[sarex] Re: ISS D700 condition

[Bruce Bostwick]

The problem is not that it's too complicated to operate.  The problem  
is that having a human astronaut interact with any piece of equipment  
has to be scheduled far in advance, through the PAO if I recall  
correctly.  Whereas a system set up to operate autonomously or accept  
ground commands can be considerably more agile in its operation.   
There's a human error factor involved, but only because the humans in  
question are doing a lot of other jobs in addition to operating ham  
equipment and time and attention are on a very short budget.

I do agree that it's worth documenting it all in detail organized by  
task/procedure, that's a familiar format for the astronauts to deal  
with.  A good model for the documentation would be the normal and  
emergency operations checklists for any airplane's pilot's operating  
handbook.  :)

On May 5, 2007, at 12:55 PM, Thomas Frey wrote:

>> The radio might be able to be operated in packet by setting  
>> everything up manually but that is very time intensive for the  
>> crew (I'm guessing it would be about 30 steps) and it would have  
>> to be done before and after every school contact. Manually  
>> changing all those settings greatly increases the likelihood of  
>> having a school contact fail due to human error.
>>
>> Kenneth - N5VHO
>>
>>
> And how was it before the "human error" ? I'm wondering why an
> astronaut can not handle an amateur transceiver. If the user interface
> is too complicate it would be a good idea to give him a dedicated
> notebook so he can click in a menu for Packet, school contact,  
> repeater,
> SSTV aso. If this problem is not solved, it is fruitless to discuss  
> about
> new modes. My 2 cents about this theme.

"Thank you all for coming around to the self-evident point I made  
five minutes ago." -- Toby Ziegler