Re: [amsat-bb] AMSAT has a SECRET: why not 10m instead of V band

[W1BFN@xxxxxxx]

Hello Laura: Normally I do not venture an opinion on the bb, but this opinion 
might be worth listening to: First, a story: The folks from Radio Farm in 
Iowa brought some really nice cast dishes to sell to those who were intending 
to go QRV on AO-40.
The price was good and the quality was excellent, but the sales were poor.

I suspect that the reason was that few if any of those passing by what to do 
with, how to use ,the dish after they bought it. They would buy a 21 dbi dish 
from amsat as a part of a package, but hesitated to buy a 24 dbi dish which 
was not. 

My implication is clear: There are fewer and fewer of "us" who have the time 
and inclination, or maybe the desire to actually learn enough to understand 
what we are doing. Electronics has become a tool, and the technology has an 
aura of being too difficult to understand. 

This might be the reason that the U/V, Mode A, and other basic modes are so 
attractive. It is in fact possible to buy a box which can do the satellite 
thing without the expediture of a great deal of  psychic energy. Make no 
mistake, this is the real situation. 

No one who bleats his/her complaints about the complexity or the cost of 
using the low microwave bands simply has not, in my humble opinion, spent any 
time learning about what the real situation is.

No one in this world really ever got anywhere without making the best of the 
situation he found him/herself confronting, and no one ever made any progress 
by simply rejecting new ideas.

Note I have not mentioned the efficiency of the very short antennas which 
would be used at HF frequencies, or the increasing interference on the VHF 
frequencies on the other side of the globe.

Someone might eventually figure that out. Well, maybe.

Mike, W1BFN
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