[amsat-bb] Question of ARISS Value

["Gunther Meisse" <gmouse@xxxxxxxxxx>]

NOT speaking on behalf of the Board of Directors, I will share my views
regarding the money we spend on the ARISS program and the publicity
AMSAT receives for the involvement.

For years the BoD of AMSAT has felt that the ARISS program had value and
was worth our support. We provided money, hardware, and expertise for
the project, from it's first days. As I view it, at this time, the BoD
continues to view ARISS as a valuable asset to AMSAT, the Entire Ham
community, and will likely continue to support it.

Now, the real issue of most of the postings relating to ARISS, suggest
that AMSAT does not get enough credit &/or publicity for the dollars we
spend. This is absolutely correct, but it is not ARRL or NASA's problem
or fault.. It is OUR problem and OUR fault. It is the responsibility of
each organization to play up their involvement in the ARISS program.
NASA, with their strong P/R department, takes full advantage of the
program and their economic support... ARRL has also successfully
promoted their involvement. As I reviewed the materials provided ARISS
participants (Students & Teachers), I was quick to note that ARRL
provides each student with a booklet about Ham Radio... NASA provides
pictures with their Logo on them, and AMSAT provides NOTHING.... The
only publicity we receive within those materials is due to the
generosity of those OTHER organizations. You MAKE your OWN publicity!!!
You can not expect a P/R person for some OTHER organization to take care
of OUR interests... That is OUR job...The reason we get the short end of
the stick is that WE do not have a P/R department who cranks out the
material to the outside world.. This structural weakness pertains to a
lot more than the ARISS program. One could also say we do not receive
enough publicity for the major investments we make, like the ECHO
program, or the involvement we had in AO-40. We are getting the same
result for the same reason.....
Soon, if not already, our 2003 AMSAT Annual Report will be published on
our Web site... I would ask anyone interested to take a look.  Within, I
put a section on ARISS & ECHO. Both do not dominate the Report, but they
have a substantial position within... It is just one small example of
blowing our horn in materials that will make it to the outside world.

In conclusion, until we have some volunteer help, or a substantially
larger annual operating budget, these sorts of weakness will be
apparent... We can fix this, WITH MONEY and more help.

Thanks for the bandwidth.
Regards,
Gunther Meisse
W8GSM

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