
program to make this happen.

Unfortunately some have proposed canceling the GOLF program, including
one Director who nominated you. This would be a disastrous mistake
that would scuttle both our relationship with NASA and all the
progress our excellent engineering team has made over the past three
years.

73,

Paul Stoetzer, N8HM
Executive Vice President
AMSAT

On Tue, Jul 21, 2020 at 10:29 AM Howie DeFelice via AMSAT-BB
<amsat-bb at amsat.org> wrote:
>
> Dan, I agree with you completely that the reality of the market is not going to change and we can't expect a hand out like QO-100 got. We can change how we pursue our goal in light of the existing conditions. To do that requires a change in leadership that is willing to make hard decisions that may not be popular at first but necessary in the long term.
>
> At the 2014 Symposium, Jan King gave a inspiring talk about the ways to get to HEO which he followed up with a special meeting the following day with the AMSAT president. You were there Dan. This meeting layed out a proposal for a 6U cubesat in a GTO orbit. The meeting was attended by some of the most experienced engineering talent ever to be part of AMSAT. The pitch was made and rejected by the board. Many of these people are still on the board. The majority of that talent has left in frustration and six years later we are trying to catch up to where we were 20 years ago. It's the old definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
>
> Howie
> ________________________________
> From: AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org> on behalf of Daniel Schultz via AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
> Sent: Monday, July 20, 2020 11:32:32 PM
> To: amsat-bb at amsat.org <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
> Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] Elections HEO QO-100' Linear NB + Digital WB
>
> Yes, we once had a deal with Intelsat until it fell through. More recently we
> had a deal with the US Air Force and one of its contractors, until that also
> fell through. The reason we don't have a western hemisphere transponder in GEO
> is not because the "old guard" wants to shoot it down, but because these types
> of deals are very difficult to pull off in a market driven economy such as the
> US satellite industry.
>
> QO-100 was hosted on a satellite built for a royal government which is not
> responsible to stockholders, a government in which an amateur radio operator
> held a high position of influence. A US based company would have to answer to
> Wall Street analysts to explain why they are giving away money that could have
> been paid out in stock dividends.
>
> Changing the BOD membership will not alter any of these facts. It is not
> because we haven't asked the powers that be, and not because we are reluctant
> to "jump ahead of the project and grab what is needed". Space is Hard, and all
> the wishful thinking in the world is not going to change that.
>
> 73, Dan Schultz N8FGV
>
> > I am intrigued about QO-100 and have monitored it here in Florida by
> > remote WEB SDR access. I have not been active in the years since AO-40
> > failed and have been eager to see some HEO operations like I enjoyed
> > from AO-10 and AO-13. Listening to QO-100 has rekindled that interest.
> >
> > Last month on AMSAT-BB I posed the question about getting a GEO ride
> > share with a commercial satellite, something that was considered 12
> > years ago with Intelsat. Having a QO-100 type transponder here CONUS
> > would grow the hobby and get folks like me active again (and
> > contributing sums as I did for AO-40). However, the "old guard" shot
> > my idea down for the usual reasons. (See my threads last month).
> >
> > Having a QO-100 type transponder with a hybrid of narrow band linear
> > side and wide band digital side would open up a lot of opportunities
> > for operations, public service and experimentation.?? I hope the new
> > "slate" of BOD will consider this type of project as a priority.
> >
> > Personally, I think GOLF has not achieved results fast enough to
> > getting us a larger footprint. I am not advocating scrapping of that
> > effort, but sometimes you have to jump ahead of the project and grab
> > what is needed.
> >
> > 73 Joe
>
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> _______________________________________________
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