Is the cure worse than the disease?
Stewart Nelson, KK7KA, is an amateur operator in Reno, NV, and holds an Advanced class license from the FCC.
Is the cure worse than the disease?
It is indeed a shame that the skills and efforts contributed by AMSAT-France and others were stolen, to be used for commercial profit. But, in my opinion, the suggested cures are far worse than the disease. Amsat should negotiate with Swatch for financial compensation and public disclosure of the realities. Failing that, a lawsuit and/or publicizing the injustice is in order.
However, this satellite is good for amateur radio. Thousands of non-hams will read about it on the Swatch web page or other media releases. They will use their scanners or friends' rigs to hear the messages. Many will pick up real amateur conversations in the process. Some will develop an interest in ham radio, or at least in space communication, as a result. The media coverage will also generate good publicity for amateur activities.
If an experimenter (ham or not) manages to pick up and decode the digital signal, and display it as an HTML page, that is a wonderful multi-discipline learning experience. The fact that the content may be a Swatch advertisement is irrelevant.
It is also good that the Russian space authorities are getting some money for this. The economic situation there is grave, and there are serious world security implications if they are forced to sell technology into the wrong hands.
I see nothing wrong with public services being supported partly or fully by advertising. Most of you use web services with banner ads daily, and I'm sure you would agree that at least some of those are quite beneficial to the public. If you visit an art museum, and one space, which might have held a painting, instead has a sign reading "this wing donated by John Doe", is there anything wrong with that?
Swatch is a relatively responsible company. Their products are attractive, reliable, and inexpensive. In their absence, the Japanese would have a virtual monopoly in the low-end watch market. Would you rather a satellite be financed by Exxon? Or Microsoft??
If Swatch or another business were to offer to get Phase 3-D launched promptly, in exchange for a small advertising presence on it, the amateur community should jump at the opportunity. Otherwise, many of us will literally die off waiting for this bird. And again, the hype would be good for ham radio.
A bad precedent? Hardly. We could get some "toys" in space with capabilities far beyond what could be built with amateur resources alone. That just might attract some youngsters to our hobby.
The above is just my opinion; I have no financial connection whatever with Swatch.
73,
Stewart Nelson KK7KA