[jamsat-news:1689] April AMSAT-NA President's Letter

[Dan James <DanJ@marvin.com>]

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-099.01
APRIL PRESIDENT'S LETTER

AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 099.01 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD, APRIL 09, 2002
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-099.01

Several times each year AMSAT News Service will feature information
from AMSAT-NA President Robin Haighton, VE3FRH. This feature is
known as the 'President's Letter'. The following is the latest installment:

Firstly, I must apologize to all of you for the lack of a February or March
2002 President's Letter. As some of you may know I have been away
from home on a personal vacation in Australia. During my time away,
Executive Vice-president Keith Baker, KB1SF, has been acting as
President - thank you Keith for keeping things moving during my
absence.

On my vacation I met with many hams and AMSAT members, and I gave
two talks on AMSAT activities, first to the Moorabbin Radio Club (in
Melbourne), and to a group of hams in the western coastal town of
Northampton (who were very interested in getting their local high school
in contact with the International Space Station). The Melbourne
presentation centered on AO-40, and ended with an auction of some
AMSAT items to raise funds for AMSAT-Australia. I also had the
pleasure of meeting with Graham Ratcliff, VK5AGR, who serves as an
AO-40 control station and is also the National Coordinator of
AMSAT-Australia.

In Perth, I met Chris Hill, VK6KCH. Chris is writing software in support of
our new IHU2 computer.

Other AMSAT related parts of my visit included meeting with Darran Siu
and the team from the University of New South Wales who are building
BlueSat - an amateur micro-satellite which may be launched in 2004.

I also met Shaun Wilson of Aerospace Concepts. Shaun is a member of
a group building JaeSat - an amateur satellite which is due for launch
around 2005 or 06. I asked both Darran and Shaun to provide articles for
the AMSAT-NA Journal.

What's next for AMSAT-NA?

You may remember that in the Apogee view column for the
January/February issue I had commented that our financial support for
Eagle and other AMSAT-NA projects have been reduced since 9/11.
This continues to be the case.

AMSAT-NA really needs your support!

Accordingly, I have asked Chairman of the Board Bill Tynan, W3XO, to
call a Board of Directors meeting on April 20th to review the situation and
to decide on a proper course of action.

Meanwhile, the Echo project satellite design is progressing and I will
make a full report on these satellites in my letter next month.

I would welcome any input from the AMSAT-NA membership (members
only!) on these topics. Please send comments to < ve3frh@amsat.org >
by April 15th. I will summarize your thoughts and take them to the BOD
meeting.

Another important event rapidly approaching is the Dayton Hamvention,
May 17-19th. Don't forget the AMSAT Dinner on Friday evening at the
Amber Rose Restaurant. Please contact Ed Collins, N4NUY,
< n4nuy@amsat.org > to book your seat in advance. Our guest speaker
will be Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, who will talk on the latest advances in
APRS.

The AMSAT-NA forum at Dayton will look at our new satellite projects,
along with having two ISS Astronauts present, both of whom have
operated the Amateur Radio equipment from the station!

In closing, with the fears of recession virtually over and the effects of
9/11 hopefully behind us, I ask that you please support our building fund
once more. I realize that not everyone can become a "Gold" member of
the AMSAT-NA Presidents Club, but if you could choose a level that you
could continue to support (Gold, Silver, Bronze) or possibly a one time
direct donation - it will help to provide for the future enjoyment of your
hobby and your donation will even be tax deductible for many of you.

Until next month,

73,

Robin Haighton, VE3FRH
President AMSAT-NA

[ANS thanks AMSAT-NA President Robin Haighton, VE3FRH, for this
information]

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