JoAnne Maenpaa, K9JKM, wrote: >I guess you're observing that AMSAT's GEO proposal has to fit into the GEO satellite commodity market.
Should Amsat be working with NetHope to design a better terminal? How do we work with these guys to convince them that they should be using a ham satellite instead of a commercial service? One big advantage of the commercial service is that it exists now. How do we get the money from funding agencies, either government, corporate, or non-profit? Where does Amsat fit in to this world? Have they even heard of us, our history and our capabilities? >I've maintained that a GEO satellite is best suited to link widely deployed sectors of the Incident Command System. I think most government-based emergency authorities are not going to be interested in building or funding a system that they do not design and control. They consider amateur radio to be a last-ditch thing that they would rather not count on, they would rather have an in-house system that fits in to their chain of command and shows their funding authorities that they are fully on top of emergency communications and don't need to rely on amateur volunteers coming forward in time of need. A non-governmental organization like NetHope might be more receptive to our proposals. We need to think hard and come up with new ideas. Dan Schultz N8FGV _______________________________________________ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
