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

Tue Jul 21 15:36:22 UTC 2020

No one has proposed cancelling GOLF.

Howie has been a board alternate over the past year, and knows that what
you have said is not true.

We can afford to fully fund either the office and an employee, or fully
fund GOLF, if and only if we save some significant money by digitizing the
Journal. I presented a paper about this to the board in early spring.

Without any board meetings, there have been no proposals since the motions
made in March about the bylaws committee (hasn’t met yet), formal support
of AREx by AMSAT, and the PPP loan.

If there had been a proposal to cancel GOLF you better believe it would be
in the minutes, and If it had come from me then I would have written an
article about it for the Journal with a solid alternative replacement and a
funding plan.

The board did indeed reject the proposal Howie is talking about. It
disappointed a lot of people.

-Michelle W5NYV

On Tue, Jul 21, 2020 at 08:19 Paul Stoetzer via AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
wrote:

> 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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> > _______________________________________________
> > 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!
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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
>
-- 
-Michelle W5NYV

"Potestatem obscuri lateris nescis."