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<DIV class="caption bottom_border" id=caption_bottom><FONT size=3>Barry Baines,
WD4ASW, and Rick Hambly, W2GPS. AMSAT's Dayton forum</FONT></DIV><A
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<DIV class=photo id=ajaxMovieBox style="DISPLAY: none"><FONT face=Arial
size=3></FONT> </DIV>AMSAT President's Message</H1>
<P><FONT face=Verdana>I just arrived home from my trip to the Southeast to
attend the the AMSAT Board of Directors Meeting and the 26th Space Symposium,
along with some personal travel.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana>As you probably know by now, AMSAT has undergone a change
in leadership as a result of Rick Hambly's decision not to serve another
one-year term as President. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana>At the meeting in Atlanta, the Board voted to appoint me
as President. I am honored that the Board has placed their trust in my
leadership and I look forward to working with the Board, the Senior Team, and
our membership as we move forward into 2009.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana>First, many thanks to <STRONG>Robin Cutshaw,
AA4RC</STRONG> and his team of volunteers for putting together and hosting an
excellent AMSAT Symposium in Atlanta. Attendance was lower this year than in
past years, probably due to the impacts of the slowing economy, relatively high
transportation costs, and lack of news concerning Eagle. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana>Those that did attend the Symposium, however, benefited
from an excellent weekend of presentations, discussions, interaction with fellow
AMSAT members, and an opportunity to meet with the AMSAT leadership. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana>The efforts of Robin's team, coupled with the
contributions of <STRONG>Gould Smith, WA4SXM</STRONG> and <STRONG>Martha
Saragovitz</STRONG>, resulted in a Symposium that ran very smoothly, with
attendees enjoying the presentations, a Friday night President's Club social
that was open to all Symposium attendees, the Saturday night banquet, and the
Field Ops Breakfast on Sunday Morning. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana><STRONG>Dan Schultz, N8FGV </STRONG>was a masterful
banquet speaker who through excellent slides and dry wit explained the upcoming
Hubble Repair Mission. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana>Dan also was our editor for the "Proceedings of of the
26th Space Symposium" which is an excellent compilation of papers, most of which
were presented at the Symposium. <BR>(I encourage you to order a copy of the
Proceedings if you weren't able to attend.) </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana>In addition, for the first time that I can recall, there
were TWO major prizes given away at the Dinner (Icom IC-910H and a Kenwood
TS-2000), both of which were won by women who attended the banquet. <STRONG>Judy
Perkins, KE7ERI</STRONG> of Lilburn, GA won the IC-910 and <STRONG>Flo
Bower</STRONG> of Pinson, AL won the TS-2000 (she is working on earning her ham
license). Many thanks to both Icom and Kenwood for their support of AMSAT.
</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana>The Symposium closed on Sunday following an excellent two
hour "Introduction to Digital Signal Processing" workshop conducted by
<STRONG>Phil Harman, VK6APH</STRONG> that was well attended. Overall, AMSAT
enjoyed an excellent weekend in Atlanta.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana>During the Board meeting on Thursday, Oct 23rd and the
Annual Meeting on Saturday morning, Oct 25, we took time to thank <STRONG>Rick
Hambly, W2GPS</STRONG> for his four years of faithful and extensive service to
AMSAT as President. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana>Rick tackled many difficult issues and sought to move
AMSAT forward in a number of areas. These included dealing with changes in the
regulatory environment (Orbital Debris), establishing a relationship with
University of Maryland-Eastern Shore that resulted in relocation of the AMSAT
Integration Lab to Pocomoke, MD, working on the difficult issue of ITAR
(International Traffic of Arms Regulations), revamping the AMSAT senior
leadership team organizational structure, initial discussions with Intelsat on a
possible 'rideshare' opportunity, and 'filling in' as our webmaster when we lost
the volunteer who handled that function. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana>Much of what Rick did was 'behind the scenes' activities
that took many hours, required dedicated followup, and received little fanfare.
Many thanks to Rick for his significant efforts to make AMSAT better. During the
past four years, no one dedicated such a significant portion of their life to
AMSAT as Rick.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana>At the Annual Meeting on Oct 25, I gave a presentation
that briefly reviewed where things stood within AMSAT, discussed some of
organizational issues that effect our ability to get projects completed, and
mentioned some of the 'outside factors' that have impacted AMSAT. I also
outlined some goals for 2009.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana>You can download the presentation (in PDF format) off the
</FONT><A href="http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/index.php" target=_blank><FONT
face=Verdana>AMSAT website</FONT></A><FONT face=Verdana>. There is a link on the
main page. While the 'bullet points' provide key comments, the presentation
doesn't have the 'talking points' that I made during each slide, so please be
aware of this limitation when reviewing the material. We made the Annual Meeting
available via EchoLink, and we did have members listening 'live' and submitting
questions during the meeting. Thank you to those individuals who participated in
the Annual Meeting.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana>In upcoming 'Apogee View' columns of the AMSAT Journal, I
will discuss some of the challenges facing AMSAT and what is happening in a
number of areas. Some of these issues were discussed at the Annual
Meeting.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana>Please don't forget that we need volunteers in a number of
technical and non-technical areas. The July/August issue of the AMSAT JOURNAL
had a brief 'We Want YOU' ad that highlighted some of the areas where AMSAT
needs assistance. Please review that list and if you're interested in helping
AMSAT, contact Gould Smith, WA4SXM as noted in <BR>the ad.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana>Finally, please don't hesitate to contact me directly if
you have suggestions, comments, or concerns that you would like to share. I will
make every effort to respond to e-mails that I receive, but please keep in mind
that I travel extensively which may limit my ability to respond quickly.
</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana>Please know that I read every e-mail that I receive from
AMSAT members and that I appreciate every person's <BR>willingness and time
spent to share their thoughts and <BR>suggestions.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana>73,<BR><EM><STRONG>Barry Baines,
WD4ASW</STRONG></EM><BR>AMSAT President</FONT></P></BODY></HTML>