Jerry Buxton, N0JY selected as AMSAT’s VP-Engineering

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AMSAT-NA Engineering VP Jerry Buxton, N0JY
New AMSAT-NA VP-Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY

In a special AMSAT Board of Directors meeting held via GoToMeeting on Tuesday, April 1st, the board unanimously approved the selection of Jerry Buxton, N0JY of Granbury, TX as AMSAT VP-Engineering.  Jerry replaces Tony Monteiro, AA2TX who passed away on March 26th.

Given the significance of completing Fox-1 for delivery on time later this year, the Board recognized that the Fox Program must continue under leadership that is focused on completing AMSAT’s latest satellite.  Selecting a new VP-Engineering is an important step towards maintaining the momentum that was developed under Tony’s leadership and to avoid creating an engineering  leadership vacuum as work continues on the satellite.  The Engineering Team deserves to have the new leadership identified in order to be in position to make the appropriate engineering decisions.

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AMSAT VP Engineering/Director Tony Monteiro, AA2TX, SK

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Anthony “Tony” J. Monteiro, AA2TX (SK)

Tony, AA2TX with Fox-1 model
Tony, AA2TX and Fox-1 model

AMSAT VP-Engineering and Board Member Anthony J. Monteiro, AA2TX of North Andover, MA died on Wednesday morning, March 26, 2014 while
hospitalized in Boston, MA from cancer. He was 55. He is survived by his wife, Mary Lou and daughter, Veronica, a college freshman.

Tony was first licensed in 1973 as a Novice and subsequently held an Extra Class Amateur Radio License. An avid operator, he described his
first contact in an AMSAT BoD Candidate’s Statement in 2011: “I earned my novice ticket in 1973 and made my first ham radio contact with a
transmitter made from parts out of an old TV set. A Heathkit HR-10B receiver and a 65-foot piece of wire strung out of a window for an antenna made up the rest of my station, which was pretty modest even by 1973 standards! Even so, I will never forget the thrill of my very first contact.”

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Qatar ARS and AMSAT-DL announce Phase 4 satellite payload

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A collaboration between the Qatar Amateur Radio Society, the Qatar Satellite Company, and AMSAT-DL has resulted in the announcement of a geostationary amateur radio payload aboard the proposed Es’HailSat-2 commercial satellite.

Due to be launched in 2016, the satellite will provide communications services to the Middle East and North Africa region from a position at 26 degrees East. Additionally, the satellite will include two 2.4 GHz to 10.45 GHz transponders dedicated for amateur use. One transponder will be approximately 250 kHz wide, and will be for traditional narrowband modes such as SSB and CW. The second will be 8MHz wide and designed for experimental DVB and data modes. Coverage is expected over the entire footprint.

Es'Hailsat-2 coverage
Es’Hailsat-2 coverage

While this payload will not service North America, the project is an important step into high orbit, and may open the door for additional opportunities in other orbital positions.

AMSAT-DL webpage via Google Translate

 

Support AMSAT When You Shop at Amazon.com

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amazon-logo._V192256676_AMSAT-NA is participating in the AmazonSmile program. AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support your favorite charitable organization every time you shop at Amazon.com, at no cost to you.

Amazon will donate 0.5% of eligible AmazonSmile purchases to the charitable organization of your choice. If you do business with Amazon you can apply your donation by logging into your Amazon account using http://smile.amazon.com/ch/52-0888529 to designate AMSAT-NA as the organization of your choice. When shopping on-line you must use the URL smile.amazon.com for AMSAT to receive the donation from your purchases.