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<div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">John, all we need is the ride!!!!!!!</div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false">Kent G8EMY/WA5VJB<br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><br></div><div><br></div>
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On Thursday, August 22, 2019, 11:25:37 AM CDT, John Brier via Ground-Station <ground-station@lists.openresearch.institute> wrote:
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<div><div dir="ltr">I personally don't like using amateur radio infrastructure that<br clear="none">partially depends on the internet, but there are a lot of hams that<br clear="none">don't care and think it's quite cool. Look at Echolink and IRLP, which<br clear="none">have been around for a long time. I believe the newer DMR and D-Star<br clear="none">protocols have internet capability too, and they seem to be even more<br clear="none">popular than Echolink ever was.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">I don't know about the cost, but if this was made available to hams<br clear="none">I'm sure there would be a lot of people interested because a lot of<br clear="none">people find it exciting to hear their voice relayed from space. Maybe<br clear="none">people that find manual LEO tracking too difficult would try this<br clear="none">instead. Also, I know when QO-100 came online I heard that a lot of<br clear="none">former HEO sat ops who were no longer active started cropping up on<br clear="none">its passband.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">I do see the argument that it could be good practice for a future all<br clear="none">ham band GEO sat. Actually, there are a lot of people on QO-100 who<br clear="none">uplink directly but use WebSDR to receive the downlink. I imagine they<br clear="none">eventually want to do it all RF, I sure would, but that proves that it<br clear="none">is good practice. This proposal may not have a downlink in ham bands<br clear="none">but that personally wouldn't bother me, as long as I get to hear my<br clear="none">signal come down over RF. Lots of hams are into SWL outside of ham<br clear="none">bands for the same reason they are interested in RF on ham bands.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Just having a GEO sat we could use, even if it doesn't use much ham<br clear="none">infrastructure, could drive interest for a full ham GEO sat.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">Also, absolutist arguments, whether hyperbole or not, are usually<br clear="none">wrong and often unhelpful.<br clear="none"><br clear="none">On Thu, Aug 22, 2019 at 11:28 AM KC9SGV via AMSAT-BB <<a shape="rect" href="mailto:amsat-bb@amsat.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">amsat-bb@amsat.org</a>> wrote:<br clear="none">><br clear="none">> Echostar 9<br clear="none">> Here she is:<br clear="none">> 32 FSS transponders in the Ku band.<br clear="none">> 120 Watt...<br clear="none">><br clear="none">> <a shape="rect" href="https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/echostar-9.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/echostar-9.htm</a><br clear="none">><br clear="none">> KC9SGV<br clear="none">><br clear="none">> Sent from my iPad<br clear="none">><br clear="none">> > On Aug 21, 2019, at 8:34 PM, Michelle Thompson via AMSAT-BB <<a shape="rect" href="mailto:amsat-bb@amsat.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">amsat-bb@amsat.org</a>> wrote:<br clear="none">> ><br clear="none">> > An arrangement on Echostar9 for 1MHz of bandwidth for up to 4 years of<br clear="none">> > USA+Mexico+Canada coverage is on offer for $2000 a month.<br clear="none">> ><br clear="none">> > I'm putting together a grant proposal for ARRL, FEMA, and others to pay for<br clear="none">> > at least year of access. I've gotten some positive feedback already. I<br clear="none">> > think we can make this happen with some fundraising effort. I'm willing to<br clear="none">> > provide the human resources and whatever incidental financing needs to<br clear="none">> > happen to secure a grant for rental.<br clear="none">> ><br clear="none">> > The main purpose of this type of system would be to enable field deployment<br clear="none">> > of "legacy mode" aggregators, like the Phase 4 Ground ARAP (Amateur Radio<br clear="none">> > Access Point). This is where traffic on any ham band, using FM or analog<br clear="none">> > gear, is digitized by a local "collecting" repeater, and is then sent to a<br clear="none">> > satellite from that repeater. FEMA and ARRL have expressed a lot of<br clear="none">> > interest and support for this in the past. Phase 4 Ground needs an ARAP in<br clear="none">> > order to support legacy radios.<br clear="none">> ><br clear="none">> > You don't have to personally have a microwave digital uplink. The<br clear="none">> > aggregator equipment does that part for you.<br clear="none">> ><br clear="none">> > This is most useful for public service and emergency communications. A<br clear="none">> > communications emergency is declared, someone (FEMA, Red Cross, motivated<br clear="none">> > ham volunteer) drops in the aggregator, and all ham traffic it hears is<br clear="none">> > sent to the satellite and then transmitted to the entire footprint.<br clear="none">> ><br clear="none">> > The downlink is 12-14GHz. This is not 10GHz, but is receivable by<br clear="none">> > individuals using very inexpensive gear. Traffic can be repeated over the<br clear="none">> > internet.<br clear="none">> ><br clear="none">> > What does this get us?<br clear="none">> ><br clear="none">> > An opportunity to do all the R&D for the aggregator and get some experience<br clear="none">> > with uplinks.<br clear="none">> ><br clear="none">> > What do we not have?<br clear="none">> ><br clear="none">> > A true ham band downlink. You can still receive the downlink yourself, or<br clear="none">> > you can get it over the internet from an earth station distributor.<br clear="none">> ><br clear="none">> > That's where we're at with *this* proposal.<br clear="none">> ><br clear="none">> > I think it's worth it to provide a US-based way to design, deploy, test,<br clear="none">> > and use real world aggregator equipment. We learn a lot about GEO comms and<br clear="none">> > figure out a lot of the ins and outs.<br clear="none">> ><br clear="none">> > Comment and critique welcome and encouraged.<br clear="none">> ><br clear="none">> > More soon!<br clear="none">> > -Michelle W5NYV<br clear="none">> > _______________________________________________<br clear="none">> > Sent via <a shape="rect" href="mailto:AMSAT-BB@amsat.org." rel="nofollow" target="_blank">AMSAT-BB@amsat.org.</a> AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available<br clear="none">> > to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed<br clear="none">> > are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA.<br clear="none">> > Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!<br clear="none">> > Subscription settings: <a shape="rect" href="https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb</a><div class="ydpe031f39fyqt3959387965" id="ydpe031f39fyqtfd41650"><br clear="none">> _______________________________________________<br clear="none">> Sent via <a shape="rect" href="mailto:AMSAT-BB@amsat.org." rel="nofollow" target="_blank">AMSAT-BB@amsat.org.</a> AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available<br clear="none">> to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed<br clear="none">> are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA.<br clear="none">> Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program!<br clear="none">> Subscription settings: <a shape="rect" href="https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb</a><br clear="none"><br clear="none"></div></div></div>
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