Opinion articles
Ted Brattstrom, NH6YK, in "Where are the Amateurs?" writes about the future of amateur satellites and the inevitable successors to the Beatnik if we let it pass unaccosted. Anyone for PizzaSat?
How tame can you get? A satellite filled with digital messages like "My heart beats for my girlfriend" is a threat? Even so, Daniel Messano, KE4RAP, wonders "How far will they go?" if we allow this to continue.
Stewart Nelson, KK7KA, agrees that it's a shame that the skills and efforts contributed by AMSAT-France and others were stolen, to be used for commercial profit, but wonders "Is this cure is worse than the disease?"
Read an article by Mike Gilchrist, KF4FDJ, on how how much good could come from exploring reasonable corporate underwriting. He writes that getting too upset over this issue and scaring away Swatch could be the worst thing that could possibly happen to the amateur satellite community, and lists some ways you could use this Beatnik sat to the advantage of amateur radio.
Paul Williamson, KB5MU, in his article "Swatch sponsorship all bad?" believes that we ought to take the position of inviting Swatch to be a better citiz en instead of flaming them for a mistake they may or may not be aware of yet. Steven Bible, N7HPR, writes that "we may be doing more harm than good" b y blasting Swatch with profanity on their comments pages instead of politely informing them o f the International rules.