The AMSAT Board of Directors election is underway, and like last year’s ARRL Board elections, there seems to be a bit of a controversy. Bruce Perens, K6BP, is one of the hams that thinks it’s time for a change. He tweets:
Bruce Perens K6BP@BrucePerens
AMSAT Direction Election 2019: It’s Time For Change! I am recommending five candidates who can solve AMSAT’s problems and get the organization going in the right direction. Please see perens.com/static/AMSAT/E… Please re-tweet and pass onto other AMSAT members. @AMSAT
And, on the web page referenced in the URL, he writes:
AMSAT is absolutely vital to continue the role of Amateur Radio in space, one especially important when we’re seeing the start of a challenge to our 2-meter band allocation internationally. But there are problems with AMSAT: It’s now 15 years since AO-40 went SK. We’ve not done anything nearly so ambitious again in North America, while Europe and Africa now have a geostationary 10 GHz transponder for Amateur use. AMSAT’s current management is hogtied and overly fearful of ITAR while the Open Source community, provider of the cryptography in every web browser back when that was under ITAR, has had that problem solved for decades. And AMSAT can’t support itself with the current member dues.
…Let’s talk AMSAT BoD election, and let’s keep it simple. You’ve got 2 choices – ORI or the Incumbents.
Some might object to this simplification, but when the candidates tell you to also vote for their preferred candidate, the choice is pretty binary. First Up: ORI. Their simplified platform is this: Build digital birds, Screw the ITAR, and the current AMSAT board is mean.
So, Digital Birds eh? We’ve got digital birds right now. Surprised? That’s because no one uses them. FalconSat-3, NO-44 and NO-84 are all floating around up there right now available to you. They’re amazing pieces of tech, built by awesome engineers, and operators don’t care.
Is that harsh? Probably – but it’s the truth. Like it or not we’re in the appliance age, and the vast majority of ops are appliance operators. If you want to be an experimenter, that’s cool and great – but you’re in the 5%. 5% of the AMSAT fleet should then reflect your desires.
Next – ITAR. I agree, ITAR sucks. In my professional endeavors I’ve experienced first hand how ITAR stifles us. But, it is the law. And while flouting the edges of regulations is great for a small community with nothing to lose, or a small biz not exporting, AMSAT ain’t that. AMSAT launches satellites on rockets directly controlled by the US Government, Foreign Governments, or giant companies friendly with governments. If you think these folks will continue to give us a ride after adopting a LOL WE R NOW EXEMPT approach to the rules, you’re nuts.There are genuine issues with ITAR, and they should be hashed out by lawyers. But by electing an AMSAT board calling for disregarding ITAR based on their experience on the ground, the chances of us putting stuff in space drops dramatically. The game sucks, but we have to play it.
Finally, the “mean” issue. Not sure what I can say here other than laugh. People aren’t always going to get along, that’s what makes us, us. Block them on twitter, ignore their email – whatever, it has nothing to do with the primary goal of AMSAT – keeping amateur radio in space.
So, with this in mind as an operator, The ORI approved slate of candidates directly threatens my ability to keep making contacts on the Satellites. Their desire make the birds beep-boop only, pick a fight with our government sponsors, and get even over perceived slights is wrong.Alternatively, the Incumbent Board Members of @glasbrenner @PRStoetzer and @n0jy have launched 4 birds in 5 years, with another going up soon. They’ve got a plan for an entire next generation of sats, have kept the fleet usable by everyone, and followed the law to the letter.
Do I have problems with things like the Website or Office Expenses? Yea. Should we be doing more to build bigger better birds? Absolutely. I’ve got a whole list of things I’d like to see @AMSAT change – and I hope with all the publicity around this election some stuff will.
All this said, those issues pale in comparison to the primary goal of AMSAT. At the end of the day, I just want to make some contacts – nothing else really matters. The incumbent candidates have proven they can help me do that. The ORI group hasn’t, and doesn’t appear to want to.
I plan to vote for @glasbrenner @PRStoetzer & @n0jy and I hope you in the operator community will join me. Cause that’s how we’ll keep Amateur Radio in Space. If you disagree, well, then go write your own tweet storm, cause one is enough for me. 73.
Not being a satellite operator, I hadn’t really been keeping up on this. You can find all of the director candidates’ statements on the AMSAT website.
If you have any thoughts, I’d love to hear from you. Please comment below.
Jim Myers says
KG5CCI has to be the most technologically ignorant person I’ve herd of in quite some time. He’s obviously 100% against open source, has literally no clue what ORI is about, no clue what the Bureau of Industry and Security is about, or how they ELIMINATED the issue with ITAR long ago.
Should anyone be giving any credence to someone that has not progressed technologically in the past 50 years or do?
I wonder which closed-source companies he’s being propped up by?
Dave Swanson says
Hi Jim,
My first few tweets weren’t included in this post, but I laid out my credentials well. In short, I work for a company that embraces open source software, I did my graduate research on satellites (including Phase IV) and I’m a business partner in a company that possesses an ITAR waiver due to the manufacturing of items classified as ‘Munitions’. I understand modern technology and the legalities around it quite well. You can’t just declare a machine like a satellite be to ‘open source’ and expect to do business in the orbital launch sector. Software is one thing, physical assets are a complete different thing. And don’t just take my word for it, take the word of professional attorneys that AMSAT hired and came to the same conclusion regarding ITAR that I did.
Now, if you have any other salient points I’m happy to discuss them. But if your only retort to my comments will be attacks that I haven’t progressed in 50 years, I’m ignorant, against open source, and wonder who I’m being propped up by, then I’ll have take my 37 year old self away from my Fedora laptop here in the workshop of my small business, and ignore your drivel.
73!
Dave, KG5CCI
Armando Mercado N8IGJ says
Interesting reading this in July 2020. AMSAT is tearing itself apart. So the new crowd wants a broadband microwave GEO constellation to cover the world, and transparency. The GEO sat thing isn’t going to happen unless somebody comes up with millions of $$$. Simple fact.
Dan KB6NU says
You’re right about the money, but it will never happen unless they start working towards it. I’ve been meaning to write more about what’s going on with AMSAT, but I just don’t know enough without doing a lot more research.