When confronted with negative and ignorant speech, it's important to respond with a positive and informative letter.
The original article, an attack on open source in the Amateur Radio Satellite Service, by Jerry Buxton can be found in the Sept-Oct 2020 AMSAT Journal linked here:
http://www.ai4qr.com/The_AMSAT_Journal_September-October_2020.pdf
The rebuttal is shared with you here:
Your feedback, comment, and critique is welcomed and encouraged.
Those of us that have achieved enormous strides forward in regulatory and technical realms will continue to work for AMSAT-NA to make it the organization that it can be - a world class amateur radio organization taking full advantage of all available technical and regulatory innovations. The fact that it is not "world class", at this time, is not as important as where it can soon be.
There simply need to be some changes. AMSAT must catch up with the current regulatory environment. And, it wouldn't hurt at all to catch up with the diverse array of riches offered by open source hardware and software projects. Current leadership isn't doing this, actively opposes doing this, and will continue to suffer in comparison to other amateur satellite organizations that have adapted and have taken advantage of all the current golden age of technology and opportunity offers.
There has never been a better time to be a ham radio operator. There has never been a better time for open source hardware and software.
If a leader in amateur radio opposes open source for the Amateur Radio Satellite Service, they are choosing to fight at a horrific disadvantage. Please let *your* leaders know that you want them to be competent, up to date with regulatory law, and to take full advantage of open source technologies. All of us that love amateur satellite rely on advocacy groups like AMSAT. Advocacy needs to reflect reality. Denying the technical impact and regulatory advantage that open source gives hams in the US is a bad take.
Please, help correct this.
How?
1) Support open source organizations.
2) Elect leaders that clearly embrace, defend, and build open source solutions.
What should AMSAT-NA do?
1) Retract this article.
2) Adjust engineering policies to align with US State Department Policy decisions.
3) Follow through on commitments to pay AMSAT's contracted law firm to review and write both open source and ITAR/ EAR policies. This invoice is currently languishing. While policy creation is considered by many to be boring, having a rock-solid written ITAR/EAR policy makes volunteering safe and easy. Isn't that what AMSAT needs and deserves?
Thank you,
-Michelle Thompson W5NYV
So, why should you care what I think? I do have some relevant qualifications. Here they are.
AMSAT Director 2019-2020
Open Research Institute, Inc. Co-Founder and current CEO
Vice President Traceroad Inc. (terrestrial telephony, lots of interaction with the FCC)
IEEE Senior Member
Vice Chair IEEE San Diego Information Theory Chapter (info theory is why you have digital communications)
MSEE Information Theory from USC
Life Member ARRL, AMSAT, 10-10
Don Hilliard Award Recipient
ARRL Technical Advisor 2020-2023
GNU Radio Conference chair 2019-2020
Senior Engineer Qualcomm Inc. (Globalstar, terrestrial cellular telephony, and digital hardware R&D)
