[amsat-bb] GEO sats

[Michael Tondee]

Rather than respond to the other thread and have it construed as 
negativity or "whining" I'll just put this here. Honestly, while I 
recognize the emcomm value of a Ham Geosat, I have absolutely no 
interest in it otherwise. Why? Although not active in it now, I got into 
this side of the hobby for the challenge. At one time I much enjoyed 
building my own tracking device and rotator and interfacing them to my 
PC and radio. I also enjoyed building  and experimenting with a variety 
of homebrew antennas. I even enjoyed the challenge of doppler tuning! 
Somehow, the point the antenna once and forget about it nature of a Geo 
sync satellite just doesn't appeal to me and I don't think it ever will. 
I also used to bristle at the term "Easysat" and the constant efforts by 
AMSAT to convince rank and file amateurs how "easy" it is to work FM 
sats. "Easy" isn't why I got into this. Unfortunately I missed AO-40 and 
it appears P3-E will never fly but I think that part of sats is where my 
passion will always lie. Something along the lines of "We choose to got 
to the moon....not because it's easy....but because it's hard" is what 
drives me. Just my two cents, I mean to each their own, and all that 
being said, I did buy an SDR Play awhile back with the idea of 
begrudgingly getting back on the FM sats and being active in this part 
of the hobby again despite being extremely unhappy with the direction of 
AMSAT over at least the last decade. I guess I'm coming back, but I'm 
coming back kicking and screaming...LOL

73,

Michael, W4HIJ